Chewing the Fat

What makes cultured meat imaginable? Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft is a public scholar whose latest book, Meat Planet: Artificial Flesh and the Future of Food, looks deeply at this question. These days, technologies for cultured meat are kept more and more under wraps; Ben’s research then, offers an incredible glimpse at the industry. We chat about … Continue reading Ben Wurgaft: Meat Planet →

Something about food engraves itself in our memories. It appeals to our physical senses in taste and smell, and cooking can quickly become part of muscle memory. But food touches on our experiences too: it’s part of conversations around the table (and sometimes the center!), capable of shaping traditions and histories. So where might a … Continue reading Food & Memory →

What roles do some of New Haven’s non-profits play in the city’s food landscape? We speak with Sanctuary Kitchen and Love Fed New Haven, and the city’s Food Systems Director Latha Swamy to understand how food-centered programming, organizing, and activism address the needs of New Haven’s various communities. While organizations build their own niches, so … Continue reading Nonprofits and New Haven: Driving Food-Centered Inclusion →

Banh mi, the Vietnamese sandwich, has become a widely beloved dish. With its unique combination of flavors—crunchy bread, sour pickled carrots, fresh cucumbers, savory cold cuts, among other things—banh mi has captured the imagination of people, even at non-Vietnamese establishments. How did this happen? What can we learn when we examine the history of this … Continue reading Tracing Banh Mi →

Plant-based. Vegetable-forward. These terms have become more and more popular in a culinary world now obsessed with sustainable eating. But what if these ideas are hardly new? What if they have deep cultural roots around the world that often go underacknowledged or underappreciated? Bryant Terry is the chef-in-residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora … Continue reading Bryant Terry: Vegetable Kingdom →

In the early 2000s, eating local was believed to be transformative for our food systems. Those changes may not have come true, but what happens when we revisit local food today—this time, emphasizing equity, coalition-building, and approaches specific to place? Kiki Louya is a Congolese-American chef and entrepreneur who founded the all-women hospitality group, Nest … Continue reading Kiki Louya: A Detroit For All →

For chef Paola Velez, kitchens are spaces for endless exploration. Detailed historical research and precise culinary craft come together to centerthe flavors, foods, and experiences of the Black diaspora. Sustainability isn’t a buzzword, but is a substantive set of evolving practices and values. She builds teamwork and belonging, transforming the kitchen into its own “starter”: … Continue reading Paola Velez: Reimagining the Restaurant Kitchen →

Representation in the restaurant industry matters. Afro-Korean chef Nyesha Arrington joins us to reflect on her multicultural experiences growing up in LA, training in Michelin star restaurants, and competing on television and internationally. In navigating different––and sometimes exclusive––cooking spaces, Nyesha has drawn on her own identities and experiences to empower and evolve her craft. Listen … Continue reading Nyesha Arrington: Born to Create →

At the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT), the culinary arts have led to storytelling, job growth, and equitable development for New Haven’s marginalized neighborhoods. Erik Clemons, CEO and founder of ConnCAT, chats with us about what it has taken to address poverty in the city, and how food and health are at the … Continue reading Erik Clemons: Food & Empowering New Haven →

Food policies—even if seemingly fair or innocent—have disproportionately harmed communities of color and their health. Legal scholar Andrea Freeman asks questions of how we use the law to prove and address such injustices. In this archival episode, she shares more about this legal process, and the broader ways to challenge the interests of Big Food. … Continue reading Andrea Freeman: Race, Law, and Food Oppression →

Happy New Year! Enjoy our first episode of the next decade with ocean farmer and longtime YSFP friend, Bren Smith. We feature his new book, Eat Like A Fish: My Life as a Fisherman Turned Restorative Ocean Farmer. What does it take to build an economy for ocean farming? Training and empowering a new generation … Continue reading Bren Smith: Eat Like A Fish →

Native peoples in the United States are sustaining and revitalizing their unique relationships to food, land, and more broadly, their own cultures. But how have tribes learned from one another and built broader coalitions? Brown University Professor Elizabeth Hoover has traveled across the U.S. to document these efforts, interviewing indigenous growers, seed-keepers, chefs, and many … Continue reading Elizabeth Hoover: From Garden Warriors to Good Seeds →

Enjoy a special holiday episode of Chewing the Fat with your Thanksgivings! Food writing needs better standards. From the places she visits, to the language she chooses to use, San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Soleil Ho has shown how her writing tells deeper stories about food and the cultures it comes from. But what makes … Continue reading Soleil Ho: A More Honest Restaurant Review →

Ever wonder what it takes to produce an award-winning food podcast? At a live event with us, Gastropod co-hosts Cynthia Graber & Nicola Twilley share about their fascinating journey using science and history to tell stories about food. In the conversation, the two cover everything from the twists and turns of some of their episodes, … Continue reading Cynthia Graber & Nicola Twilley: Food for the Ears →

