Tim Armstead, chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, declared May 'Treatment Court Month' to recognize an alternative to incarceration that addresses substance use disorder.
This week on Inside Appalachia, we’re talking about food and some of the food we southern Appalachians are famous for.
We’ll travel to explore stories and the roots of some southern food, visit a historic salt mine in West Virginia that’s being revived and we’ll head over to a fried chicken festival in Virginia.
This show is sure to feed your appetite for stories about Appalachian food.
Across the coalfields, grocery stores are disappearing. McDowell County, West Virginia, just lost its Wal-Mart and people really don’t have a lot of options if they want to buy fresh food. It’s part of the reason why so many people in Appalachia get their food at gas stations — a lot of hot dogs, chips and Slim Jims. We know that’s Appalachian food too, but it’s nice to have options.
There’s an older kind of cooking that’s not quite as popular here in rural Appalachia and across the south. The simple comfort food our grandparents ate. Oddly enough, it’s these foods that are starting to get more popular in urban areas across the country. Everything from gravy and grits to ramps, beans and cornbread, these dishes seem to keep appearing in restaurants in cities like New York, Richmond and Louisville.
With the rise in food deserts in the region, we think it’s important to cover stories about food. We found a podcast that tackles some tough topics, in a smart way … with food. We invited some special guests onto our show this week: The producers of a podcast called Gravy by the Southern Foodways Alliance.
A Salt Story: West Virginia Siblings Mine the Past to Build a Future
While West Virginia may be known for resources like coal, the country once turned to this mountain state for a culinary staple: salt.
Salt production started in this part of the Appalachian mountains in the late 1700s. It was an industry built on the backs of slaves, and one that proved destructive to the region’s environment. Now, a seventh generation salt-making family is reviving the business.
In this episode of Gravy, Caleb Johnson and Irina Zhorov bring us the story of one family’s attempt to reconcile its salt-making past with a more environmentally and socially responsible future.
Fried Chicken: A Complicated Comfort Food
It’s easy to love fried chicken. The light crunch of a crisped wing or leg, followed by the moist meat of the interior; it’s understandably beloved. But there is more going on with this comfort food than you might think.
Fried chicken has both been the vehicle for the economic empowerment of a whole group of people — and the accessory to an ugly racial stereotype. How can something so delicious be both? In this episode of Gravy, Lauren Ober goes from a Virginia Fried Chicken Festival to a soul food restaurant in Harlem to find out.
On this West Virginia Morning, a pipeline safety watchdog said federal regulators “should be on notice” about a pressure test failure on the Mountain Valley Pipeline earlier this month.
This week on Inside Appalachia, rock climbers with disabilities have found a home in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, which offers some pumpy crags. Climbers have also been working to make West Virginia's New River Gorge more inclusive. And a master craftsman, who makes one of a kind whitewater paddles remembers some advice.
On this West Virginia Morning, we speak with Judy Ball, chair of the Legislative Action Workgroup for the League of Women Voters of West Virginia, to break down the state's 2024 Legislative Scorecard. Also, we hear an excerpt from our Us & Them episode, "Compassion Fatigue."
On this West Virginia Morning, we hear from Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, chair of the West Virginia Democratic Party, on the efforts to rebuild the party and restore Democrats to state offices ahead of this primary election. Also, we hear about preservation efforts for a historic Black church in Harpers Ferry.