Episode 19: Tara Hattangadi on Food Security and Mental Health for University Students

For many, the years spent at university can be a challenging time due to academic stressors as well as personal and emotional difficulties. During this important and liminal period, food security is crucial for health and psychological wellness, as well as academic performance and success. This week’s guest, Tara Hattangadi, is a recently defended Masters student who’s work explores the impact of food insecurity on mental health and wellness of university students.

Tara’s research sheds light on the importance of food security and demands that sufficient support during this key period be made widely available to all students – which includes university wide programs to facilitate equitable access to healthy foods. 

In this episode, we talk about her masters research and the exploratory route she took to engage in this very massive, under-researched problem of food insecurity amongst university students in Canada. She outlines what food insecurity looks like for students and why it’s important that we look at university students as an at-risk group. Poor diet has both short and long-term implications on mental health, student success, and social wellbeing, and Tara seeks to highlight how to improve access for students struggling to find healthy and affordable food. Tara’s passion for food systems and food security both in and out of the classroom has grown since the inception of her research, and she is determined to continue the dialogue about how to improve access to affordable and healthy food for university students across Canada.

Listen to the episode in the player above, or download on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play! (And if you LOVE listening, please subscribe, rate, and review!)

Resources:

• The Meal Exchange cross-campus study

• Tara’s Three Minute Thesis

• An article, published in CBC News early this year, about food insecurity among students at the University of Saskatchewan: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/40-of-u-of-s-students-face-issues-around-food-insecurity-study-shows-1.4470573

• Another really great read, published in Medium, about student food insecurity: https://medium.com/@saragoldrickrab/whos-hungry-making-sense-of-campus-food-insecurity-estimates-4b65cd1ecf2c 

Social:

Instagram: @tahrannosaurus or @sustainabindi

Episode 21: Melissa Melottey on Irish Palates and Food in the Entertainment World

I’m doing something a bit different this week - I had two incredible women whose identities intertwined with their vegan lifestyles, so I thought it would be cool to release BOTH episodes this week for a dual-perspective look at plant based lifestyles! (And will continue to do this from time to time when similar topics keep popping up.) What I think is especially cool about the interviews this week is that these two women grew up in completely different worlds, and have some similarities and some striking differences in their plant-based lifestyles and mindfulness.

So my second guest this week is Melissa Melottey! Melissa is an actor based out of Toronto, ON, who is the host of the Qriket Live gameshow and the NamaSLAY podcast. We met at the Rose of Tralee, which is an Irish beauty pageant (yes, you read that right), and since then I’ve constantly been inspired by her uplifting attitude and her drive to make it in the acting business.

In this episode, we explore our Irish heritage and the ways in which these bland Irish palates started her lifelong journey and exploration of food. We also speak about how her relationship with food has been impacted by the physical and mental demands of being an actor, plant-based lifestyles, and some of the interesting connections between mindfulness and food.

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

Want to keep up with Melissa? Check her out here:

• Just Love by Melissa

• NamaSLAY podcast (I’m on episode 12 of her show, we talk all about anthropology and cults)

• Instagram: @melissamelottey or @justlovebymelissa

Get social with AnthroDish! to keep up with Melissa? Check her out here:

• Facebook: @AnthroDishpodcast

• Instagram: @anthrodishpodcast

• Twitter: @anthrodishpod

• And if you love what you’re hearing, please give us a rating and review on iTunes!

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 16: Lindsay Grenier on Food Guidelines During Pregnancy

As both a mother and anthropology student, I’ve been so fascinated by how food and pregnancy connect - and stoked to finally share a discussion on this topic! This week I’m speaking with Lindsay Grenier, a research assistant at McMaster University.

Lindsay did her Masters research as part of the Mothers2Babies study, which is a long term study on maternal nutritional health through McMaster University. She currently works as a research assistant at McMaster, where she focuses on maternal health and nutrition. Her research interests revolve around women’s health and social issues, particularly during pregnancy, along with health literacy, knowledge translation, and social determinants of health.

In this interview, we discuss food guidelines and taboos for pregnant people in Canada, and explore the ways in which social and biological factors shape access to nutritional knowledge during pregnancy. Knowledge translation is a big priority for a lot of academics in recent years, so we break down what this term means for prenatal health and nutrition research, and how cultural belief systems impact the attitudes and behaviours surrounding food consumption and avoidance during pregnancy.

Access to food and the social and cultural implications of this during pregnancy is a topic I’ve been very passionate about, particularly as a young mother who worked at a restaurant throughout my pregnancy and definitely had to hustle to make ends meet. It means a lot to share this discussion, in the hopes that it raises some awareness about the limitations and barriers some people face during their pregnancies. Enjoy in the link above, or on any major podcast platform!

Resources:

Mothers To Babies Study info:

• http://m2bstudy.wix.com/study

• https://www.facebook.com/M2BStudy/

Canada Food Guide/Pregnancy nutrition resources:

• https://www.facebook.com/HealthyFamiliesHamilton/

• https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/prenatal-nutrition.html

• https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/canada-food-guide/choosing-foods/advice-different-ages-stages/pregnancy-breastfeeding.html

• https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/prenatal-nutrition/healthy-weight-gain-pregnancy.html

Episode 15: Brandi Bechard on Organic Food and CSA Farming

The start of October brings with it the beginning of non-GMO Month in the US and Canada, and who better a guest to kick this important discussion of than Brandi Bechard!

Brandi is an amazing CSA farmer, environmentalist, and the owner of a sustainable landscaping and garden coaching business. She originally hails from Windsor, Ontario, but has lived in cities and towns across Canada while pursuing contract work in environmental and natural resource sciences. She has worked in outdoor education, wildlife research, forestry conservation and on so many other environmentally-oriented projects! After spending a couple of years in research-heavy fields, she felt she wasn’t making a significant difference and had to compromise certain values that she held important to accommodate the career. She moved back to her hometown and started a business teaching others how to grow sustainable food amidst a desert of conventionally farmed land.

In our interview, we speak about her roots and what lead her to farming, break down some of the language surrounding organic and local foods, speak to issues of food security and access in Canada, and she shares more about edible landscaping and tips to help cultivate (heh…) a stronger relationship with sustainable food sources for beginners. Brandi has so much knowledge and experience to share, and is so peaceful to listen to, so I hope you learn as much as I did from this interview! Listen in the playbox above or on your favourite listening platform :)

Love Brandi Bechard’s episode and want to learn more about her? Check her out online!

Instagram: @borealbrandi

Facebook: @BrandiBechard

Resources:

• Wendell Berry: learn more about the agrarian and writer in this excellent interview by Yale e360 (which references some books of his as well)

• The 3rd Plate by Dan Barber