Soul Food Priest
This is the podcast where culinary and Christianity collide. Each week Fr. Ben Bradshaw will serve up homilies, whip up Teaching Tapas, answer your burning questions, and pass along recipes.
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Episodes
Thursday Nov 06, 2025
Thursday Nov 06, 2025
What did you do on your Fall break? Silvia and Khira tried to catch some rest and have some time with the family. However, Fr. Ben @SoulFoodPriest attended the Culinary Institute of America and is the first priest to do so. Listen to hear what that experience was like for him.
We'd love to hear from you! You can email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.com or at Soul Food Priest Facebook page to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on YouTube @SoulFoodPriest!
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Monday Nov 03, 2025
Fr. Ben discusses the hard realities of mortality, but how all must be at peace with it. Watch to learn how. He also provides practical advice for everyone regarding ways to help your family be at peace after you pass. It's a difficult topic but Fr. Ben shares what he's learned from assisting so many families.
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear from you! You can email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.com or at Soul Food Priest Facebook page to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on YouTube @SoulFoodPriest!
Monday Oct 27, 2025
Monday Oct 27, 2025
Listen to learn what is considered a regret and how to heal from it. God is so good and doesn't want you to live with regret.
Got a question you'd like to ask Fr. Ben? You can submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast through Facebook, or you could email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.com. The questions can be on faith or food! You can also follow us on Facebook and YouTube @SoulFoodPriest. Thanks for listening!
Friday Oct 24, 2025
Friday Oct 24, 2025
Fr. Ben @SoulFoodPriest receives questions about Halloween in the fall every year. He, Silvia, and Khira discuss those questions and all the things we can and can't do as Catholics.
Got a question you'd like to ask Fr. Ben? You can submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast through Facebook, or you could email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.com. The questions can be on faith or food! You can also follow us on Facebook and YouTube at Soul Food Priest. Thanks for listening!
Monday Oct 20, 2025
Monday Oct 20, 2025
Negative self-talk can minimize how one views themselves; but, God has a greater plan for each person. How do you avoid negative self-talk? Find your talent. Listen to this homily to find out how and why?
Got a question you'd like to ask Fr. Ben? You can submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast through Facebook, or you could email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.com. The questions can be on faith or food! You can also follow us on Facebook and YouTube at Soul Food Priest. Thanks for listening!
Thursday Oct 09, 2025
Thursday Oct 09, 2025
Fr. Ben and Khira discuss some of their peeves in the kitchen. Along with this topic, it can be really bothersome by how some people misinterpret the Second Vatican Council. Fr. Ben sets to try and clarify some of those misinterpretations.
Let us know what some of your pet peeves are in the kitchen!
Got a question you'd like to ask Fr. Ben? You can submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast through Facebook, or you could email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.com. The questions can be on faith or food! You can also follow us on Facebook and YouTube at Soul Food Priest. Thanks for listening!
Monday Oct 06, 2025
Monday Oct 06, 2025
Fr. Ben explains the importance of prayer for married couples as well as the vital role parents play in their children's lives. This is a huge responsibility that can be difficult, but that's why there are new ministries to assist couples and parents in this endeavor. Take a listen to find out more. You can also visit @SoulFoodPriest on YouTube to watch the video he references.
Got a question you'd like to ask Fr. Ben? You can submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast through Facebook, or you could email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.com. The questions can be on faith or food! You can also follow us on Facebook and YouTube.
Tuesday Sep 30, 2025
Tuesday Sep 30, 2025
Changes happen all the time. Transitions are different seeing that they are rarer. How do you handle change? How do you handle transition? Fr. Ben spends time providing how we can better handle these times along with the hope that God is with us.
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear from you! You can email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.com or at Soul Food Priest Facebook page to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on YouTube!
Thursday Sep 25, 2025
Thursday Sep 25, 2025
Fr. Ben has received the question: How does one come into the Catholic Church. He , Silvia, and Khira discuss the stages people usually have of coming into the Church; but it's not without discussing some of their favorite summertime drinks with friends.
Got a question you'd like to ask Fr. Ben? You can submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast through Facebook, or you could email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.com. The questions can be on faith or food! You can also follow us on Facebook and YouTube @SoulFoodPriest. Thanks for listening!
Monday Sep 15, 2025
Monday Sep 15, 2025
Fr. Ben celebrates mass with those with special needs from all over Memphis, TN. It's a beautiful mass filled with joy, and that's precisely what Fr. Ben talks about in this homily. What does it take to have joy in life? Take a listen.
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear from you! You can email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.com or at Soul Food Priest Facebook page to submit questions and topic ideas for the podcast. You can also follow us on YouTube!
Every other week Fr. Ben will be answering your burning questions regarding food and faith. He is joined by two of his friends and staff members, Silvia Vega and Khira Rotty, who will be the moderators for the upcoming Q & A episodes.
If you have a question for Fr. Ben regarding food or faith email us at soulfoodpriestmemphis@gmail.org or the Soul Food Priest FB page at https://www.facebook.com/soulfoodpriest/.
Fr. Ben Bradshaw S.T.L.
Originally baptized Lutheran, Fr. Ben became Catholic at a young age and attended Catholic schools in Memphis growing up.
He always loved to cook and always considered being a professional chef or a Catholic priest, and so he became both.
At age 17, he began working for a French chef in Memphis and worked in kitchens until age 20. He then entered Johnson & Wales University culinary arts program in Charleston, SC. There he earned an Associate’s degree in Culinary Arts.
Fr. Ben then decided to travel to Russia where he lived and worked as a missionary with a religious community. It was there, in a small village, where he began to consider a calling to be a missionary priest. (Since then he has spent time visiting and working in Guatemala, Mexico, Africa, and Eastern and Western Europe.)
He returned home to Memphis and worked as a pastry chef for 5 years. This led him study in Paris, France at the L’Ecôle Lenôtre school of Pastry Arts, where he studied chocolate and pulled sugar artistry. He continued to consider more frequently the call to be a missionary priest.
After returning to the United States he attended The New England Culinary Institute in Vermont, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Food and Beverage Management. After graduating from NECI, Fr. Ben began considering an option he had not yet considered: Diocesan Priesthood. After much prayerful discernment, he entered the seminary at the age of 27 and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Memphis in June of 2006.
Fr. Ben earned a Masters of Arts and a Masters of Divinity in Sacred Theology. He wrote his Master's thesis on Pope Saint John Paul II's understanding of femininity and womanhood as it relates to writings of St. Edith Stein. He also holds a Licentiate degree in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, D.C. The focus on his dissertation was on the response of the Catholic Church to the issue of Same-Sex attraction. Since 2005, his continuing education studies have been at the Theology of the Body Institute in Philadelphia, P.A.
Fr. Ben is currently the pastor of St. Michael's parish in Memphis, TN.