76: Cosmos to Kitchen - Embracing Spirituality through Mixed Media Food Projects with Simone Johnson

April 22, 2020

When the pandemic started, I put out a call to anyone who had their conference or public talk or event cancelled, to see if they wanted to share some of the foundational ideas from those events in podcast form. My guest this week is Simone Johnson, who took me up on the offer after her guest talk on fermentation was cancelled. Something I always marvel at is how many folks I get to meet and connect with through this show I wouldn’t have otherwise, and I’m always so thankful for it.

Simone is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York City with a background in urban agriculture and performance art. Over the last couple of years, she has gravitated toward the culinary art world, seeking to cook with friends and help prepare community meals in art spaces.

Simone started Cosmos to Kitchen in 2017, and over time it has become a long term mixed media project that mainly focuses on cooking and other topics like foraging and wild foods, seed stewardship, zero waste, energetics, sensory studies, somatics, movement and the body. Through hand made and digital collages, photography, audio recordings, sound art and writing, Simone captures these areas of study mostly through a spiritual lens, embracing uncensored ‘woo woo’ ways of knowing and art-making. These topics are also explored through personal, cultural/ancestral, political and ecological viewpoints.

She’s on today to share some of the lasting lessons and experiences she’s had in the Cosmos to Kitchen project, and showcasing how spirituality, art, and food can all work together to create some powerful and beautiful knowledge.

Social:

Instagram: @cosmostokitchen

Website: https://dancewithsimone.wordpress.com/what-is-cosmos-to-kitchen/

Fermentation Materials:

75: How Genetic Diets and Health Tech Turn Food into Surveillance Tools with Dr. Tina Sikka

April 14, 2020

We’re living in a very surreal and increasingly digital world these days, and I don’t know about you all, but I’m finding myself taking a step back each day trying to figure out what this means for how our society is shaped and what our futures will look like. We see a heightened presence of fitness and wellness apps, with extended free trials, or nutrition trackers that give you healthy recipes… but how do they see health? Who gets left out of these fitness and health ideals, and how is tech playing into or heightening the racial and gendered issues around health and food?

My guest this week is the brilliant Dr. Tina Sikka, who’s here to shed light on some of these questions! She is a Lecturer in Media and Culture at Newcastle University in the UK. Her research interests include the sociology of science and technology – which includes environmental science, nutritional science, food culture, and health. She also looks at feminist praxis and the study of race. In addition to her academic work, Tina has written for such outlets as Jacobin, Lady Science and Alternet. Her most recent book is titled Climate Technology, Gender, and Justice: The Standpoint of the Vulnerable (Springer Press, 2019).

Her views on the connections between technology, human health and nutrition, race, gender, and environment are so insightful and I learned a lot from this conversation – I’m so excited for you to learn from her as well!

Learn More about Tina!

Dr. Sikka's University Website: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/sacs/staff/profile/tinasikka.html
Twitter: @tsikka
For the Alternet: Neoliberal capitalism and the limits of individual choice
For Lady Science: Why we need a feminist climate science and how we might get it

74: Challah Dolly! Learning to Bake and Building Community During the Pandemic with Dolly Meckler

April 6, 2020

How many of you have started trying your hand at baking bread since the start of the pandemic? With our lives totally upheaved and our work-related identities really being called into question, it’s allowing us some time to explore different sides of ourselves, and sometimes connect more deeply with our communities even in isolation.

My guest this week, Dolly Meckler, is doing just that! Dolly is a content creator, story teller, and social media strategist based out of NYC and LA. She has a burning desire to bring laughter and entertainment into peoples lives through story – she produces and creates the online webseries and podcast Hello Dolly!, and is the co-founder of Snaplistings. Through her professional experience, she has become an expert in all things digital, social and video, while establishing a social presence and voice for some of the biggest properties in entertainment at HBO + YouTube.

Over the last few weeks however, she has used her time in quarantine to learn how to bake challah, a Jewish bread, and has been selling them to Los Angeles locals. After posting about the challah on Instagram, dozens of of followers asked if they could buy themselves one of the "Challah Dolly's" (a play on "Hello Dolly,"). She’s on the show today to share more about her experience learning how to make and share challah, and how she’s bringing in her digital and social media expertise to not only nurture her own Jewish and creative identities, but bring joy and silver linings to the public as well.

Get Social with Dolly!

73: All Tea, No Shade: How Minna Sparkling Tea is Building Inclusivity into the Business with Ryan Fortwendel

March 31, 2020

With the pandemic, we’re seeing much more clearly how food and beverage companies and restaurants treat their employees… and unfortunately in some cases, we’re seeing that many operate under traditional bottom line approaches, without building inclusivity and care into the foundations of their work.

My guest this week, Ryan Fortwendel, is someone who’s striving to do change what a successful beverage business looks like. Ryan is the CEO and founder of Minna sparkling tea beverages, and he’s on today to share the story of how his company is striving to create a better sparkling beverage, inside and out. As the former executive of e-commerce for Marc Jacobs, Ryan spent over a decade working in the fashion industry. After taking some time away from Marc Jacobs to start fresh in 2016, he noticed a shift in the beverage space in New York City – everyone wanted LaCroix and sparkling beverages were becoming more and more popular.

