Logo for BATCH, A Bitter Southerner Podcast

BATCH, A Bitter Southerner Podcast

The Bitter Southerner

The Bitter Southerner wants to read you a story! (Make that batches of stories.) Yes, we’re launching a brand new podcast called BATCH, and in our first BATCH series we're sharing some of our most popular food stories. We Southerners love our food and we take our regional recipes seriously. In the coming episodes, we’re going talk about red beans, peaches, memories of the pound cake we had growing up and stories of people doing good and changing lives through food. We will laugh. We might cry. We’ll definitely have a good time. Join us here - for BATCH.

2023 Bitter Southerner

The Bitter Southerner wants to read you a story! (Make that batches of stories.) Yes, we’re launching a brand new podcast called BATCH, and in our first BATCH series we're sharing some of our most popular food stories. We Southerners love our food and we take our regional recipes seriously. In the coming episodes, we’re going talk about red beans, peaches, memories of the pound cake we had growing up and stories of people doing good and changing lives through food. We will laugh. We might cry. We’ll definitely have a good time. Join us here - for BATCH.

2023 Bitter Southerner
11hr 16min
Thumbnail for "Ep 008 - Boyce Upholt : Down To The Tide Line".
Who loves the beach? Time to head for our ever changing Southern coastline.
Thumbnail for "Ep 016 - Taylor Brown : Ode to Blackwater Rivers".
Sturgeon that weigh half a ton. The legendary Altamaha-ha river monster. Hogzilla. Mystery awaits as Taylor Brown takes us upriver to the Blackwater.
Thumbnail for "Ep 015 - Mickie Meinhardt : My Old Friend Natty Light".
To shore-living Marylanders (who do indeed qualify as Southerners), the humble, blue-collar, all-American staple is more than just cheap beer
Thumbnail for "Ep 014 - Jennifer Justus : Country Cooking: Minnie's Corn Pudding and Tammy's Better Than Sex Cake".
These days, downtown Nashville is littered with bars named after stars, and most of those names belong to men. Jason Aldean’s Kitchen. Even (bless his heart) Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock ’n’ Roll Steakhouse. But it’s the women of country music who ought to be on those neon signs. Jennifer Justus explores the history.
Thumbnail for "Ep 013 - Farhan Mustafa : Immigrant Spaghetti".
In Episode 13, our host Kyle Tibbs Jones chats with talented and hilarious writer Farhan Mustafa, author of The Bitter Southerner story, "Immigrant Spaghetti." For Farhan, spaghetti swaddled in a meaty tomato sauce electrified with spices like coriander, cumin, and turmeric was a regular recipe both at the family table and at mosque potlucks. Recently Mustafa, the child of North Indian immigrants, realized how special spaghetti has been to him and to so many others looking for a taste of home here in the South. In this episode he talks about reporting this story, Italian nights growing up in North Carolina, jacked up jars of Ragu, and his very southern take on a Charles Dickens classic. There's also a recipe in the show notes. Episode 13 is fun. Enjoy!
Thumbnail for "Ep 012 - Alana Dao : Southern Hustle: Houston Hip-Hop & Chinese Chicken ".
Timmy Chan’s fried chicken is legendary in the Houston hip-hop world. Alana Dao delves into the restaurant chain that her grandparents started in the 1950s + the emergence of chop suey and chopped and screwed
Thumbnail for "Ep 011 - Caroline Hatchett : The Elusive Roots of Rosin Potatoes".
The rosin potato - a baked potato cooked in a vat of boiling pine rosin - is a culinary oddity with mysterious roots. Caroline Hatchett joins us to talk about her unexpectedly long quest to find the truth
Thumbnail for "Third Batch Trailer".
BATCH is back! We're bringing you conversations and excerpts from our new book Food Stories: writing that stirs the pot - we can't wait to share it with you! You're gonna love it
Thumbnail for "Ep 010 - Lolis Eric Elie : The Whys".
August 29th, 2022, marked the 17th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating landfall on the gulf shore. Why did the people of New Orleans come back and rebuild their city? In 2015, we asked Lolis Eric Elie to help us find the answer. Today, he reads his piece The Whys.
Thumbnail for "Ep 009 - Jessica Bradley Wells : Where the Tupelo Grows".
Did you know that tupelo honey actually comes from the Panhandle of Florida? That's right, it's not from Elvis' hometown!
Thumbnail for "Ep 007 - Jim Barger : The Untold Story of Hibiscus Grandiflorus".
In this episode we follow writer Jim Barger deep into the forest of a barrier island in search of prehistoric flowers once thought lost.
Thumbnail for "Ep 006 - Janisse Ray : Okefenokee, Heavy & Precious".
Acclaimed author, Janisse Ray, on one of the great wonders of this world - The Okefenokee Swamp. In this story we travel deep into the swamp, we meet the people working to fight off a mining company whose plan will have devastating effects. Janisse is a devoted environmentalist and a mesmerizing storyteller. This episode is so good.
Thumbnail for "BATCH No. 2 is here!".
In our new BATCH of episodes - "Earth Stories" - we've recorded some of our favorite contributors reading their stories about special and fragile places across the South. Listen to these wonderful writers read their powerful words and then talk with our host, Kyle Tibbs Jones.
Thumbnail for "Ep 005 - Sheri Castle: The Seven Essential Southern Dishes".
Sheri Castle talks us through her world famous, highly controversial, list of the Seven Essential Southern Dishes
Thumbnail for "Ep 004 - Shane Mitchell : The Queen of Delicacies".
Shane Mitchell reads her piece "The Queen of Delicacies" about an iconic southern fruit: the peach!
Thumbnail for "Ep 003 - Beans and Rice & Lemon Meringue Pie".
In the third episode of BATCH, we're actually sharing two stories: a tale of love and a tale of… well, also love, but with some hate mixed in too. Nikesha Elise Williams reads “Beans and Rice: More than a Poor Man’s Meal” and Kathleen Purvis reads “Lemon Meringue Pie: A Lesson In Love, Hate and Bravery”
Thumbnail for "Ep 002 - Kate Medley : Meat and Three & 10 Dollars Worth of Regular".
Some people marvel at gas station food. Trust us, it's a beautiful thing.
Thumbnail for "Ep 001 - Jennifer Kornegay : The Difference Between Happiness And Joy".
A restaurant in Brewton, Alabama does its part to fight hunger by giving up on the idea of being a business at all. Meet Lisa McMillan, a woman serving up love in the form of fried chicken, mac and cheese and cornbread. Her story is a good one.
Thumbnail for "An Intro to Season 1/ Episode 1 of BATCH: A Bitter Southerner Podcast ".
Coming soon - a new Bitter Southerner Podcast!

