Episode 3: “An Undeserved Gift: Okra”

Okra is not native to North America. It arrived here at the same time enslaved Africans did. No one — no botanist, no historian — can confirm exactly how it got here. But it has connected Southerners across the lines of race, faith, and gender for centuries. In this episode of The Bitter Southerner Podcast, James Beard Award-winning journalist Shane Mitchell travels to New Orleans to show how okra unites, in the gumbo pot and in our lives.

This Episode Features:

  • The late chef Leah Chase

  • Bitter Southerner contributor Shane Mitchell

  • The Rev. Hannah Quick (New Orleans), Organizing Pastor and Executive Director of Okra Abbey

  • Voodoo mambo Sallie Ann Glassman (New Orleans)

Credits for This Episode

Host: Chuck Reece
Producer: Sean Powers
Editor: Josephine Bennett
Theme music: Patterson Hood
Additional music in this episode came from Jon Roniger.

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Chuck Reece: “An Undeserved Gift”