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.
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.
Gustavo Arellano talks Mexican diasporas, meet the Greeks of Birmingham through oral histories, and a special behind-the-scenes delve into The Potlikker Papers. Jennifer V. Cole guest edits this issue of Gravy.
