Episode 20: Ashley Wood of Manifest This! Podcast on Food Blogging, Mindfulness, and Vegan Motherhood

I’ll admit, I had a hard time capturing the conversation I had with this week’s guest in one simple title - I’d argue none could do this justice! I’m speaking with Ashley Wood on today’s show, the host of Manifest This! podcast and international Akashic Records reader. Ashley Wood is a healer, spiritual teacher, intuitive guide, and mother dedicated to empowering women to live their best life. She is passionate about vegan living, yoga, animals, and the outdoors. She lives in Winnipeg, Canada, with her husband Ben and daughter Ivy, and cats Bose and Feesh. Together, they create and produce Manifest This! and own Lot 49 Dairy Free Foods.

I first came across Ashley online when a friend recommend checking out her vegan food blog back in 2013, and I instantly fell in love with the joy and peaceful nature within each recipe post - she provided a lot of inspiration during the two very snowy Winnipeg winters I made it through! Since then, Ashley has gone on to become an amazing mother and an internationally-recognized podcast host and Akashic Records reader. This gradual shift made so much sense, given that Ashley radiates a kindness and wisdom that comes through even during an inter-province Skype call!

We speak in this episode about her journey through life and the ways that her vegan lifestyle has influenced and interacted with different periods of growth from her: from the reasons she became a vegan and longtime connection to nature, to her early food blogging days to the creation of her podcast and shift in focus to something that aligned more with her own spiritual goals and passions. This interview paints a beautiful audio-portrait of a woman who’s honesty and grounded nature has inspired thousands of women internationally to explore their spiritual side a bit more, and it was such an honour to speak with her on topics we both feel so passionately about!

Check out the full episode in the player above, or download on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio and Google Play!

Learn More About Ashley!

• Manifest This! podcast

• Akashic Records Readings

• Instagram: @_ashleywood

• Email: hello@ashleywood.life

Books Ashley Mentioned:

• Eat, Feel Fresh by Sahara Rose

• Veganomincon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz 

Get Social with AnthroDish:

• Instagram: @anthrodishpodcast

• Facebook

• Twitter

Episode 18: Cuban Coffee Magic with Monica Mustelier of Little Havana Cafe

For those of you who know me, you know I am a big time lover of coffee – in that I both have a severe dependency on it, but I’m also fascinated by the process and art that goes into creating coffee. Needless to say, I am really excited to share this week’s guest, Monica Mustelier! Together with her husband, Joshua, she owns Little Havana Café, which is a Cuban coffee trailer in Toronto, ON.

On the roots of their business, Joshua has said "we didn't want Little Havana Café to be just another food truck where you can get a regular cup of coffee. We made a very conscious choice to be as authentic as possible while sneaking in sustainable and organic ingredients where we can, right down the the build of the trailer and all of its repurposed materials."

 In this episode, we talk all about Monica’s early life along with some important cultural identities she connects with, and how that’s shaped her passion and desire to run the café. We explore the roles that coffee has played for Cubans in Miami, break down what organic foods means to Cubans, and the ways in which she’s brought the some of the magic from her summers in Miami up north to Toronto through her coffee. So curl up with a good cafecito and check out the episode here in the player above, or on any major listening platform of your choice!

Get social with Little Havana Cafe!

Instagram: @littlehavanacafe

Facebook: @littlehavanacafe

Website: littlehavanacafe.ca

Resources Mentioned:

Afro-Latina Dance @ The Junction

Facebook Group: Cuba in Toronto

Lula Lounge Toronto

Episode 17: Alexis Goertz on Fermenting Foods and Edible Alchemy

For some, the idea of fermentation is relatively new and topical. For others, it’s a deeply engrained part of their cultural background. I’m relatively new to learning about the process of fermenting foods, and a lot of my appreciation comes from this week’s guest, Alexis Goertz! Alexis is a fermentation coach and expert, as well as the co-founder of Edible Alchemy CoLaboratory.

Edible Alchemy was founded in Winnipeg in January 2013 by Alexis and her friend and business partner Natalie Elizabeth, where they hosted workshops about the possibilities and inevitabilities of the microbial world. This led to a spread of exciting ventures, including the Probiotic Bacteria Bar, talks, discussions, tours, workshops, and more. Alexis moved to Berlin in 2014 and brought the first Bacteria Bar with her to see if there was any interest. Undoubtedly it brought a large following, and Alexis began to expand the Edible Alchemy CoLaboratory across two continents.

In our interview, Alexis shares her wealth of knowledge surrounding fermented foods and microbiome health. She explores the history and reasons that cultures ferment their foods worldwide, the importance of fermentation for gut health, and the ways in which fermentation scenes compare and differ between North America and Europe. We also talk all about how she’s helping to change the perspective on “scary” or “gross” words like bacteria, yeast and mould – so if those may you a bit squeamish, stay tuned, because she does an amazing job normalizing the idea of bacterias and moulds. She taught me SO much in our interview and has a natural passion and ease translating the science of fermentation in a fun, edu-taining way!

