More Oral Histories

Sort Histories By:

Houston’s Underbelly

Asian restaurateurs in Houston are redefining Texas foodways. Their stories inspire Chris Shepherd of the restaurant Underbelly in Houston. And they inspire the SFA.

Lumbee Indians of NC: Work and Cook and Eat

Despite outsider attempts to push labels and identities, Lumbee Indians have endured shifting challenges to their authenticity as Indians; this is how they survived.

Bully’s Restaurant

Bully’s Restaurant opened its doors on Livingston Avenue in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1982. This soul food kitchen has served its community for over 30 years at the same location: a brick building built by Tyrone Bully and his father, both former mason workers.

Cured South

Curing is not for the hasty; it cannot be rushed. It demands patience and memory.

Ya-Ka-Mein in New Orleans

Ya-ka-mein. Yakimi. Yet-ca-mein. Yak e mein. Yacamein. Ya-ka-meat. Yaka mein. Just to call out a few of the ways you might encounter the protein-and-noodle soup spelled around New Orleans.

Women at Work in San Francisco

We traveled to San Francisco to visit with female culinary entrepreneurs whose stories mirror the ones already in our archive. Their stories are our stories. They are the stories from the Global South.

Women Who Farm: Georgia

For anyone who’s stood in front of a woman farmer and said, “You don’t look like a farmer,” you probably haven’t been to Georgia.

Pie in Arkansas

Being a Southern pie lady is no task for the faint of heart. These women work hard to earn the title. These are their stories.

123456789

Trails & Regional Projects

Southern BBQ Trail - SFA Documentary

Southern BBQ Trail

Barbecue, barbeque, bar-b-q, BBQ: there are almost as many spellings as there are kinds of barbecue, as if the proliferation of words could express the mastering tastes and aromas of the food, all the experiences that can fill the mouth, the place where also words begin.

Southern Gumbo Trail a Documentary from Southern Foodways Alliance

Southern Gumbo Trail

Gumbo. So many versions, so many cooks, so many contradictions. Such as: Only use a roux with poultry, filé with seafood. Use okra in the summer, filé in the winter. You have to have a chaurice in your gumbo. You must use andouille.

Southern Boudin Trail

Food is a tie that binds, a constant, an equalizer, or in the words of James Beard: “Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” Food can also function as one of the defining characteristics of regional and cultural identity. Boudin, a unique but simple culinary concoction of pork, rice, onions and various other herbs and spices squeezed in to a sausage casing and served hot, is one of those foods.

Hot Tamale Trail

Hot Tamale Trail

Better known for its association with cotton and catfish, the Mississippi Delta has a fascinating relationship with the tamale. In restaurants, on street corners, and in kitchens throughout the Delta, this very old and time-consuming culinary tradition is vibrant.

SFA Founders Oral History Project

In the fall of 2004 the SFA launched its Founders Oral History Project. This important undertaking will forever preserve the history of the SFA through interviews with the organization’s fifty founding members.