Gastronomica

In this episode, Gastronomica's Irina D. Mihalache talks with Ozoz Sokoh, creator of Kitchen Butterfly and author of the forthcoming book, Chop Chop: Cooking the Food of Nigeria (2025). Ozoz reflects on how movement and mobility have shaped her work, recounting her journey from Nigeria to Canada and from the field of geology to food, and the life stations she's encountered along the way. The conversation centers the process of creative and curatorial work in food history and storytelling, with a focus on how food connects us. This episode concludes with a preview of Ozoz's debut cookbook. She shares the joys of living in a diverse city while developing recipes, being able to source ingredients not only from Nigerian grocers but from a wide range of multicultural stores, with similar items, and one of the dishes she's most excited about in the book. This episode also highlights the 2024 HRN Audience Survey (now open) and the publication of Gastronomica's Fall 2024 issue (24.3): The “Care Work” of Food is now available online.Photo by Oluwapelumi Bamidele of Ovia Reflex Photography.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Gastronomica's Dan Bender talks with anthropologist Alyssa Paredes about the role that stories of celebration can play in remembering food history — and in eclipsing alternative narratives about the past. Spotlighting the case of banana ketchup, Alyssa shares competing stories about the production of this popular condiment and explains how it came to be a celebrated symbol of Filipino cultural identity, yet one that overshadows unpalatable realities. Connecting narratives of past and present, Dan and Alyssa discuss the work that stories do and the process of interpreting them in food studies scholarship. Alyssa's new article, “Banana Ketchup: Food Memory and Forgotten Labor across the Filipino Homeland/Diaspora Divide,” will be published in the next issue of Gastronomica (24.2), coming Summer 2024.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

What do the stories we tell about food reveal about the moment in which they are written? Gastronomica's Melissa Fuster is joined by literary scholar turned food studies scholar Julieta Flores Jurado in a conversation about American food writing and how it has changed in recent years. They discuss key shifts in food journalism and the role of the critic, where a focus on pleasure and tastemaking has given way to new emphases on systemic and structural issues, a phenomenon accelerated in 2020 by the Covid-19 pandemic. Julieta sheds light on how contemporary American food writing differs from prior eras that showcased food as a platform for activism and change and explains what she takes to be distinctive about such writing in the current moment – its revisionary sentiment and the impulse to transform a field. Julieta's research will be published in the next issue of Gastronomica (24.2), coming Summer 2024.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Gastronomica's Jaclyn Rohel talks with Dr. Anne E. McBride and Dr. Tara Scully about how climate change is impacting restaurants, the focus of their collaboration on a new report from the James Beard Foundation and the Global Food Institute, The Climate Reality for Independent Restaurants: A Deep Dive into the Supply Chain and New Economic Realities. Anne and Tara share some of the key research insights and discuss how the James Beard Foundation is mobilizing this knowledge to support chefs, engage lawmakers, and advocate for sustainable food policies and conservation programs. Bringing together food systems research and advocacy, they shed light on the role of chefs in helping to advance climate solutions and highlight how to take action. Dr. Anne E. McBride is Vice President of Programs at the James Beard Foundation. Dr. Tara Scully is Director of Curriculum Development at the Global Food Institute at The George Washington University.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

This episode offers listeners a peek into Gastronomica's next issue. “Coproducing ‘Planetary' Eating Futures from Dakar: Dietary Diffusionism and the (Geo)Politics of Nutrition Transition” is co-authored by Branwyn Poleykett, Ndiaga Sall, Fatou Ndow, and Paul Young. Branwyn joins the show and talks with Gastronomica's Jaclyn Rohel about the concept of the planetary diet and the problems with dietary diffusionism, highlighting the process of localized engagement and what it means of negotiating global food system change. Listeners can learn more and find the article in Gastronomica's Summer 2024 issue, coming soon.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Gastronomica's Bob Valgenti talks with Evelyn Lambeth about the rise of beef consumption and the historical legacies that continue to shape food systems in Australia. Contrasting cattle with kangaroos and wallabies, Evelyn explains how imperial power and regulation have defined notions of what's edible – and what's not. Bob and Evelyn discuss what this means for local ecosystems today, and what policy changes and adaptations are needed to support environmentally and culturally sustainable foodways moving forward. Evelyn's research article will be available in the next issue of Gastronomica (24.2).Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

