Gravy

In “Tasting Haiti in New Orleans,” Gravy reporter Eva Tesfaye gives listeners a taste of Haitian cuisine—and history—in New Orleans. For Haitians living in the Big Easy, many things remind them of home, from Second Line parades to the architecture to the food. Red beans and rice, boudin, jambalaya… all these iconic Louisiana dishes have connections to Haiti. That’s because Haitian migrants profoundly shaped New Orleans culture. At the turn of the nineteenth century, enslaved people on the island of St. Domingue broke free from their chains. Led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, they snatched their freedom from the French. They renamed the country Ayiti, the Indigenous Taino name for the land. This not only sparked the fire of freedom and Black liberation movements around the world, but also had huge consequences for other French territories. White people fleeing Haiti found familiarity in Louisiana’s French culture and the plantation economy. Large groups of Black people, enslaved and free, also arrived with them, boosting Louisiana’s sugarcane economy. New Orleans became one of the Blackest cities in the country. “63% of Crescent City inhabitants were now Black. Among the nation's major cities, only Charleston, with the 53% majority, was comparable,” said Zella Palmer, a food historian at Dillard University. The influx dramatically transformed New Orleans’ culture and especially its food, giving it a Haitian twist that you can still taste today. “Haitian cuisine is the most underrated and unappreciated cuisine in the Western Hemisphere,” said Palmer. In this episode, Tesfaye gives Haitian cuisine its flowers. She takes us through the history of how Haiti helped shaped New Orleans’ iconic cuisine and introduces us to the modern chefs in the city who are bringing Haitian food back to the forefront. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In “Boars Gone Wild: Texans Hunt, Trap, and Cook a Piggy Pest,” Gravy reporter Georgia Sparling takes a deep dive into the conundrum around Texas’ pig problem. They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and that is certainly true of the wild hog population. Millions of feral pigs roam the rural (and not so rural) areas of the Lone Star State — destroying farmland, pushing out native animals, obstructing roadways, and leaving behind billions of dollars in damage each year. And their numbers are growing at an astounding rate. Hunters and landowners in Texas have a green light to kill any and all wild pigs, be it on foot, from a helicopter, or even from a hot air balloon. But then these intelligent yet invasive animals are often left to rot in the fields because everyone knows they’re tough and gamey, right? Well, not according to chef, butcher, hunter, and “hog apologist” Jesse Griffiths. The author of the James Beard Award-winning The Hog Book and co-owner of Austin’s Dai Due restaurant, Griffiths is on a mission to revamp the reputation of feral pigs. In this episode of Gravy, Sparling explores the wild hog origin story and how the population has grown, not only in Texas but across more than thirty states. Armed with a mic, she travels from field to table. She joins Griffiths on a hunt for hogs, and then takes listeners into the kitchen to understand just how varied, versatile, and sustainable their meat is. She will also explore their slowly growing popularity as wild boar meat becomes more available. Along the way, she speaks with Mitch Hagney of the San Antonio Food Bank. As federal funding cuts erode SNAP benefits and food pantry budgets, Hagney and his colleagues are devising creative solutions to address the hunger problem. They’re hoping that by teaming up with hunters and trappers, wild pigs can be a creative solution to feeding thousands of low-income families in Texas and beyond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the sixth and final episode of her six-part Tending series, host Shirlette Ammons seeks insight on the future of Black farming and asks if there is a world in which farmers are not dependent on the USDA. About Tending Hosted by award-winning musician and documentary producer Shirlette Ammons, Tending is a six-part narrative series that explores the ongoing struggles of Black farmers through the lens of Pigford v. Glickman—once the largest civil rights class-action lawsuit in U.S. history. Ammons—an eastern North Carolina native with deep farming roots—travels across seven Southern states to meet Pigford claimants and their descendants. Their stories paint a vivid picture of injustice and an ongoing fight for restitution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fourth installment of the six-part Tending series explores the power of the USDA's county committees, recounting a Black family’s tragic story of land loss and harassment and examining why these local committees are often called "the last plantation." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this second episode of Tending, Shirlette Ammons travels to Georgia, where she meets two Black farmers whose stories illustrate the emotional and physical toll of fighting the USDA's discrimination. About Tending Hosted by award-winning musician and documentary producer Shirlette Ammons, Tending is a six-part narrative series that explores the ongoing struggles of Black farmers through the lens of Pigford v. Glickman—once the largest civil rights class-action lawsuit in U.S. history. Ammons—an eastern North Carolina native with deep farming roots—travels across seven Southern states to meet Pigford claimants and their descendants. Their stories paint a vivid picture of injustice and an ongoing fight for restitution. Visit the “Tending” website here to learn more. The first episode in this series profiles North Carolina. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

In “An Orthodox Jewish Congregation Keeps on (Food) Truckin' in Birmingham,” Gravy reporter 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