You’ve heard it before: over one-third of all food is never eaten. Meanwhile, one in eight families struggles with hunger. So goes the problem of food waste––an environmental, social, and moral blight that affronts our public conscience. But is all food waste created equal? What might actually be wasted in producing food? Who benefits most … Continue reading Wasted: Untold Stories of Food Waste →

Facing hunger and labor challenges, Latinx farmworkers in Vermont have still found ways to provide for themselves and their families—all while propping up the state’s dairy industry. University of Vermont Associate Professor Teresa Mares explores these stories of resilience in her recent book, Life on the Other Border: Farm Workers and Food Justice in Vermont. … Continue reading Teresa Mares: Life on the Other Border →

It’s about more than just business. Ninth Square Market Too Caribbean Style and Rhythm Brewing Co. are two of many black-owned businesses in New Haven drawing from history and family traditions to provide delicious food and drink for local communities. Ninth-Square owner Elisha Hazel and Rhythm Brewing Co. founder Alisa Mercado share about overcoming challenges … Continue reading New Haven’s Own: Ital Eating & Lady Lager →

How can film tell the stories of people and their cuisines? Their histories and identities? Alexandra “Allie” Cuerdo is the director of ULAM: Main Dish, the first documentary following how chefs and restaurants are building a powerful Filipino food movement across the U.S. We chat about the diversity of cuisine from the Philippines, and how … Continue reading Alexandra Cuerdo: Filipino-America is in the Food →

In our public conversation with farmer and activist Leah Penniman, we listen to her tell the powerful story of Soul Fire Farm, as told in her book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. She shares with us on uncovering truth with language, how Afro-indigenous communities have influenced sustainable … Continue reading Leah Penniman: A Food Justice Movement for All →

How are movements for land ownership changing across the American South? In this week’s episode, Savi Horne, Director of the Land Loss Prevention Project, speaks to how demographic changes, recent legislation, and new cooperative models are affecting how we envision the future of land tenure. How might coalition-building around land—historic and contemporary—advance social and environmental … Continue reading Savi Horne: Shaping Land Justice Today →

Samin Nosrat’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is now a best-selling, James Beard award-winning cookbook, also turned Netflix series. Dive into Samin’s creative process as she was still writing the book back in 2015: her inspirations, doubts, collaborations, and hopes for writing something timeless. Plus, Samin shares more on what culinary stardom doesn’t tell us, and … Continue reading Samin Nosrat: Discovering Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat →

Pasta. Olive oil. Polenta. Much of Italian cuisine today has come to be defined by staples like these and their associated dishes (with strict recipes and rules to boot!). Yet how did we arrive at these ideas? Karima Moyer-Nocchi is a food historian who looks at the development of the Italian culinary landscape. She discusses … Continue reading Karima Moyer-Nocchi: Italian Foodways and the Myth of Authenticity →

What happens when chefs and scientists work together? On this episode of Chewing the Fat, flavor chemist Arielle Johnson chats about how her work has blended the kitchen and the laboratory. Understanding flavor, it appears, might not just help us push the boundaries of cooking, but also deepen our commitment for how to affirm food … Continue reading Arielle Johnson: Making Flavor Work For You →

As the way China eats transforms, food activism and education are rising to address these changes. This week’s episode of Chewing the Fat collaborates with Kate Logan of Beijing Energy Network podcast Environment China to interview Wanqing Zhou to learn about her research and grassroots organizing in China. Starting with an overview of the country’s … Continue reading Wanqing Zhou: Plant-Forward and Backward in China →

What might a world without hunger look like? On this episode of Chewing the Fat, we interview Dr. M. Jahi Chappell about his book, “Beginning to End Hunger: Food and the Environment in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and Beyond.” From the story about a city of 5 million that took on food security more holistically, we … Continue reading M. Jahi Chappell: Pulling Weeds and Beginning to End Hunger →

Gerardo Reyes-Chavez and Patricia Cipollitti are from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and will speak to labor and food justice in the agriculture.

Bernoulli Finance provides financial strategy, planning, and operations services to ecologically-minded ventures including businesses in the sustainable food sector, such as Dandelion Chocolate, Magnolia Brewing, Nuchas, and others across the U.S. Oberoi’s other professional affiliations include finance instruction at the Food Craft Institute, a nonprofit imparting traditional food making and business skills to entrepreneurs, and … Continue reading Anjali Oberoi, Founder and Director of Bernoulli Finance →

From food tech and food trucks to crowdfunding, start-ups and hospitality, Nastassia Lopez has a wealth of experience in businesses aimed at bettering food systems and the environment through culture. Lopez is joint podcast host of Cooking Issues with Dave Arnold, Culinary Board member for the forthcoming Museum of Food and Drink in New York … Continue reading Nastassia Lopez On Innovation in the Business of Food →

Marydale Debor founded FreshAdvantage after recognizing the urgent need to revolutionize traditional institutional food service. Her most recent project has reformed food service in New Haven’s Connecticut Mental Health Center, to great acclaim. Anne Gallagher is a chef and culinary instructor instrumental in creating youth cooking programs in Connecticut. Francine Blinten is a nutritionist with … Continue reading Women Addressing Food In Healthcare →

Cherry Bombe is a biannual indie publication celebrating women and food, and has expanded to include an annual conference in New York City called Jubilee, celebrating women in the food industry. Harper’s Bazaar alums, dubbed fashion’s favorite foodies, Kerry Diamond and Claudia Wu will chart their entrepreneurial path from fashion to food, explaining the business … Continue reading A Conversation With the Founders and Directors of Cherry Bombe Magazine →

Join us for an interview with Jane Owen. Jane is a senior editor at the Financial Times, and has extensively written on gardens, travel, and public spaces. In this interview, she reflects on beauty, and the latent artistry in our landscapes.