This week's episode looks at lab-grown meat, climate change, and the possible futures of edibility. In conversation with Gastronomica's Bob Valgenti, Hallam Stevens shares his new article about a mammoth meatball and what motivated him to explore the technological innovation of an un-eatable food. Connecting history, biology, technology, and ethics, Hallam discusses how cellular agriculture shapes the temporality of food and the category of the animal itself, weighing in on what these new forms of value creation mean for sustainability transitions.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Gastronomica's James Farrer talks with sociologist Pooja Kalita about gender and the labor of food provisioning in Assam, India. Taking the case of pithas – the steamed or fried rice cakes and roasted rice flour rolls that have been traditionally prepared by women – Pooja explores how men became involved in making and selling this everyday food item in the urban marketplace. Drawing on her new Gastronomica article, Pooja sheds light on how care work, trust, and authenticity came to be at the center of these efforts to preserve Assamese culture.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

Where is Food Studies today, and where might it be tomorrow? Join Alyshia Gálvez in conversation with Jessica Carbone, Irina Mihalache, Krishnendu Ray, and Signe Rousseau of Gastronomica's Editorial Collective as they weigh in on recent developments in Food Studies. They discuss some of their favorite pieces over the last year, reflect on directions in the field, and share what they'd love to see in the journal's pages in the future.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Gastronomica's Jaclyn Rohel talks with author Lillian Tsay about her latest research on the rise of the confectionery industry in the early 20th century, from banana caramels to chocolate. Focusing on sweetness and power in Japan and colonial Taiwan, Lillian connects the early commercial success of Western-style confectionery to histories of empire, industrialization, and commoditization. Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

What is “sweetness,” and how does its meaning change in communities over time? In this episode, Eric C. Rath and Takeshi Watanabe introduce some of the sweet substances of Japanese history, the subject of a special section on “The Power of Japanese Sweets and Sweeteners” in Gastronomica's latest issue. In conversation with Gastronomica's Dan Bender, Eric and Takeshi explore the theme of continuity and change in a culture by taking listeners through the complex history of sweets.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

What does food sustain? Elora Halim Chowdhury joins Gastronomica's Signe Rousseau to discuss her new article on family, class, and culture in South Asian identity-making. Reflecting on her food nostalgia for the family mealtimes of her childhood in Rajshahi, Dhaka, and New Delhi, Elora discusses how time, labor, and transnational connections shape identity and community.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Gastronomica's Krishnendu Ray talks with Sean Wyer about the 21st century transformation of Rome's Jewish Quarter. Drawing on his latest research, recently published in Gastronomica, Sean considers how a range of factors – from heritage tourism and cosmopolitan innovation to religious dietary laws and diasporic migration – helped shape Jewish-Roman cuisine and the evolving character of a historic neighborhood.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, cultural anthropologist Lauren Crossland-Marr returns to the Gastronomica podcast to discuss her new project on gene-edited foods and science communication. In conversation with Dan Bender of Gastronomica's editorial collective, Lauren shares her evolving research interests in food studies and how she transitioned from studying local “authentic” foods to researching the rollout of a new technology in global food and agricultural commodity systems with the GEAP3 network. Lauren introduces her most recent work, a podcast series called A CRIPSR Bite, that tells the story of a new gene editing technology through case studies of tomatoes, soy, cattle, and wine.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

Gastronomica's Dan Bender and Jaclyn Rohel explore wines from Italy's Alto Piemonte region in this discussion on taste, livelihoods, and a changing environment. In his newly published creative nonfiction article, Dan writes that “Wine is good for thinking ruins.” This episode connects abandoned factories, overgrown terraces, vineyards, cellars, and local memory of “The Great Hailstorm of 1905” to tell a larger story about how past, present, and future collide in the wineglass.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Nancy Sommers discusses her new creative nonfiction article, “Things Left Behind,” in conversation with Signe Rousseau, Co-Chair of Gastronomica's Editorial Collective. Nancy shares the personal story of sorting through the family keepsakes that her mother had meticulously preserved over the span of many decades. Recipes, menus, seating plans, accounts of household meals, drawings and diagrams and other ephemera – all classified, archived, and saved – come to new light against the backdrop of dementia. Nancy highlights the complex layers of remembering and forgetting, the surprises, and the unexpected gifts.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

