57: Why Are Gassy Foods and Farting So Taboo in Anthropology? with Danielle Gendron

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You’re probably wondering what the heck we’re about to explore today… and indeed, it’s going to be all about farts and gassy foods.  

My guest this week is Danielle Gendron, a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia. Danielle and I work together on some research projects, and have been friends for a while through that. She first pitched this idea to me back in the spring, and I laughed at it, almost dismissively. But then I started thinking more about what she had to say, and realized we absolutely had to explore this on the show.

Danielle’s Master’s research topic was about food sovereignty, where she explored the significance of territory-based food systems to Gitxaala First Nation culture and their ways of knowing. Through her work, she traced one particular food, seaweed, through the Gitxaala food system from harvest to processing to consumption. During her experiences there, she soon found out that eating a lot of seaweed can make you very… gassy.

It’s something that feels silly but is, as Danielle says, a legitimate thing to explore. So we’re exploring this more today with a bit of fun – while Danielle does share some really important lessons and experiences she had working with Gitxaala First Nation, we’re focusing more on the idea of farting itself – what makes it such a taboo subject, why do we always giggle when it comes up, and why isn’t it being studied at all in anthropology? Why do we have internal dilemmas about sharing our stories and research about gassy foods and the farts they produce?  

Tune in to hear more! 

Resources 

56: Interpreting Coastal Diets of Past Peoples with Dr. Michael Rivera

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The past week or so has been a bit of a whirlwind for me personally, and I’m sure anyone who’s in academia and in the full swing of the fall semester can attest to! So what a perfect time to have my guest this week, Dr. Michael B.C. Rivera on the show.

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Michael is also an anthropology podcaster and the host of the incredible Arch and Anth podcast, a three-a-week show featuring interviews with experts on human history, biology, and cultures. We’re doing a special guest swap this week – so we did a double header interview. Michael interviewed me over on his show, and I’ve linked that interview if you’d like to learn more about some of my PhD work, and then we took a quick break and switched hats, so I could ask him about his research.

Michael is a biological anthropologist and specializes in studying coastal human archaeology. He has previously worked at the Universities of Kent, Copenhagen, and Cambridge. He completed his PhD research in 2018 exploring life and human health in prehistoric Estonia and Latvia. His other activities involve teaching students, engaging with inclusion and equity issues in academia, and climate justice. Today, you’ll hear from him on how we can interpret the diets of prehistoric coastal peoples – did coastal resources mean different bodies, or different health trajectories? Tune in to find out the answers! 

Learn More About Michael 

 

55: Orthorexia and Branding Your Body with Kaila Tova

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If you’ve been listening to AnthroDish for a while, you know I get really critical when it comes to the idea of what we define “health” as or how we define and understand “diets” – and this week’s guest, Kaila Tova, explores the depths of how healthism and fitness can blend into harmful disordered eating behaviours, like orthorexia.

After recovering from orthorexia, anorexia, and an exercise addiction, Kaila began a career in marketing while moonlighting as a body image coach for women recovering from eating disorders and disordered eating. She is also the creator and host of the brilliant podcast, Your Body, Your Brand. The 15-episode podcast documentary focuses on marketing literacy, neoliberal feminism, and identity economics in the context health and fitness entrepreneurship. This fall, she also joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Communication Arts Department to pursue a PhD in Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture.

Orthorexia is a complicated term, as Kaila explains, because it’s not an officially recognized eating disorder, but it’s impacting a lot of folks who are engaging in fitness and nutrition communities. And how do these deep connections we make with our need to control our food and exercise impact our identities? What about our brands? We explore all these questions and more in our chat, which I think we both agreed could have lasted for HOURS. 

Connect with Kaila! 

Instagram: @bodybrandpod or @performingwoman

Twitter: @bodybrandpod

Website: kailatovaprins.com or https://www.bodybrandpod.com/

Podcast: Your Body, Your Brand 

 

54: Unpacking the Global Impact of Superfood Trends with Ann Shin

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We’re all at this point used to food terms being thrown around in the grocery store – organic, GMO-free, natural, superfoods… but what do these really mean? Superfoods is a term that I’m also fascinated by. My guest this week is award winning producer, director, filmmaker, and writer, Ann Shin, who explores this in her documentary, The Superfood Chain. In addition to this, she is well-known for directing the documentaries The Defector: Escape from North Korea and My Enemy, My Brother about the true story of 2 enemies from the Iran-Iraq War.

 She asks these questions we tend to take for granted – are superfoods really great for you? How does the global demand for superfoods impact indigenous cultures who grow these foods and depend on them as staples? The SuperFood chain is a beautiful cinematic documentary that investigates how the superfood industry affects the lives of farming families in Bolivia, Ethiopia, the Philippines, and Haida Gwaii.

We explore these questions around what makes a superfood super, and how these demands for superfoods in Western cultures impact global communities, along with some tools and examples of how governments and food producers respond or adapt to shifts in food demands, and the process of making the film itself for her and her family.

Learn More About Ann Shin! 

53: How Can We Create Win-Win Systems for Food Systems and the Environment?

As the conversations and concern about the climate crisis continue to grow on a global scale, can be overwhelming on a personal level thinking about solutions. Sometimes we feel an individual burden around our choices when it comes to food, waste, or consumerism. My guest this week, Dr. Philip Loring, is someone I always look to when I need a mental reset about how to approach climate and human wellbeing in meaningful ways.

Phil is the Arrell Chair in Food, Policy, and Society with the Arrell Food Institute, and an associate professor in the department of Geography at the University of Guelph. Phil’s research focuses on the intersection of ecosystem health, human well-being, and sustainability. His research has taken him to such locales as Alaska, Mexico, the Canadian Prairies, Ireland, and Thailand, which we’ll hear a bit more about today. Additionally, he has a forthcoming book called “Finding Our Niche” that explores the potential for win-win scenarios in our food systems, out in fall 2020.

 Today we’re exploring the idea of sustainability and what that really means within food systems, the ways in which reconciliation movements connect with food systems and research partnerships, and what he calls “win-win” scenarios for sustainable ecosystems. His approaches to human and ecosystem wellbeing are always really inspirational to me, and I’m very excited to share this conversation with Phil!

Listen in the player above, or download on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher platforms.

 Learn more about Dr. Loring!  

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52: Terroir - Building Community through Food and Place with Arlene Stein

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There are certain people in this world that I could just listen to forever, they’re an absolute wealth of knowledge and experiences and my first guest of season 4, Arlene Stein, is one of those people.

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Arlene is the founder and executive director of the Terroir Symposium, a catalyst for creative collaboration and social and environmental responsibility in the hospitality industry. Since 2006, Terroir has convened international and Canadian industry leaders annually at a two-day symposium in Toronto – and since 2014 at off-shoot events across Europe and North America, for education, networking, and inspiration. From her current home base in Berlin, Arlene travels globally to research responsible food systems and gastronomic innovations. 

Arlene has that magical ability to build community and knowledge around food and root it to place, to land, to context in a way that is truly inspiring. But what makes her even more incredible is the ease that she brought to this conversation. At the core of what Arlene does is foster a sense of community for local and international networks that relate around food: she breaks down the silos for restauranteurs, chefs, artisans, producers, academics, and so many more through Terroir events and workshops to foster conversations and collaborations.

In today’s episode we explore what exactly the word terroir means and how the role that gastrodiplomacy can play into food systems and futures. Listen to the full interview in the player above, or download on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher!

Learn More