Gravy

• Tending: A Preview

  Listen to Gravy's preview of “Tending,” a 6-part weekly narrative series debuting October 15, 2025. Hosted by award-winning musician and documentary producer Shirlette Ammons, “Tending” explores the ongoing struggles of Black farmers through the lens of Pigford v. Glickman—the largest civil rights class-action lawsuit in U.S. history.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• The Long Recovery: Farmers and Hurricane Helene

  In “The Long Recovery: Farmers and Hurricane Helene,” Gravy producer Irina Zhorov looks at how North Carolina farmers are building back after Hurricane Helene and finds that many still have a long way to go. The storm hit in late September, 2024. It killed at least 250 people and left nearly $80 billion worth of damage, the majority of that in mountainous western North Carolina. Farmers, who work flood-prone bottomlands and steep slopes in the high country, suffered catastrophic losses. There are thousands of farms in the region, which prides itself on its local foodways and strong network of producers. On many of these farms the floodwaters either deposited feet of sand on fields or washed away topsoil, sometimes to the bedrock—it just depended on where in a creek’s bend their land lay. Soil takes hundreds of years to form and is a farmer's most important asset, but it's not yet clear how to address the effects of such dramatic land shifts. Extension agents are recommending farmers try planting special crops that help pump nutrients back into the dirt, but these cover crops can take years to show results. Many farmers would have a hard time financially taking fields out of production for extended periods. They also worry that their buyers may not wait that long before seeking produce from other farms. Still, it's not all bad. The storm did such dramatic damage that some farmers are starting almost from scratch and using that as an opportunity to build back better. Maybe that means putting in modern apple varieties, updating trellis systems, or changing the crops they grow. One farmer we spoke to is refocusing her farm on agribusiness and increasing her flower plantings. Another farmer is working to develop a method of growing raspberries that would use an annual rotation, like with tomatoes, rather than maintaining shrubs for a decade, which requires labor-intensive pruning and would leave them susceptible to potential future storms. This year, farmers have largely been cleaning up, evaluating, and figuring out how to proceed. The longer work of rebuilding could stretch for years to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• An Orthodox Jewish Congregation Keeps on (Food) Truckin' in Birmingham

  In “An Orthodox Jewish Congregation Keeps on (Food) Truckin' in Birmingham,” Gravy producer Margaret Weinberg Norman documents the story of JJ’s Sandwich Shop, a glatt kosher deli on wheels operated by the oldest Orthodox Jewish congregation in Birmingham, Alabama. In the Magic City, food trucks are familiar, but both kosher restaurants and authentic delis are rare. Knesseth Israel, founded in 1889, is filling both gaps while exploring a surprising new way to sustain its historic congregation. Like many small Southern synagogues, Knesseth Israel faced dwindling membership, financial pressures, and questions about its future. After selling their synagogue building and parting ways with their Rabbi, the congregation chose a bold new path: to open a business. Knesseth Israel’s restaurant venture began with a vegetarian crepe enterprise called Holy Crepe, and through experimentation evolved into JJ’s, which specializes today in homemade corned beef and pastrami. On our listening journey we meet Beth Scherer Smokey, a longtime member and volunteer who led the congregation through this transformation. We also meet chef Nathan Lichenstein. Raised in an Orthodox Hasidic family in New York, Nathan once ran a glatt kosher food truck in the city and cooked for thousands of pilgrims annually in Ukraine. His move to Birmingham brought not only culinary expertise but also new energy to Knesseth Israel. His passion for good, kosher food has made JJ’s both a crowd-pleaser and a point of pride. This episode places JJ’s within the wider history of Birmingham’s Jewish foodscape, once clustered along Fourth Avenue, overlapping with the heart of the historic Black commercial district and the old Jewish neighborhood. Community historian Barbara Bonfield recalls memories of borscht, kosher butchers, and the neighborhood life that sustained Jewish Birmingham in the early to mid-20th century. This story also speaks to larger trends. In 2022, a Pew Study projected that by 2070, “nones” (those unaffiliated with organized religion) would outnumber Christians, who made up 64% of the national population at the time. Against this backdrop, Knesseth Israel’s story offers lessons for other small faith communities seeking to adapt their models to demographic realities. JJ’s isn’t just a source of revenue; it’s also a form of outreach, connecting across Birmingham’s Jewish and broader communities alike. Though they’ve reduced their footprint, JJ’s has helped Knesseth Israel gain visibility both within and beyond the Birmingham Jewish community. This is a story at the intersection of tradition and innovation, faith and food—one that shows how a small but mighty congregation found its future not by clinging to the past, but by rolling it out on a food truck. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Southern Cooking Comes to Portugal