What does it mean to be a “sustainable” chef? In this episode, Gastronomica's Jaclyn Rohel talks with anthropologist Jed Hilton about his latest research on culinary labor in the hospitality industry. Drawing on his ethnography of British chefs, Jed shares some of the ways that chefs navigate notions of sustainability through the craft of cooking. Connecting expertise, ethics, and the market, the conversation highlights the tensions that surround the meaning of sustainability in fine dining restaurants.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Gastronomica's Bob Valgenti talks with Chelsea Fisher and Clara Albacete about their new article on food justice and civilizations in the supermarket. Drawing on superfoods such as quinoa and chia, they unpack the process of ancient greenwashing and the notion of long-term sustainability. Their conversation connects the contemporary moment to pre-colonial civilizations to reveal how social inequities in global food systems live on through storied food.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Gastronomica's Alyshia Gálvez hosts historian Camille Bégin in a discussion on a family food archive. Drawing on her recent piece, Bégin stitches together a collage of memories from the 1948-49 letters of her great-grandfather, who traveled through Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia as an inspector of the French lycées. Bégin explains how she came to spin a narrative of food, family, and the French colonial empire through her great-grandfather's ephemera and three subsequent generations of family cooks.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

What is the social value of a daytime street market? In this episode, sociologist Ellen Meiser talks with Gastronomica's Dan Bender about the meaning and value of Taiwan's caishichang. Drawing on her early memories of these vegetable street markets and her participant observations of the same lively streets in the contemporary moment, Ellen explains the important roles that caishichang play in the local food system and in social, economic, and political life. Listeners can learn more about caishichang in Ellen's photo essay, featured in Gastronomica's newest issue (23.2).Photo by Ellen MeiserGastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Irina Mihalache of Gastronomica's Editorial Collective hosts Cristina Fernández Recasens in a conversation about women's domestic labor in coastal Catalonia. Cristina shares some of the findings from their work on fish consumption and gendered work in the local fishing industry, highlighting how the research eventually led them to a recipe for pebbles omelet. Listeners can learn more about the pebbles omelet and find the recipe for this subversive dish in Cristina's newest piece, featured in Gastronomica's upcoming issue (Summer 2023).Photo by Maria Fernández Recasens.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, anthropologist and registered dietician Annie Koempel discusses her research on the sociality of eating behaviors in conversation with Gastronomica's Jaclyn Rohel. Drawing on her latest article, available in Gastronomica's Summer 2023 issue, Annie explains the differences between disordered eating, eating disorders, and dieting. Situating surveys and stories of eating behaviors within the broader phenomenon of food sharing, Annie describes how disordered eating can move between bodies.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

What is tea art, and when and how did it emerge as a social practice? In this episode, Daniel Bender of Gastronomica hosts anthropologist Thiago Braga in a conversation about the aesthetics of tea in urban China. Drawing on his latest research, featured in Gastronomica's newest issue (Summer 2023), Thiago explains how contemporary Chinese Tea Art is neither a timeless nor an invented tradition, but a complex social phenomenon.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

What do eel, pie, and mash shops reveal about London's past, and what role do they play in the current moment? In this episode, Stuart Freedman talks with Signe Rousseau about his research on forgotten foods and changing urban spaces, forthcoming in Gastronomica's newest issue (Summer 2023). Combining sensory ethnography with the concepts of nostalgia and resistance, Freedman explores working class identity through the social worlds of London's disappearing eel, pie, and mash shops.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

This episode brings together physical chemistry, history, and food studies in search of the origins of a colonial Mexican fudge. In conversation with Gastronomica's Jaclyn Rohel, Patrick Charbonneau, Jeffrey Pilcher, and Kelsey Kilgore discuss their unique collaboration and share the story of how they re-created the dish in the teaching kitchen of the University of Toronto's Culinaria Research Centre. Drawing on manuscripts and published cookbooks from the 18th to 20th centuries, in combination with hands-on culinary experimentation, they trace the recipe to Mexican vernacular traditions of candy making.Photo Courtesy of Kelsey Kilgore.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast. 

What roles do culture, ecology, and neuroscience play in making sense of lived experiences of eating? In this episode, Victor Valle speaks with Krishnendu Ray of Gastronomica's Editorial Collective about his newly published personal essay, “Toward a Poetics of Chile.... in Another Mexico.” Reflecting on palatal taste, memory, family biography, and colonial history, Victor connects culinary aesthetics with neural networks as he delves into acquired tastes and parses the complex sensations of his chile-eating experiences over time.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast. 

