Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to annemarie@southernfoodways.org.

oral history

Southern Baking

This collection highlights the voices of Southern bakers.

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Oral History

Southern Baking

This collection highlights the voices of Southern bakers.

Oral History

Sorghum: Southern Sugars

This collection of interviews features the voices of sorghum syrup producers from Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky,…

Oral History

Sustainable South Louisiana

This project explores farmers, watermen, and restaurant owners who work toward a more sustainable South Louisiana.

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Oral History

Saltwater South: Harkers Island, North Carolina

Harkers Island, located in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, is an island community built on foodways traditions…

Oral History

A Hamburger by Any Other Name

This project documents the style of hamburger popular in of the lower Tennessee Valley. While these varieties, known in…

Oral History

Tampa Devil Crabs

The history of the devil crab and the Tampa cigar industry are inextricable. Once made with a then plentiful but now…

Oral History

Charleston Stories

Stories from the culinary luminaries of the Lowcountry filmed aboard the SFA Oral History Bus.

Oral History

Minorcans of St. Augustine

The Minorcan presence along Florida’s First Coast is traced back to 1768, when Scottish speculator Andrew Turnbull cast…

Oral History

The Lives and Loaves of New Orleans

The stories of French bread bakers of Vietnamese, German, and Italian heritage in the Crescent City.

Oral History

French Quarter Cocktails

New Orleans is likely not the city where the cocktail was invented, as the long-held myth claims. But it is the city…

Oral History

Middendorf’s and Manchac

Our latest oral history project explores Middendorf's, a now iconic restaurant that opened in 1934 in the fishing…

Oral History

Highlands Bar & Grill at Work

This oral history collection highlights the life and labor of some of the key chefs, waiters, and bartenders who have worked (or still work) at Highlands Bar & Grill.