Ep 008 - Boyce Upholt : Down To The Tide Line

Thumbnail for "Ep 008 - Boyce Upholt : Down To The Tide Line".
October 7, 202229min 39sec

In Episode 8, writer Boyce Upholt notes, “There’s a lot of beauty and joy and wonder in the world. And of all the beautiful places in our country, the Southeastern coast is one of our most beloved and extraordinary.” Oh, how we love our beaches! Unfortunately, our coastlines are now some of the most at risk due to the accelerating impacts of climate change, sea level rise, intensifying storms, and flooding. In “Down To The Tide Line,” Boyce takes the long view of this ever changing place where the land meets the sea, reminding us that it’s by cosmic luck that we’ve wound up on a planet quite so beautiful. We hope you enjoy Boyce’s reading and conversation with our host, Kyle Tibbs Jones. This essay is great and the episode is short — only 30 minutes!

Note: we recorded our conversation with Boyce Upholt prior to Hurricane Ian roaring through Florida in September. And as we publish this episode, we are just beginning to assess the devastating destruction there. Our thoughts are with everyone in Fort Myers and the surrounding area who were impacted.

Boyce Upholt is a freelance writer living in New Orleans. He won the 2019 James Beard Award for investigative journalism, and his work has been noted in the Best American Science and Nature Writing series.

Original Story

Down to the Tideline

Credits

Hosted by Kyle Tibbs Jones

Produced by Ryan Engelberger

Engineered by Thomas Sully Allen and Ben Lorio

Featuring original music by Curt Castle

Recorded at Tweed Recording in Athens GA, and Music Shed Studios in New Orleans, LA

Made possible by the support of the Southern Environmental Law Center

Thumbnail for "Ep 008 - Boyce Upholt : Down To The Tide Line".
Ep 008 - Boyce Upholt : Down To The Tide Line
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29:39