Listen to the episode in the player above, or download on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Music!

Resources:

Main website: http://ediblealchemy.co

Online courses: https://ediblealchemyacademy.com/courses

Sandor Katz's Art of Fermentation

Social:

Instagram: @ediblealchemydotco

Facebook: @EdibleAlchemyColaboratory

Episode 11: Shailee Koranne on Racial Food Stereotypes, Cultural Identity, and David Chang's Ugly Delicious

This week on AnthroDish, I am interviewing freelancer writer and journalist, Shailee Koranne. Based out of Toronto, ON, she writes about pop culture, bodies, cultural production, politics, and identity. She has written for major news outlets like VICE, Huffington Post Canada, Bitch Media, GUTS, and the Aerogram. On top of all the amazing writing she does, she also studies Equity Studies at the University of Toronto. 

I was introduced to Shailee through a mutual friend and read a piece she wrote for Bitch Media called “The Fried Chicken Dilemma: Ugly Delicious wants us to love our foods and ourselves," where she explores the negative role that food-related stereotypes have on the relationships between people of colour and their cultural foods. She has a writing style that expertly intertwines her personal experiences of racism and food stigma with broader themes of racial stereotypes and identity.

On today’s episode, we discuss how food stereotypes inform and maintain historically racist attitudes and biases, particularly for Asians in North America, as well as the role that food plays in everyday racial microaggressions. We also talk about how cultural foods are sterilized and removed from their contexts in order to present them to white and Western diners, and the implications of "trend" culture (i.e. charcoal ice cream, superfoods, and any restaurant with a line up around the corner in Toronto) on cultural foods. Shailee discusses how she learned to unpack and unlearn some of the harmful attitudes through her writing on the topic as well. I’m so excited for you to check this interview out, as Shailee has some really amazing insights and powerful reflections on the ways in which food shapes and changes personal and cultural identities.

Check out the episode above, or download on iTunes, Spotify, or Castbox. 

Love Shailee and want to read more of her work? Check her out on social!

Website: www.shaileekoranne.com

Instagram: @shailee.jpg

Twitter: @shaileekoranne

Episode 10: Trina Moyles on Farming, Feminism, and the Fight to Feed the World

This week I had the great fortune to discuss feminism and farming with Trina Moyles! 

Trina is an award winning freelance writer, journalist, and author with a passion for telling stories about social justice and environmental issues. Her first book, Women Who Dig: Farming, Feminism, and the Fight to Feed the World (University of Regina Press) was released in early March 2018. The book is receiving critical praise from authors, scholars, and publications, including Raj Patel (author of Stuffed and Starved) who calls the book "haunting, powerful, and important".

Her journalism and narrative non-fiction work have been published extensively in newspapers, magazines, and online platforms, including The Globe and Mail, Alberta Views, Maisonneuve, Swerve, Vela Magazine, Motherboard, Briarpatch Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Vue Weekly, GUTS Canadian Feminist Magazine, Modern Farmer, Yes! Magazine, Permaculture Magazine, and Narratively.

Over the past ten years, Moyles has worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Canada, and East Africa on human rights and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in Cultural Anthropology and International Development, she focuses much of her research and writing on human rights education, food security, sustainable agriculture, and gender equality.

In this interview, we explore the ways in which feminism and farming intersect, and the research that inspired her book. Trina discusses what it means to be a farmer - particularly who has or hasn’t been traditionally viewed as a farmer in different cultural contexts. We speak about the varied ways in which feminism has shaped farming in day to day life for women, and the ways resiliency may help shape the future of farming with increasing threats of climate change across the world. It’s a truly fascinating interview with an inspiring and passionate writer! 

Listen to the episode in the audio player above, or download on Spotify, iTunes, or Castbox!

Want to learn more about Trina and her book? Check the links below! 

Personal website: www.trinamoyles.com  
Book website: www.womenwhodig.com 
Facebook: @trinamoyles
Instagram: @womenwhodig
Twitter: @trinamoyles

Photograph by Trina Moyles

Photograph by Trina Moyles 

Episode 3: Dr. Max Lamoureux-St-Hilaire on Food of the Classic Maya

Today’s guest is Dr. Maxime Lamoureux-St. Hilaire, an archaeology who studies the Classic Maya. His research focuses on the political institution of the Classic Maya royal court, and investigates this by excavating the regal palace of La Corona, in Guatemala, and reading a ton of literature. In this episode, we discuss his doctoral research on Classic Maya royal courts, what foods were eaten during this time period, and the events that these foods would have been consumed at. We also talk about contemporary Maya foods and what it’s like eating an an archaeological base camp. 

Check out his episode below, or on iTunes and Spotify! And if you love what you're hearing, please subscribe, rate, and review!