How is value created in heritage food systems, and what role does the figure of the artisanal producer play? In this episode, anthropologists Lauren Crossland-Marr and Elizabeth Krause introduce a special section on authenticity, published in Gastronomica's newest issue (Spring 2023). In conversation with Gastronomica's Bob Valgenti, Lauren and Elizabeth share some of the most pressing questions around the notion of authenticity today. Drawing on culinary cases from Italy – including ethnographic research on slow figs and fast fashion - they discuss how storytelling and producers' improvisations shape value in the face of social, environmental, and economic precarity.Photo Courtesy of Betsy KrauseGastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, James Edward Malin talks with Gastronomica's Jessica Carbone about the history of seltzer in New York City. Drawing together histories of migration with histories of public health, engineering, and urban infrastructure, James sheds light on how soda water eventually came to be Jewish food icon. In discussing his new article in Issue 22.4 of Gastronomica, James takes listeners on a historical tour of some of New York's most important water provisioning sites, from the Croton Aqueduct, to seltzer street carts, to the eventual implementation of rooftop water towers. Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

How does environmental change and water scarcity affect heritage crops? In this episode, Holly Brause discusses her newly published ethnographic research on the chile industry in southern New Mexico. In conversation with Paula Johnson of the Gastronomica Editorial Collective, Holly connects the local effects of climate change and drought to the economic and cultural value of a heritage crop. Drawing together taste, place, and practices of agricultural production, she explains how the strategies used to grow chiles under the conditions of water scarcity can have unintended consequences for the quantity and quality of chiles produced.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Chanelle Dupuis talks with Dan Bender of the Gastronomica Editorial Collective about contaminated waterways and sensory perceptions of environmental change. Focusing on the changing smell of water and the role of the nose in sensing environmental degradation in the Peruvian Amazon, Chanelle sheds light on how bilious odors and processes of “slow smelling” affect riverine residents and Indigenous communities in and around the Nanay River. Drawing from her article in Gastronomica's newest issue (22.4), Chanelle connects the odors of pollution to ways of living that have come under threat, elaborating on the implications for community identity, local livelihoods, health and the sourcing of local foods, and spiritual connections to the waterways.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

Join Gastronomica's Editorial Collective as we discuss The Water Issue (22.4). Recorded live at the University of Toronto in November 2022, this episode offers a peek into a roundtable conversation on water across social and ecological registers, drawing connections between place, taste, and social justice. With contributions from Gastronomica editors including Paula Johnson, Irina Mihalache, Krishnendu Ray, Signe Rousseau, Bob Valgenti, Jessica Carbone, and moderated by Dan Bender, the roundtable explores water as a topic of food studies research where infrastructure, history, culture, and ethics meet.Photo courtesy of Paula Johnson.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

How is the war in Ukraine impacting regional food supply chains? In this episode, Gastronomica's Bob Valgenti speaks with scholars Diana Mincyte and Fabio Parasecoli about the current state of food systems in countries that immediately border Ukraine. They shed light on crisis and resiliency in localized food networks -- from emergency aid and community food supports for refugees to smallholder farming -- and on what may lie ahead for food security in Eastern Europe more broadly. Listeners can learn more from their new article in the Fall 2022 issue of Gastronomica.Photos courtesy of Fabio Parasecoli and Diana Mincyte.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

Could the future of a cuisine be designed, and if so, by whom? Gastronomica Co-Chair Signe Rousseau hosts Fabio Parasecoli in a discussion of the cultural work that tastemakers do in creating new forms of value in Polish food. From potatoes and vodka, to wine, to mushrooms and other foraged plants, they explore the ways in which tastemakers – as designers – create, innovate, and prototype new culinary experiences by working across the past, present, and future. Fabio shares insights and ethnographic reflections from his new Gastronomica article, co-authored with Mateusz Halawa, now available in issue 22.3.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

How does a food come to be linked to a place when there is movement and change? In this episode, food anthropologist Ishita Dey talks with Gastronomica's Krishnendu Ray about placemaking amidst historical, political, and ecological change in Bangladesh. Ishita shares stories and insights on the craft of sweetmaking from her research into Bogurar doi, bridging ecologies of dairy and fermentation with human geographies of migration, labor, and caste.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

What role could a restaurant play in defining a place? In this episode, Gastronomica Editorial Collective member Jaclyn Rohel speaks with writer Matthew Meduri about the role of the chicken house in a changing economy in Barberton, Ohio. Weaving together histories of migration, post industrialism, and urban transformation, Matthew Meduri shares memories of a Serbian-style fried poultry dish -- known locally as Barberton chicken -- and reflects on the Magic City as a place in search of its identity. Listeners can find Matthew's new article in the Fall 2022 issue of Gastronomica.Photo courtesy of Drzazga Photography.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