Yale College graduate Jack Hedin grows organic vegetables on a 250 acre farm in Minnesota and writes for publications including the New York Times and Bloomberg. Join Hedin as he shares his path from Yale to organic farming and his mission for environmental and financial sustainability.

Mark Rosati works to integrate a culture of American food hospitality at home and abroad. Hear him talk about how he sources delicious and sustainable food in a growing company that is fit to compete with the fast food monoliths.

Eric Holt-Gimenez is the Executive Director of Food First, an organization out of Oakland, California that seeks to expose the root causes of hunger and inequalities in our current food systems. His work spans from agro ecology to political economy, and provides a valuable lens through which to imagine food systems that haven’t just been … Continue reading Food Justice and the Food Movement: An Interview with Eric Holt-Gimenez →

Listen to Jean-Martin Fortier discuss micro-farming, young farmers, and what it takes to successfully operate a market garden.

Listen to Jacques Pepin speak about sense, memory, his career as a chef, and the development of the American foodscape.

Listen to writer Francis Lam talk about home, social justice, food writing, and immigrant cuisines.

The Plunkett Foundation is a organization based in Oxfordshire, England. Their work helps predominantly rural communities set up and maintain multiple types of co-operatives: community shops, co-operative pubs, and community food enterprises amongst others. Peter Couchman is the CEO of the Plunkett Foundation, and has spend most of his working life in the co-operative movement.

Chief marketing officer of Victor & Spoils, Andy Nathan, will share his experiences building the world’s first advertising agency based on crowdsourcing principles. Nathan uses marketing to create a healthier America. His most recent project pitted Kale against Broccoli in an effort to get more Americans to eat their (fad-free) vegetables. Hear him talk about … Continue reading Andy Nathan from Victor & Spoils →

Why is it that much of our best American-caught seafood is sent abroad while restaurants and supermarkets import more and more foreign seafood every year? Hear about the challenges facing local seafood from James Beard award winner Paul Greenberg.

As part of the Festival of Food Security and this summer’s Food Justice campaign, Hartford’s HartBeat Ensemble presents the US premiere of the Indian Ensemble’s Thook (spit), a play in four vignettes. From the Bengal famine of 1943 to the severely under-reported Food Riots of 2008, Thook uses dark comedy, satire and documentary styles to … Continue reading Abhishek Majumdar and Ira Karnik Talk About the Play “Thook”, Hunger and Food Security →

Founded by the chef of Noma, widely recognized as the #1 restaurant in the world, Rene Redzepi, the Nordic Food Lab investigates food diversity and deliciousness, combining scientific, cultural and culinary techniques from around the world. Yale graduate Evans CC’12 will speak about broadening taste, the gastronomic value of insects, and exploring the edible potential … Continue reading Josh Evans of the Nordic Food Lab →

Min Ye, co-founder and COO of the Smorgas Chef Restaurant group, talks about transitioning from finance to food, about working ingredients from the group’s Blenheim Hill Farm into their dishes, and about staying profitable in a competitive industry without losing a grip on what’s important.

Chris Boswell, founder of the Rome Sustainable Food Project, talks about facilitating the cross-pollination of ideas from food leaders all over the world by encouraging them to come to the table and share meals and ideas with the Project in Rome. Boswell spoke to how the Project believes in the power and importance of improving … Continue reading Chris Boswell: Sustainable Food in Rome →

The co-founders of the website GoodFoodJobs.com take us to school on the ins and the outs of making the best move fresh out of college, thinking your way around a career in food and making sure your head is screwed on straight in the decision-making department.

Director of Agriculture at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade policy on the need for political awareness among scientists and the productivity of thinking across multiple disciplines in understanding food.

Hunter, author and adventurer on creating a culinary market for invasive species.

Daphne Miller, Family doctor, author, professor and some-time farm hand on the ways that sustainable farming can help us think about healing and staying healthy and about changing the way that doctors understand and treat illness.

Harold McGee, author and food-science pioneer talks about where science fits into modern cooking and eating.

Jackson Landers, a hunter, author, adventurer, and founder of the invasivore movement, on shooting pythons, cooking geese and what it means to be a locavore hunter.

Executive Director of FoodFirst on the sources and results of corporate capitalism’s control of the food system, and on the different forms of resistance that are forming all over the world.