Being a health-conscious consumer, he understood the demand and saw a space to create a better-for-you sparkling beverage – using all organic and non-GMO ingredients, with no sweeteners or added sugars. He created the recipe for a delicious, lightly brewed sparkling tea with a clean and transparent label. Minna is an accessory to everyday life that looks good and tastes great, served in a beautiful art deco inspired can and available in three refreshing flavours: Tropical Green Tea, Citrus Black Tea, and Lime Hibiscus Tea.

As a gay founder, Ryan’s philanthropy inspired the name and the message behind the brand. Minna means “everyone’ in Japanese, and focuses on community engagement and inclusivity. Since launching in 2019, 1% of all sales from Minna beverages goes to non-profits that advocate for inclusion, such as Help Refugees and Choose Love, which are both non-profits that provide emergency aid and long-term solutions for people seeking refuge. Most recently, 20% of their online sales are going to non-profits that support COVID-19 relief efforts. As they grow, Minna is planning to diversify their use of funds to non-profits focused on helping those communities still fighting for equality.

It’s always exciting for me to see entrepreneurs working at changing how and why we do business – and how setting inclusive practices into the foundations of a company sets the path for building a brighter and community-driven future. I’m really excited for you to hear more about Ryan’s story!

Learn More About Ryan and Minna

Website: https://www.drinkminna.com/
Instagram: @drinkminna
Instagram: @ryanfortwendel
Facebook: @drinkminna

72: Ancient Remedies, Natural Focus: Exploring the Power of Mushrooms with Jordan Higgins

March 25, 2020

When we talk about food systems and eating experiences, we often are quick to bring up the ideas of exclusion – what we should remove or limit or restrict – through veganism, vegetarianism, paleo diets, carnivore diets, and more. My guest this week, Jordan Higgins, is one of the entrepreneurs of Higgins and Phillips Innovations, and is looking to create more inclusive and holistic solutions for food and medicine.

Jordan has a BSc in Earth Science and a minor in Biology from the University of Guelph and worked as a scientist and project manager in environmental remediation projects for many years. After his brother passed away from a chronic illness in 2016, Jordan took time to travel across Central and South America on a quest to reflect on his relationship with family: he had two siblings pass away as a result of cancer, and he had battled cancer himself at the age of 21. In response, Jordan and his business partner began creating 2 natural health products, Life Spice Mushroom Cacao Blend and Dock Walkers Pain Reliever as a way to complement modern medicine with natural and effective ways to help those living in a state of chronic pain.

The products are coupled as offering a one-two punch for tackling inflammation and pain. Jordan says that in a society where we have diets that are plagued with nutrient depletion and inflammatory ingredients, he aims to bring harmony back to our bodies through the power of nature.

We speak today about how his relationship with the natural world shaped his products and his experiences, and we also explore more deeply how different mushroom varieties offer various health and performance benefits. I always love having conversations with folks who see how we relate to the land and environment, and how we can use holistic approaches to create new solutions for health, so this felt like such a treat.

Learn More About Jordan!

Website: https://hpinnovations.ca/home
Instagram: @lifespice.ca and @dockwalkers
Facebook: @lifespice and @dockwalkers
For anyone listening that is curious to check out LifeSpice or DockWalkers, you can enter the code ANTHRODISH at checkout for 15% off your order!

This episode was sponsored by Beekeeper’s Naturals, the company on a mission to make healthy your new normal using bee-based products. To save 15% on your first order, use the code ANTHRODISH at checkout!

71: Food's Role in the Spread of Past Diseases with Jessica Hider

March 17, 2020

So this week is particularly heavy, and I don’t feel right starting out this episode without addressing that. I have been thinking for a long time about the role of podcasting in pandemics, and whether it’s silly to produce and share episodes when everyone’s minds are riddled with panic, fear, and an ever-growing awareness of just how much food you have in your pantry.

But then I remembered that this show has ALWAYS been about us as a community. This isn’t about me, it’s about what we can offer each other in terms of sharing knowledge and experience. And right now, it’s also about what I can offer you as a break from the endless Twitter feed refreshes and breaking news briefs. So we continue, and hope we can offer you a little peace and distraction, if only for a half hour.

Okay, so this week we’re exploring the role of food in disease outbreaks with my friend and McMaster colleague, Jessica Hider. She’s a PhD candidate in my anthropology department at McMaster and works in McMaster’s uber-cool Ancient DNA Centre. Jess looks at the spread of pathogens in pre-Rome and ancient Rome. She combines ancient DNA analyses with bioarchaeology and paleopathology (or the study of ancient diseases and pathologies on bone). Her main focus and interest is a disease known as brucellosis – which is a lesser known but absolutely fascinating disease to explore. I will let her do the expert explaining on what it entails in the interview!

We’re chatting about the differences between food-borne diseases, zoonotic diseases, and the ways that food can help spread disease in the past. For those of you who are really tired of hearing about COVID-19, don’t worry – we don’t really touch on it. But we do talk about Typhoid Mary, and she’s a real hoot.