In this episode, Gastronomica Co-Chair Dan Bender speaks with Teresa Politano about her personal essay, “Don't Forget the Tomatoes for My Funeral,” a finalist in the upcoming 2022 International Association of Culinary Professionals Food Writing Awards. Drawing together stories of grief and comfort through a range of care packages – from freezer casseroles, grocery store cakes, and power bars, to homemade potato salads, freshly baked cookies and bread, and sun-ripened garden tomatoes – Teresa reflects on consumption and commensality in American funeral rituals.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.  

What is Mediterranean cuisine, and who shapes its meaning and boundaries? In this episode, Gastronomica Editorial Collective member Amy Trubek speaks with Jennifer Dueck about tastemaking and gastronomic representation in American journalism. A historian of Middle Eastern culture and politics, Jennifer traces the construction of Mediterranean cuisine in the American press over the latter half of the 20th century, noting points of erasure and expansion. She also highlights the important role that Middle Eastern and North African immigrant restaurateurs came to play in imagining the culinary Mediterranean within American public culture.Photo courtesy of William Cronon.HRN is home to transformative exchanges about food. Our 35+ member-supported food podcasts empower eaters to cultivate a radically better world. This month, we're asking you to join us. Become a monthly sustaining member at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

How do online restaurant reviews affect foodways in an emerging migrant destination? In this episode, rhetorician Consuelo Carr Salas and geographer Colleen Hammelman unpack the intersection of digital and physical culinary contact zones. In conversation with Gastronomica Editorial Collective member Jaclyn Rohel, Consuelo and Colleen share insights on tastemaking from their new research on Latin American and Caribbean food businesses in Charlotte, North Carolina, one the America's fastest growing cities. Drawing attention to the many ways in which customers and restaurateurs use notions of authenticity, they shed light on how people give meaning to new culinary spaces.HRN is home to transformative exchanges about food. Our 35+ member-supported food podcasts empower eaters to cultivate a radically better world. This month, we're asking you to join us. Become a monthly sustaining member at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

Sharing and eating food together is a common way to build connection, but how does one maintain family ties when separated by hundreds of miles? In this episode, Singapore-based anthropologist Indira Arumugam chronicles her family's migration through a story of salt, sun, and time. In conversation with Gastronomica Editorial Collective member Krishnendu Ray, Indira shares the techniques of sun-drying goat meat and fish from her family's village in Tamil Nadu and weighs in on culinary labor, love, and hospitality in rural-urban connections.HRN is home to transformative exchanges about food. Our 35+ member-supported food podcasts empower eaters to cultivate a radically better world. This month, we're asking you to join us. Become a monthly sustaining member at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

What can food imaginaries of the past reveal about pathways towards food justice? In this episode, Gastronomica Editorial Collective member Bob Valgenti talks with sociologist Endia Louise Hayes about her newest article, featured in Gastronomica's Summer 2022 issue. Drawing together political histories, lived experience, and collaborative discourses for future possibilities, Endia uncovers the role of African American food imaginaries in creating sustainable foodways. In spotlighting the work of George Washington Carver, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Edna Lewis, Endia discusses land access, community care, pleasure, and freedom, and shares some of the building blocks of an alternative food movement.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Gastronomica by becoming a member!Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

What does it mean to “eat healthy”? Gastronomica Co-Chair Dan Bender hosts Jason Edward Pagaduan in a conversation about the moral underpinnings of food. Drawing on his newly published story in Gastronomica, Jason shares his experience in a suburban mall walkers club, where he encountered unexpected ways to care for the body. Exploring questions of diasporic identity, cross-generational connection, and health, this episode offers a fresh take on the meaning of fast food.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Gastronomica by becoming a member!Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

​Rooftop cultivation can play an important role in feeding communities, but what is the place of animals in elevated urban gardens? In this episode, Gastronomica Editorial Collective member Lisa Haushofer talks with anthropologist Noha Fikry about the uses of home rooftops for feeding one's family. Drawing on her ethnographic research in some of Egypt's biggest cities, Noha explores rooftop rearing as a gendered practice of caregiving -- what she calls “bread-nurturing” -- and shows how it plays an important role in Egypt's culinary infrastructure.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Gastronomica by becoming a member!Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.