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Gravy

Gravy

Von: Southern Foodways Alliance
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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. Kochen Kunst Lebensmittel & Wein Sozialwissenschaften
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  • Brisket, Kugel, and Community in Birmingham

    Brisket, Kugel, and Community in Birmingham
    Sep 16 2026
    In “Brisket, Kugel, and Community in Birmingham,” Gravy reporter Olivia Ware Terenzio visits Birmingham, Alabama’s Levite Jewish Community Center (“The J”) for the Jewish Food and Culture Fest, a celebration of kugel and cabbage rolls for Jews and non-Jews alike. This episode explores what role the festival plays in a state where less than half of one percent of the population is Jewish—and what we really mean when we talk about Jewish Food. The festival started more than two decades ago, which is impressive, considering that there are only about 6,300 Jews in the Birmingham metro area of 1.1 million. It’s been sustained by a loyal group of Jewish volunteers and widely supported by the non-Jewish population. A closer look at the kitchen, where volunteer cooks prepare hamantashen ahead of the festival, proves that this is all more complicated than a typical food festival. Desserts are made with oil, not butter, to avoid dairy. The counters where the volunteers are working are marked with red duct tape, and one half of the kitchen is blocked off with a plastic sheet. The tape and plastic are part of an effort to keep the festival entirely kosher, as is the oversight of a kosher supervisor: Rabbi Yossi Friedman. He reviews all the food bought for the festival to ensure that even people who are very careful about keeping kosher can participate. In Alabama, where options for kosher dining are next to zero, this is especially important. At the same time, many of the festival’s attendees—and most of the J’s dues-paying members—aren’t Jewish. For many of them, the festival offers a rare opportunity to experience Jewish food that can’t be found in restaurants here. As Margaret Norman, a scholar of American Jewish history and Southern Jewish foodways, explains, many people don’t come into regular contact with Jewish culture or Jewish people in Alabama. In this episode, Rabbi Friedman explains how kosher certification works and why it matters in an increasingly complicated food system. Isa Dorsky, one of the festival’s lead cooks and a former Board President at The J, leads volunteer cooks as they prepare 400 hamantashen. Finally, Norman tells of Birmingham’s evolving Jewish population and explores a food festival’s potential to bridge differences between neighbors. Reporter Olivia Ware Terenzio is a writer, editor, and arts and culture administrator working in the American South. She is the Director of Programs for Project Threadways and the Podcast Editor here at the Southern Foodways Alliance. She holds an M.A. in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    21 Min.
  • There’s No Business Like Hansen’s Sno Bliz-ness

    There’s No Business Like Hansen’s Sno Bliz-ness
    Aug 19 2026
    In “There’s No Business Like Hansen’s Sno Bliz-ness,” Gravy reporter Eve Troeh takes us to New Orleans, home of the sno-ball. In the South you need strategies to beat the summer heat, and ice plays a big role. Street vendors used to shave big blocks of ice by hand and add flavored syrup—a treat that became known as a sno-ball in the Big Easy. In the late 1930s, a local man, Ernest Hansen, invented a machine that changed the tradition. Sharp blades, encased in metal, turned chunks of ice into the most fluffy, fine “snow,” and he eventually patented this creation. While he kept his day job in New Orleans’ manufacturing industry, Ernest’s wife Mary ran with her husband’s invention. She set up shop at home and eventually moved to a brick-and-mortar, dishing up fresh “snow” and dousing them with signature flavored syrups that she made by hand. They called their place Hansen’s Sno-Bliz. Remarkably, Ernest’s hand-built machines are still in use today, as are many of Mary’s syrup recipes, and the business continues to cool off customers with some “air-conditioning for your tummy.” Hansen’s Sno-Bliz is now in its 86th year, with Ernest and Mary’s granddaughter, Ashley Hansen, at the helm. Ashley’s was a long and loving journey to take on the business. She learned alongside her grandparents day by day. In a city that practically worships tradition, she honors her family and her customers by maintaining not just the original 1930s ice-shaving mechanics and syrup recipes, but also by cultivating the warm hospitality her grandparents always extended to anyone who entered. The cinder block corner shop on New Orleans’ Tchoupitoulas Street looks humble, but you’ll always find a line of customers stretching outside around the corner. The James Beard Foundation even bestowed Hansen’s with its prestigious title of American Classic. New Orleanians from every corner of the city—and visitors from all around the world—eagerly line up to experience Hansen’s, and form an of-the-moment community with each other as they choose their flavors and chat. In this cool edition of Gravy, Ashley Hansen shares the history, innovation, and spirit of her family’s institution, always with Hansen’s Sno-Bliz motto in mind: “There are no shortcuts to quality.” Eve Troeh is a seasoned podcast producer and award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles. She's also a proud former New Orleanian, and a veteran of the line at Hansen's. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    23 Min.
  • Stone-Milled Flour: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

    Stone-Milled Flour: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
    Sep 2 2026
    In Texas and Louisiana, chefs, millers, and home bakers are increasingly turning to using whole-grain, stone-milled flour in their breads, cakes, and pastries. These flours are milled with the ancient process of stone milling: flour is produced by crushing the whole kernel of the wheat grain between enormous stones, versus the more modern process of roller milling, which produces the finely grained, snow-white flour most of us are accustomed to. Stone-ground flour is coarser and more nutrient dense, and can also be more difficult to source, use, and store thanconventional flour. Despite that, these flours are no longer the sole purview of professional pastry chefs and artisan bread bakers. A new group of consumers are turning to organic, stone ground, and so-called heritage or ancient strains of wheat: followers of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. These home bakers are increasingly convinced that modern, roller-milled wheat is making them sick, resulting in diagnoses as broad as chronic inflammation, IBS, and non-Celiac gluten intolerance. As a baker and recipe developer, Bronwen Wyatt wanted to get to the bottom of the flour debate, which reflects a growing anxiety around the safety of American food. She speaks to bakers Pamela Thibodeaux of Barton Springs Mill in Dripping Springs, Texas and Keira Watt of Bellegarde Bakery in New Orleans to learn why they choose to use stone milled flour, and what their customers are communicating to them about their flour choices. She also turns to scientistsDr. Jessica Biesiekierski, an expert in non-celiac gluten intolerance, and Dr. Aaron Fox, who specializes in organic and sustainable agriculture, to learn more about whether our fears aroundwheat mean we need to change our shopping and baking behaviors. Do we need to have an all-or-nothing approach to conventional flour, or can all the South’s many diverse, long-standing baking traditions continue to co-exist? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    29 Min.
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