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

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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.

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

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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!

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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

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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

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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! 

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

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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

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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.

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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