What happens when a white family in the American South adopts an 11-year-old Chinese girl who’s never eaten a meal other than Chinese in her entire life and has no intention of starting now? Writer, blogger, and adoptive mother Taylor Holliday shares a story of how fear and frustration on all sides give way to a solution in this fiery story of creating a family from strangers by cooking Sichuan food.

In this episode of Gravy, reporter and producer Sarah Reynolds brings us to the northwestern part of Lexington, Kentucky, just inside the city’s loop road, where there is a little bit of Mexico. In all directions, there are signs in Spanish – a bakery, a restaurant, a grocery store, a daycare, a church. And just down … Continued

How many of us would be lost without our regular coffeeshop? In the age of wifi and telecommuting, cafes have become more than purveyors of lattes and cappuccinos. They’re the office, the community hub, and the conference room as much as the provider of our caffeine fix. And now—are they also a surrogate for the … Continued

On this episode of Gravy, we go global to explore the spread of a prolific Southern food to an unlikely place: pork barbecue in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

While Texas has an outsized reputation for many things, wine is not at the top of that list. Yet thanks to one Texan viticulturist named Thomas Volney Munson, you might remember Texas the next time you enjoy a nice Bordeaux. During an agricultural crisis in France in the late 1800’s, Munson’s tough grafted Texan vines saved the … Continued

In this episode of Gravy, Caroline Leland explores the challenges of finding and affording farmland, along with some of the keen individuals and organizations working to overcome them.

Chicken shawarma might not be the first food that comes to mind when you think of Memphis. This episode of Gravy takes us inside Ali Baba Mediterranean Grill to meet Mahmoud al-Hazaz, who made his home in the U.S. South after being forced to leave his native Syria.

Wayne Curtis reflects on what’s lost and gained as cocktail and spirits writers—as well as curious consumers—seek out well-supported history over well-spun stories behind the bar.

It’s the season for communal meals, like Easter dinners and Passover Seders. In the Mississippi Delta town of Greenville, members of the Hebrew Union Congregation synagogue have been hosting a community meal on the past 130 years. It brings together hundreds of Jews and gentiles from all over the Delta to share a corned beef on rye.