81: Changing Your Mind About Veggies, One Soup at a Time with Carolyn Davenport-Moncel of Simply Souperlicious

ADS6E2 Carolyn Main Promo .jpg

Today is our first real episode of the 6th season! Thank you all for joining me here today, it really means the world to share these conversations with you, and especially so when we’re all living in these very difficult new realities and a changed world, that you take the time to tune in.

My guest this week is Carolyn Davenport-Moncel. Carolyn is an American expat and Chicago native, who wears many, many hats as a writer, entrepreneur, digital marketing professional, mum of two, and Souper-in-Chief at Simply Souperlicious. Simply Souperlicious is a food recipe website, app, and community that is devoted to converting those veggie haters into veggie lovers – one local, seasonal, homemade soup at a time. Carolyn carries a wealth of knowledge and experience in digital media and communication, which spans more than 20 years. When she’s not cooking in her kitchen, singing loudly and off key to some 90s indie song, she’s serving as the Head of Digital Marketing at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy in Switzerland, where she oversees integrated marketing and digital transformation strategies. She is also the author of three collections of published short stories and numerous online media relations and lifestyle articles.

I will warn you that this episode might make you feel very strong soup cravings, so maybe just pin that idea for your next lunch! I am really excited to share this conversation, because through her Simply Souperlicious website and work, she’s really tackling these issues of who has access to healthy food, challenging what healthy food and wellness “is” or “isn’t” and making delicious and nutritious meals much more accessible for all those of us who are incredibly time crunched, stressed, and wanting to make some small first step changes for ourselves and our families. 

80: Season 6 Launch [Solo Episode]

S06E01.jpg

And I’m back! Really excited to share the launch of the 6th season of AnthroDish with a solo episode. I’m sharing some personal behind the scenes struggles and reflections I’ve had over the past summer, and what that means for the upcoming season (hint - it’s a season I’m incredibly excited and honoured to share).

Regular interview episodes will be back as of next Tuesday, and I can’t wait for you to hear them!

79: Bringing Holistic Nutrition into Pancakes with Elizabeth Stein of Purely Elizabeth

AnthroDish IG templates (2).jpg

Have you ever heard about health foods or superfoods, and been curious to try them out, but not really sure how to go about it? My guest this week, Elizabeth Stein, is here to help alleviate some of that! Elizabeth is the founder and CEO of Purely Elizabeth, and is on the show today to share her story about how Purely Elizabeth came to be and how it’s working to innovate food and wellness spaces to be more inclusive, affordable, and tasty too!

PurelyElizabethJan-91_CMYK.jpg

Long before ingredients like chia or quinoa became popular, holistic nutritionist Elizabeth Stein dreamed of starting a natural foods company. Coupling her personal expertise and love for all things food and wellness, she founded Purely Elizabeth in 2009. Since it’s launch over 10 years ago Elizabeth has transformed the natural category by putting ancient grains on the map with their Ancient Grain Granolas, jumping from the #9 granola brand in the natural channel to #1 and selling over 17 million units worldwide.

Her latest achievement has Elizabeth going back to her roots in celebration of the brand’s 10 year anniversary with the launch of delectable, nutrient-rich Pancake Mixes, including a paleo-friendly, grain-free version and the FIRST featuring grass-fed collagen. Now, health-conscious foodies can enjoy this beloved breakfast food, guilt-free, and with more options to align with dietary and lifestyle choices. Elizabeth strives to promote a healthy food system through sustainability and transparency, and to be a force for good in everything that she does.

Learn More About Purely Elizabeth:

78: The Hunt for the Red Herring - Exploring 18th Century Swedish Smokehouses with Anton Larsson

AnthroDish IG templates (1).jpg

Today we’re taking a step back in time and exploring some interesting food trends from the past. Every so often, there is a massive migration period for herring towards the Swedish West Coast. These seasonal migrations allow for coastal fishing of herring that is much more abundant than regular methods. During one Herring Period of the 18th century, Atlantic herring began migrating to the western coast of Sweden in seemingly infinite numbers, until they suddenly disappeared in 1809. In response, the Swedes imported the art of smoking herring kipper-style from Britain, but then lost this practice, with very little mention of it in the historical literature. So why did this happen, and how can we learn about it from the past?

My guest this week is Anton Larsson, who is here to share his research on the rise of Western Sweden’s industrial herring smokehouses. Anton is a PhD student in Archaeology at Stockholm University. Originally from Uddevalla on the west coast of Sweden, Anton fuels his research by his roots to the region. He shares how he explore the mystery of these industrial smokehouses rise and fall in the 18th century Sweden, and what we can learn about food systems, traditions, and industries from this particularly interesting episode from Swedish history. He also demonstrates the value of using archaeology in historical contexts to piece together new perspectives and understandings of how communities and cultures interacted with their landscapes, and why staying closer to home for research is good practice.

Learn More from Anton:

77: Changing How People Eat PB&J with Jeff Mahin of Split Nutrition

Jeff Mahin_mainpromo.png

When most of us think about peanut butter and jelly, we’re immediately filled with memories of childhood lunches. And while it’s certainly a nostalgic snack, at its core it is a healthy snack – when it’s made from whole ingredients! So how can you make a nut butter and jam snack that’s not only tasty but also good for you? My guest this week, Jeff Mahin, is here to talk about this!

Blueberry-Almond_Pack_Front.jpg

Jeff is one of the co-founders of Split Nutrition, the first-ever pairing of nut butters and fruit spreads in an easy, on-the-go snack packs made with real ingredients. He’s also a cyclist and chef, as the creative force behind Stella Barra Pizzeria, Summer House Santa Monica, Do-Rite Donuts, and M Street Kitchen. Jeff partnered with renowned nutritionist Dr. Philip Goglia to develop the first ever dual nut butter and jam packets for Split Nutrition, which are nostalgia snacks with cleaner and better-for-you ingredients. Split’s mission is to make convenient and nourishing options for active families everywhere. They hit this balance of bringing comfort back into our snack and fuelling food while providing a hearty source of proteins and healthy fats in their raw roasted nut butters, and essential sugars from their cooked jams.

Jeff shares his own story of health and his journey towards becoming a cyclist, and how this ultimately shaped how Split Nutrition came to be. I’m always really excited about seeing how people of different perspectives can come together to shape new knowledge, so it’s super cool to learn about how his experiences as a chef pair with a nutritionist’s understandings of food to form a really holistic and dynamic food product. Through this, they’re challenging what healthy food looks and tastes like, and most importantly, changing who has access to healthy foods by creating space for all sorts of lifestyles. He speaks to how Split Nutrition works to celebrate activity and community, including donating over 200k packets to schools, food banks, and folks in need during the pandemic. 

Get Social with Split Nutrition

Sound editing and production was done by Lukas Wojcicki at lukasound.com.

AnthroDish is produced in partnership with the American Anthropological Association.

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

Simone Main Promo.jpg

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: