WFAE Podcasts & Columns

Authentic South: A Storytelling Podcast On Southern Culture

00000174-9e19-ddc3-a1fc-bedbd6df0000Authentic South is a sound-rich, storytelling podcast that explores Southern culture through food, art, music, the land, big personalities and interesting characters. These are long form radio stories accessible on demand. Subscribe on iTunes.Tanner Latham is a travel writer and multimedia storyteller based in Atlanta. After growing up in a small town in Alabama, Tanner spent over 10 years traveling throughout and reporting about the South as a Travel Editor for Southern Living magazine. He was also on staff as the multimedia reporter at WFAE from 2011 to 2012 .

What Is Southern?

WFAE | By Tanner Latham

Published May 10, 2013 at 4:19 PM EDT

1 of 6

Tanner Latham

2 of 6

Tanner Latham

3 of 6

Tanner Latham

4 of 6

Tanner Latham

5 of 6

Tanner Latham

6 of 6

Tanner Latham

I believe that okra symbolizes the ever-evolving definition of the South. It is Southern to the core, but as a non-native plant, okra had to become Southern. In my search for an answer to the question, "What is Southern?" I talk to my grandmother about her fried okra, the Director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, the former editor-in-chief of Southern Living magazine, and a Korean-born pop singer-turned-chef who fries okra in tempura batter at her Southern barbecue joint in Atlanta.