108: Understanding the Idea of Community through Fermentation with Dr. Julia Skinner

In 2023, we’re facing increased food prices, tech-heavy innovations around lab grown foods for climate change, and heavily industrialized and packaged foods. Amidst that, though, there’s still interest in the world of fermented foods and returning to working with microbes to create a multitude of communities.

My guest today is Dr. Julia Skinner, who shares her work and research on fermentation. Julia is a former librarian and Library Science PhD turned food historian and fermentation expert. She is the author of the award-winning book Our Fermented Lives: A History of How Fermented Foods Have Shapes Cultures & Communities. She also runs workshops, events, and a newsletter through Root, which was born from a deep love for community and a belief in the power of food to tell stories, connect us to place, and build a bridge to the past.

Today we unpack the idea of community and what shapes it takes through the evolution of human knowledge of microbial worlds, and how the power dynamics of changing histories, taste preferences, and access to fermentation continue to play in our modern lives.

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107: Unpacking Wellness through Personalized Nutrition & Genetic Diets with Dr. Tina Sikka

“In the way people are looking for genetic testing to get a sense of their background, it’s the same data that is then used to say, ‘Here is a particular diet tailored to your genetic information that will allow you to reach these expectations around health and wellness.’ … I found them to be quite difficult to deal with, on a personal level, as it felt like any neuroses I had around food, exercise, control, and perfectionism was really exacerbated by using these apps. ”
— Dr. Tina Sikka

With increasingly wearable and seamless tech experiences, there is a growing ability for us to monitor almost every phase of our day: what we eat, how much we eat, how we exercise, and how it all aligns with our bodies in a personalized level. These all can come together to create a perspective of what health “should” be, rather than what it could be or what it is for a lot of people with diverse gender and ethnic identities, as well as for those who have disabilities.

My guest this week is Dr. Tina Sikka, returning to the show today to talk through some of the big tech and health issues she researched for her new book. Dr. Tina Sikka is Reader in Technoscience and Intersectional Justice in the School of Arts and Culture at Newcastle University, UK. Her current research includes the critical and intersectional study of science, applied to climate change, bodies, and health, as well as research on consent, sexuality, and restorative justice. 

Dr. Sikka’s book, Health Apps, Genetic Diets, and Superfoods: When Biopolitics Meets Neoliberalism (Bloomsbury, 2023), uses autoethnography, science and technology studies, and new materialism to examine what constitutes ‘good health’ and explore possibilities for enacting health justice. If you caught her last interview, you’re in for a treat, as she discusses how health and personalized nutrition apps work in a very biomedical system to shape health experiences into a hegemonic practice. We also look at her realistic approaches to alternatives in a tech-heavy world, and how to navigate online communities that are trying to make sense of health and nutrition as much as we all are.

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106: Rethinking Cowboy Food through the Unofficial Yellowstone Cookbook with Jackie Alpers

Food on popular television shows can be a storytelling mechanism, particularly in terms of building a sense of place and history. While the television show can tell a specific story, there can be a whole world to explore extending beyond this, which is rife for creative exploration for cookbook writers and recipe developers. 

My guest this week, Jackie Alpers, is here to share her own experiences with this how they played into the concept of her new cookbook, The Unofficial Yellowstone Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by the Dutton Family Ranch. Jackie Alpers is a cookbook author, food photographer and recipe developer who experiments with regional culinary influences while exploring food history and culture, and the relationship that people have with food and drink. 

Today we unpack the idea of cowboy food and its role in ideas of the north and southwest of America, how food photography and recipe creation can tell a story about not just what you see on tv but deepen the social and geographic landscapes of recipes, and why having the unofficial and official Yellowstone cookbooks coming out in close proximity to each other isn’t as bad a situation as one might think!

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105: Weaving Ancient Korean Cookbooks with Local and Seasonal Food with Ji Hye Kim

When we think about “authentic” food experiences – what are we really explicitly looking for? Oftentimes the idea of authenticity can be exoticized to represent a particular type of ethnic cuisine at a specific time – or someone’s version of it. But in a diasporic world, there are ways to create a menu and recipes that reflect both local and seasonal food availability in a way that continues to weave food stories from the past into present life.

My guest this week is someone who is exceptionally good at blending the past and present into her dining experiences, Chef Ji Hye Kim.  She is the chef and managing partner of MISS KIM in Ann Arbor, MI. Ji Hye is inspired by her ancestors and their stories told through ancient Korean cookbooks, as well as her farmer neighbors in Michigan. Miss Kim’s food is simple and good, with the menu dictated by seasonality and locality following Korean culinary traditions.

Ji Hye grew up in Seoul, Korea and immigrated to the States at the age of 13. After graduating from the University of Michigan and a successful career in hospital administration, Ji Hye switched to the hospitality industry in 2008. Having trained at various Zingerman’s businesses and Rome Sustainable Food Project, she ran an Asian street food cart before opening a brick and mortar location in 2016. As well as providing convivial service and delicious food, Miss Kim has been committed to doing away with tipped credit and paying a fair wage to all staff since opening.

Ji Hye is a semifinalist for the James Beard Award Best Chef Great Lakes in 2020. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and as independent restaurants across the country are at risk, she was admitted to and participated in the James Beard Chef Boot Camp for Policy Change and Food Lab Detroit’s Fellowship for Change in Food and Labor. Recently Ji Hye was chosen as one of Best New Chefs 2021 by Food & Wine. She believes that service is an honorable profession and envisions a more delectable, sustainable, and equitable future for the industry.

She’s on the show today to talk about her experiences entering the culinary world at a “later” age (it’s really not that late), and how she’s making space in her restaurants for new ways to think about food, community, and seasonality.

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103: How Food Styling Creates Stories with Alyssa Noui of Supping Good

Whenever I watch a baking show, or a movie that has a really delicious looking food scene, I’m always blown away by the type of story that you can tell just through video and images of food. What exactly does it take to create these visions of food looking so delectable, despite there being no sense of smell associated with them? And what happens when the cameras stop rolling and the food is no longer needed?

Editorial food styling by Alyssa Noui, from alyssanoui.com

My guest this week, Alyssa Noui, is an LA based food stylist and culinary producer that is sharing her experiences to answer these questions. Alyssa grew up in a multi-cultural family near San Francisco in California, and was exposed to all sorts of dining experiences and cuisines in her youth. When she moved to Los Angeles, she worked on sets of culinary departments and found that the production in food provided the pace, organization, creativity, and camaraderie that she desired in food work. Alyssa started her own company, Supping Good, and working across live television segments, commercials, and feature films using her culinary skills to meet client expectations and stay on top of the latest trends to achieve the appetizing moments for the camera that we all love to watch.

She really believes in a sense of place and story that can be communicated with a meal and a well-dressed table, and shares today how she works to create that type of magic!

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