  In “Southern Cooking Comes to Portugal,” Gravy producer Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong takes listeners to Porto, the second largest city in Portugal, which anchors the northern region. Porto is famous for its wine and its hearty francesinha sandwiches. But this city of a quarter million people has a food scene whose depth might surprise you. Porto runs the gamut from picturesque century-old markets to hipster bakeries whose joelho pastries and glazed cornflake croissants frequently spawn lines out the door. And it’s also home to not one, but two Black Alabamian women reinventing what it means to be a Southern chef. While Gravy is a show about the changing American South, this is a story about the malleability of Southern identity—and changing American Southerners. Angela Sellers is the owner of Piccolo Cameo, a Mediterranean fusion restaurant focusing on bright, seasonal pastas. The restaurant happened almost by accident, but it has grown to be one of the city’s culinary gems. And Bridget Jones (yes, that’s her real name) serves rustic cuisine with southern charm as SouthernGal in Portugal. Her business was also not something she planned when she moved to Portugal—it felt like the universe nudged it into place. Bridget and Angela are among the thousands of Americans currently living in Portugal, as is Adwoa, this episode’s producer. Not long after Adwoa moved to Porto, a friend told her that the city felt like the opening scene of Beauty and the Beast: everybody waking up to say "bonjour" (or "bom dia," as the case may be). People's manners feel familiar to her in a way that puts her at ease.   For Bridget, that southern adjacency is also reflected in the food: Portuenses eat similarly to American Southerners, fatback and ham hock included. But Angela has found freedom in redefining what it means to be a Southern chef. In both cases, their identity is something they carried with them through customs—something that informs who they are, but doesn’t define their identity. Each of these women has lived in many corners of the world, but there’s something about the city of Porto that makes room at the table for everything they are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• We Sure Eat Good When Someone Dies

  In “We Sure Eat Good When Someone Dies,” Gravy producer Caleb Johnson takes listeners back to August 2024, when his extended family gathered inside a Baptist church in Arley, Alabama, to mourn the loss of their matriarch—his grandmother, Celia Sampley. Before the funeral service, the church served lunch for the family, including chicken and dumplings, green-bean casserole, and plenty of desserts. A particular cake caught Caleb’s eye that day, called a pea picking cake. In this episode, Caleb steps into the kitchen of the woman who baked that memorable cake and explores how eating something sweet helps us process grief. The cook’s name is Sandra Stewart, and she was a good friend of Caleb’s grandmother. They attended Bethel Baptist Church together for many years. When it came time to bake something for the funeral wake, Sandra looked through her large recipe book. She chose a pea picking cake because all the ingredients she needed were already in her pantry. Her choice was mainly for convenience. Traditionally, recipes for pea picking cake call for using a box cake mix. The first box cake mix was created in the 1930s, but it didn’t become popular until after World War II. Caleb talks with food historian KC Hysmith about the mysterious origins of the pea picking cake and how it fits into a tradition of fancy box cakes that grew popular in the second half of the twentieth century, a time when home cooks started using more store-bought, convenience ingredients. Caleb also speaks with Dr. Candi K. Cann, a professor of religion at Baylor University and a self-described death scholar, about funeral traditions involving food around the world. She explains that these traditions help mourners revisit meaningful relationships. However, despite the close link between funerals and foodways, Dr. Cann says Americans aren’t taught how to navigate grief, partly because individualism is a key part of the Protestant faith. She believes this has led to less emphasis on communal meals like the one served at Caleb’s grandmother’s wake. *** This episode was reported by Caleb Johnson. Johnson is the author of the novel Treeborne, and a frequent contributor to the Gravy podcast and magazine. He teaches creative writing at Appalachian State University.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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