Episode 23: The Business of Baking with Olivia Yetter

Whether you like the holidays or not, there’s no denying the comfort that winter baking brings. There’s a tremendous amount of art and chemistry that’s involved, but we often don’t think about the business side of bakeries as well. This week we’re exploring the business of baking with one of my all-time favourite bakers, Olivia Yetter!

Olivia is a Toronto-born cook at a vegan restaurant called Fresh. In her spare time, she owns and operates OY’S Joys, an artisanal custom made bakery based out of her home in Kensington Market. OY’s Joys focuses on hand crafted, homemade, flavour forward ingredients in their treats and plated desserts.

Olivia prioritizes using ingredients that have been grown or crafted locally, such as freshly milled organic flours, cold pressed oils, free range eggs, fresh fruits, and more. Sustainability is at the heart of OY’s cooking and baking. Though she’s not creating healthy treats, Olivia’s desserts are made with real food and have been carefully flavour profiled for an elevated taste experience. Olivia is quite experimental with her baking and always interested in trying to new flavours and experiences. We explore all of these ideas in this episode and break down what it means to be in the baking business, both for creativity and experience!

Listen in the player above, or download on any major podcasting platform.

Get social with Olivia:

Website: www.oysjoys.ca

Instagram: @oysjoys

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 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 9: Dino Tinapay on the Art of Dining Solo

This week we're doubling up on AnthroDish episodes! We've been so fortunate to have a tremendous interest in guests and themes, and really didn't think it would be fair to keep these to ourselves for too long! 

This week's second episode features the inimitable Dino Tinapay, a self-taught expert of Toronto’s food scene and my go-to pal when I need a new restaurant recommendation. Dino sat down with me in my kitchen one evening to share his experiences dining solo and his tips and tricks to see cities through food.

We explore his early food influences growing up in the Philippines and how that shaped his food curiosity, then move into the ways in which atmosphere and time of day can shape solo food experiences. As Dino has worked in the restaurant industry for some time, we naturally move towards exploring how 9 to 5ers have shaped food culture in big cities (spoiler - there are some really fascinating ways this has shaped our culture!), how servers read table dynamics, and Dino’s tips for getting to know new cities through food. Dino is such a fun and insightful guest, I can’t wait for you to check out this interview!

Check out the episode (above) or download on Spotify, iTunes and Castbox. If you like what you're hearing, please subscribe, rate, and review! 

Resources Mentioned: 

• Food Wars anime trailer
• The NY Times piece by Stephanie Rosenbloom that inspired this episode 

Episode 5: Brian Rankin on Punk Food & Growing Up Rankin

Today I am interviewing Brian Rankin. Brian is a professional photographer living in Toronto, Canada. He currently works as a photographer for Holt Renfrew, and his work was recently featured in an editorial for Yoko Mag, entitled “Tangled Up In Blue.” He grew up in a small town in Ontario and spent his summers out east in an even smaller town. He moved to Toronto when he was 18 to pursue a degree in English at the University of Toronto and somehow found his way into professional photography through this. When he’s not doing cool photography work, he’s playing guitar in a punk band or riding his bike without a helmet.

Today we sit down and talk about his personal experiences with food, how his upbringing *sort of* shaped his art and cooking, and what it’s like to be a photographer during the ride of social media food photos. Check out his episode below, or download on iTunes and Spotify. 

Want more Brian? Check out his band here, or his photography here. Find him on Instagram @brianrankin to see all his food stories - and some mishaps ;) 

Episode 2: Rylee Booroff on Plant Based Diets & Vegan Lifestyles

Today I interview the lovely Rylee Booroff. Currently living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Rylee has has been following a vegan lifestyle for just over 8 years. Prior to moving out east, Rylee managed a vegan restaurant in Toronto. Today we talk about her experiences as a vegan and it’s lasting impact on her life and wellbeing, explore whether or not veganism’s popularity is lasting or trendy for North Americans, and new movements in the Halifax plant-based scene.

Check out her episode here, or on iTunes and Spotify!