Gravy Podcast

Series produced by Southern Foodways Alliance

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Gravy is the SFA’s collection of original stories—fresh, unexpected, and thought-provoking. Like all of the SFA’s work, Gravy shares stories of the changing American South through the foods we eat.

Gravy showcases a South that is constantly evolving, accommodating new immigrants, adopting new traditions, and lovingly maintaining old ones. It uses food as a means to explore all of that, to dig into lesser-known corners of the region, complicate stereotypes, document new dynamics, and give voice to the unsung folk who grow, cook, and serve our daily meals. Gravy the print journal lands in the mailboxes of SFA members four times per year. Gravy the podcast releases a new episode every other week.


154 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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Gravy visits Mama Dip's Kitchen, a family-owned restaurant that has served Chapel Hill for over 50 years. What will happen now that the family plan...

  • Added: Feb 15, 2024
  • Length: 22:05
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Gravy tells the story of how three black women created a soul food institution in one of the whitest parts of the San Fernando Valley that still th...

  • Added: Feb 15, 2024
  • Length: 23:20
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Gravy takes a deeper look at a humble but ubiquitous pantry staple—the bouillon cube.

  • Added: Feb 15, 2024
  • Length: 23:37
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Gravy explores the histories underlying the balikbayan box, a tradition where Filipinos in the U.S. send gift boxes to family in the Philippines.

  • Added: Feb 15, 2024
  • Length: 27:25
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Gravy takes listeners to Bayou La Batre, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, for the annual blessing of the fleet. But things look different this year.

  • Added: Feb 14, 2024
  • Length: 26:17
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Gravy visits Laredo, Texas, which shares history, culture, and memory with its sister city across the border, Nuevo Laredo. The story of the famed ...

  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 25:45
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Gravy joins the Avila and Aguirre families for a celebratory reunion and cabrito cookout at their YY Ranch. Listen to learn about cabrito tradition...

  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 21:49
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Gravy visits Saint Peter’s Catholic Church, where Vietnamese congregants host a monthly fundraiser selling such dishes as bun, egg rolls, and shrimp.

  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 23:39
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Gravy takes us to the small, Central Texas town of Serbin, where the locals take their noodles seriously.

  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 22:06
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For the Lumbee Indians in North Carolina, Thanksgiving involves cornbread, collards, and a whole lot of pork.

Bought by KALW, KSFR, KIDE Hoopa Tribal Radio 91.3fm, and RadioFreePalmer


  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 24:58
  • Purchases: 4
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The Swamp Witches, as this group of women call themselves, have been duck hunting together for nearly 20 years.

  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 28:32
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Gravy explores the history, origins, and evolutions of kolaches through the voices of bakers.

  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 20:52
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Gravy takes us to North Carolina to consider the vehicles that our food sits on—plates.

  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 25:01
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Gravy takes listeners to Bayou La Batre, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, for the annual blessing of the fleet. But things look different this year.

  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 26:17
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Gravy digs into the history of beaten biscuits, the tender, flaky hardtack rolls that date back to the 1800s, and the success of entrepreneur Annie...

  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 25:28
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Gravy asks how KFC became one of the most popular restaurant chains in China, and what its dominance reveals about other large Southern firms.

  • Added: Nov 14, 2023
  • Length: 22:42
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Black men have played a key role in Louisiana's oyster industry—but today, they are few and far between.

  • Added: Dec 15, 2022
  • Length: 27:26
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For centuries, Black Americans have been finding their own ways to feed themselves and their communities.

  • Added: Dec 15, 2022
  • Length: 24:29
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Gravy investigates why Houston is the center of a West African renaissance.

  • Added: Dec 15, 2022
  • Length: 28:22
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Gravy explores sweet potatoes, which Southern-born Black Americans have baked, roasted, fried, distilled—and long revered.

  • Added: Dec 15, 2022
  • Length: 28:01