From Where to Here

Send us Fan Mail Some people don't expect a Yemeni family behind a Middle Eastern grill in Birmingham, Alabama. Noor explains why his family belongs here, and why no one who walks in is ever just a customer. Immigrants' Table is a series from From Where to Here shining a light on immigrant-owned restaurants in Birmingham, Alabama, the people behind the food, and the stories that travel with every plate. We sit down with Noor of Makarios Kabob and Grill, a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern rest...

Send us Fan Mail She grew up poor in the Philippines, where food wasn’t always shared. Now Lea runs Café Baboy, a Filipino food truck in Birmingham, Alabama, and her one rule is: food is for everybody. In this episode of The Immigrants’ Table, Lea takes us inside Filipino food culture, starting with adobo, a national dish born from poverty with only three ingredients. She explains malinamnam, a Tagalog word that goes deeper than “delicious.” She talks about salo salo, the Filipino tradition o...

Send us Fan Mail From Where to Here just got nominated for a Signal Award in the culture, belonging, and inclusion category, and I needed to tell you about it. I started this podcast selfishly. I moved from Montreal to Alabama and spent years struggling to find my footing. No community, no landmarks, no idea how to belong somewhere new. From Where to Here was my way of working through that, and eventually, a way to give other people a stage to share their own versions of that story. A nominat...

Send us Fan Mail What does it sound like when a language has a word for something yours has never even tried to name? This is Between the Words — a language-focused segment clipped from Episode 27 of From Where to Here. Sheyla from Blitar, East Java, Indonesia teaches us five words and concepts from Bahasa Indonesia and Javanese that reveal something profound about Indonesian culture. Maaf — the word for sorry that you never say just once. You repeat it until the situation moves on, and the p...

Send us Fan Mail He left Lebanon at 16 with a picky eater's palate and his grandmother's recipes locked in his memory. Today, Joseph Matta is the Owner, Founder, and Head Chef of Joseph's Table in Birmingham, Alabama, a Mediterranean and Lebanese restaurant where every plate carries the weight of a border crossed and a memory kept alive. This is Immigrants' Table, a series from From Where to Here shining a light on immigrant-owned restaurants in Birmingham, Alabama, the people behind the food...