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Gravy

Southern Foodways Alliance
Gravy
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  • From Stuckey's to Buc-ee's
    Few companies have inspired more fanatical devotion among Texans than the convenience chain Buc-ee’s. Described by the New York Times as both a “Disneyland of roadside capitalism” and the “through line of America’s second most sprawling state,” its iconic, buck-toothed beaver mascot has been spotted not just on billboards, but on wedding cakes and tattooed arms of its most loyal customers. Founded as a small-town gas station, today it boasts 47 locations across the South known for massive floor spaces brimming with souvenirs, fudge, BBQ stations, cases of jerky, and walls of branded snacks like “beaver nuggets.”  Yet unlike other treasured Lone Star enterprises like Whataburger, Blue Bell, or the grocery chain H-E-B, Buc-ee’s ascendance has been a fast, recent phenomenon. They are also far from the first convenience chain to endear themselves to travelers through reliably clean restrooms, kitschy gifts and road food. In fact, one could argue they stand on the shoulders of the Georgia-born Stuckey’s, whose nutty treats sparked a mid-century rest stop empire.  Today, both brands find themselves at a crossroads. Buc-ee’s is rapidly expanding, while following years of corporate mismanagement and decline, Stuckey’s is rebuilding itself one pecan log roll at a time.  In this episode we’ll ride shotgun with Gravy producer Evan Stern as he explores how food has shaped these companies' brand identities, how they’re grappling with change, and what their stories reveal about the past, present, and future of snacking on the American road. Along the way, we’ll step inside a Buc-ee’s that sprawls over 65,000 square feet, get to know some devoted customers, and hear from journalist Eric Benson, who argues this chain has come to symbolize 21st-century Texas. We’ll also meet Stephanie Stuckey, who, following a career in politics and environmental law, now serves as the chair of Stuckey’s. She shares her grandfather’s journey from pecan broker to gas station magnate, how she envisions Stuckey’s evolving, and why the road trip remains ingrained in the company’s DNA. The resulting piece is a profile of two brands that have shaped and continue to make American highways a “corridor of consumption.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • Oh, Snapper! Mislabeled Mississippi Seafood
    In “Oh, Snapper! Mislabeled Mississippi Seafood,” Gravy producer Boyce Upholt takes listeners to Biloxi, Mississippi—a town that has long called itself the Seafood Capital of the World. But in May 2024, shocking news hit the community: Mary Mahoney's Old French House, an iconic restaurant, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misbrand fish and wire fraud. For years, the iconic 60-year-old establishment had been selling cheap imported fish as premium local Gulf seafood, defrauding more than 55,000 customers. What makes this story particularly fascinating is the public's reaction, or lack thereof. Despite learning they'd been deceived, loyal diners packed Mary Mahoney's after the guilty plea, with customers posting on Facebook about their continued support for “their favorite restaurant.” This unexpected response reveals the complexities of the local identity in a place that is grappling with economic and environmental change. Biloxi's seafood industry once thrived on genuine abundance. Indigenous peoples had harvested oysters here for thousands of years, and by 1904, the town earned its “seafood capital” moniker through a booming cannery industry that shipped Gulf oysters nationally and internationally. But the same forces that built Biloxi's reputation—industrialization and globalization—eventually undermined it. Imported seafood began dragging down local prices in the 1980s, and disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill further devastated the fishing fleet. Mary Mahoney’s fraud, meanwhile, turned out to be just the tip of an iceberg. A consulting group used genetic testing and found that out of 44 area restaurants, only 8 were properly labeling their shrimp. Yet Biloxi's dining scene is also experiencing a renaissance. Chefs like Alex Perry at Vestige and Austin Sumrall at White Pillars have earned James Beard nominations while championing local ingredients and sustainable sourcing. Even at more casual spots like Bradley's—located inside a gas station—proprietors prove that serving authentic Gulf seafood can be both affordable and profitable. What parts of Biloxi’s identity matter? What does it mean, really, to be local? As Biloxi transforms from a working fishing port into a tourist destination dotted with casinos and chain restaurants, the town faces a choice about what parts of its heritage to preserve. The seafood fraud scandal serves as a mirror, reflecting not just economic pressures but cultural ones—revealing how a community that built its identity on the ocean’s bounty must now decide whether that connection still matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • Buzzkill: Save which bees?
    Gravy podcast is excited to share a special episode of a new podcast called Buzzkill, from our friends at FERN, the Food and Environmental Reporting Network. Buzzkill explores the dramatic decline of pollinators, including the American bumblebee, whose numbers have plummeted by 90% in just two decades. The series, hosted by Teresa Cotsilos, delves into how industrial monocultures, rampant chemical use, and unsustainable land practices threaten pollinators—and, by extension, three-fourths of the food crops we grow. This show is the first episode in the six-part series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • The Southern Genius of the Cuban Sandwich
    The Cuban sandwich. If it’s made with ingredients different from someone else’s recipe, you might find yourself in an hours-long argument in the middle of Little Havana. In Miami and Tampa, Florida, restaurant owners, historians, and Cuban Americans recount their own memories of the Cuban sandwich, as well as the story of its origins. In this episode of Gravy, reporter Kayla Stewart explores the sandwich’s long-standing origin story, new research about the Cuban sandwich, and how the South influenced the sandwich’s popularity and the current identity of Floridian Cuban Americans. Gravy thanks La Segunda Bakery, Sanguich de Miami, and Ana Sofia Pelaez, author of The Cuban Table, for contributions to this episode. Kayla Stewart is a James Beard Award-winning food and travel journalist, cookbook author, and a Senior Editor at Eater. Her work has been featured in Eater, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, and others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • A Muddy Future for Louisiana Crawfish
    In “A Muddy Future for Louisiana Crawfish,” Gravy producer Eva Tesfaye traces the aftermath of the summer of 2023, when a severe drought in Louisiana devastated the 2024 crawfish season. The dry soil and extreme heat killed the crawfish while they were still burrowed underground, meaning when farmers flooded their fields in the fall, they found their harvest would be dismal for the spring. That caused both farmers and consumers to suffer. In Louisiana, where crawfish are normally around $3 per pound, prices reached as high as $9 a pound. In Texas, it was even higher, around $12 a pound.   Tesfaye followed this story while it was happening, and it left her with a new question: With climate change bringing more extreme weather, are there ways to protect the state’s beloved mudbugs? To answer that question, she talked to Michael Moreaux, a crawfish farmer experimenting with different agricultural practices to attempt to produce healthy crawfish that can weather anything.   By focusing on the health of his female crawfish, using native grasses to feed them and filtering the water in his ponds, Michael seems to be producing tasty, resilient crawfish. He wants farmers and academics alike to take a look at his work, but the way the crawfish industry is set up makes it difficult for farmers to innovate, and academia doesn’t have enough crawfish specialists to solve all the problems threatening the state’s harvest.   One person interested in Michael’s methods is the young farmer Bruno Sagrera, who is struggling to break into the crawfish industry. Having grown up on a crawfish farm, he believes there are dire problems with the way crawfish are farmed today, but can’t get his family to buy into the practices he wants to try—so he’s on his own.   Both Michael and Bruno want to improve crawfish farming practices so that Louisianans can continue to eat the beloved mudbugs for generations to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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About Gravy

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.
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