Digesting Food Studies

This episode considers carceral food systems and the roles food plays in expressing identity and liberty, as well as oppression and power. Alexia Moyer’s Amuse Bouche segment starts it off with a historical record of how WWII prisoners of war in Singapore dealt with hunger, privation, and the distribution of food labour. After that, Amanda Wilson discusses themes from the May 2025 themed section o...

In this episode, we look at the ways in which literature for kids addresses food insecurity, hunger, and poverty, including the lasting impact of such representations. Alexia Moyer’s Amuse Bouche segment considers a passage from a classic Canadian novel in which shame and poverty, unfortunately, go together on the dinner plate. In a more positive vein, Dian Day talks about her new kids’ book about...

This episode considers the menu as documentation of cultural history and as representation of restaurant offerings. From our guests’ points of view, menus tell official stories of options and choice making, while also keeping certain things off the record. Alexia Moyer starts things off with a menu planning cookbook from 1967, followed up by a conversation with Koby Song-Nichols about his article,...

This episode explores how the economies of food systems might be re-thought and reoriented towards creating integrated value exchanges beyond just the financial kind. Sharing, gifting, and informal economies have been around forever, and they might be seeing a new resurgence that offers promise for the long-term. Alexia Moyer starts things off with gifts from Sandro Botticelli and Catherine Parr T...

Certain foods are named for the places they come from, but many foods acquire place-based names for quite different reasons. This episode peels back the layers of that oh-so-Canadian treat, the Nanaimo Bar. Lenore Newman fills us in on his history and heritage, while also commenting on the quasi-luxury that the dessert represented in past, and maybe still does. Sandwiching this exploration, Alexia...

Diversification is a survival strategy that applies to many aspects of food systems, from biomes to economies to cuisine. This episode is about many of those things, including green sea urchins and the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation’s approach to fisheries and food-making. The Canadian Food Studies publication in focus is Charlotte Gagnon-Lewis’s “ Fishing amongst industrial ghosts: The chal...

Are you a carnivore? A vegan? A frugivore? Or do you fall in between categories of eater, identifying more as a flexitarian? As we learn from this episode’s guest author, Kelsey Speakman, flexitarianism is a complex space of food making, ethical and multispecies relationships, and marketing rhetoric. Her article on the subject, “ Beef, Beans, or Byproducts? Following Flexitarianism’s Finances ,” c...

Eating and togetherness go hand in hand, or at least, that’s what our socioculture tells us. Yet many people, particularly seniors, live and dine alone. Even outside the home, eating can be an isolating experience. This episode probes how sound and space can encourage sociability and sharing, though it always takes an effort for that to happen. The Canadian Food Studies publication in focus is Mel...

As we slide into 2026, Digesting Food Studies is taking a break for a couple of weeks. But never fear, we have some other food and food-related shows to share! Listen on, or follow the links below to hear from some of the many other voices in food studies and socio-environmental podcasting. Mentioned in this episode: - The Ecopolitics Podcast - The Ground Up? - Second Transition Podcast - Eat Your...

There’s a lot of power in food and food systems. This episode explores the centralization of that power, particularly the ways in which corporations and governments operate and control spaces of production and transformation. The issue of Canadian Food Studies in focus is Vol. 2, No. 2 (2015), including its subsection, “Financialization in the Food System,” which our guest, Jennifer Clapp, co–gues...

Bringing food to school from home implicates a lot of issues: logistics, taste, temperature control, shame, pride, and carrying devices. This episode unpacks the packed lunch, in particular those that the kids of first-generation immigrants bring to school. Two articles from Canadian Food Studies are covered, both co-written by Yukari Seko, “ Unboxing the bento box ” (Vol. 8, No. 3) and “ Feeding...

Feminist studies and food studies have a fascinating history of difference, alignment, and emergence. This episode covers some of that span, from rice pudding (without eggs) to an issue of Canadian Food Studies (Vol. 5 No. 1) that is dedicated to feminist food studies. Lots of voices this week, including two different student reading responses! Guests : Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadi...

Tackling food waste is a big issue, particularly in wealthy countries. It emerges from all aspects of the food production-consumption web, implicating individual, municipal, regional, and global actors. This episode starts off with Alexia Moyer’s Amuse Bouche segment on historic approaches to waste in the home, leading into a discussion with Tammara Soma about her article, “ Critical food guidance...

How academics know and learn things is dependent on a myriad of conventions, many of which are coupled to a history of extractivism and colonialist structures. Coming to grips with that—and re-learning relational and reciprocal methods and habits can be challenging. This episode dives into un-learning, starting off with Alexia Moyer’s Amuse Bouche segment on the partial sharing of traditional know...

( show notes in English ) Alors que la contestation mondiale contre les herbicides à base de glyphosate s'intensifie et que les politiciens et les entreprises chimiques ajoutent leurs propres pressions concernant l'utilisation des pesticides, il est temps que tout le monde se penche davantage sur notre (sur)utilisation des intrants agricoles. Le terrain est toutefois complexe, comme nous l'expliqu...

Well-conceived and collectively enacted school food programs can bring numerous, cascading benefits to students, communities, and food environments more broadly. As Federal legislation brings into being such programs across Canada and Indigenous territories, ongoing research and reflection will be needed, as Rachel Engler-Stringer tells us in this episode. Starting things off, though, Alexia Moyer...

Indigenous food sovereignty—and the lack thereof—is intimately linked to histories of colonial oppression and present-day exploitative capitalism and extractivism. Nonetheless, as this episode’s guest Kaylee Michnik shows us, rebuilding sovereignty can happen through intergenerational learning, land-based practices, and relationality. During the Amuse Bouche segment, Alexia Moyer tells host David...

Whether you breastfeed, formula feed, or do both, securing sustenance for infants can be both fundamental and fraught. Lesley Frank has been doing research on first food systems and infant-and-caregiver food insecurity for numerous years, and shares her perspectives about sourcing infant formula in the past, present, and future. During the Amuse Bouche segment, Alexia Moyer talks with host David S...

How do we best learn about the complexities of food systems, particularly within the constraints of university-level courses? Jennifer Sumner and Michael Classens, the guest editors of the " Food Pedagogies in Canada" issue of Canadian Food Studies (Vol. 8 No. 4) , respond to this chewy question, among others. During the Amuse Bouche segment, Alexia Moyer talks with host David Szanto about the kin...

How can food art—collaborative or individual—show what is both special and ordinary about food, domestic labour, and systemic relationships? Susan Goldberg gives her thoughts on the subject as she discusses her art piece, “ Milk & Bread ” from Volume 12, Issue 1 of Canadian Food Studies . During the Amuse Bouche segment, Alexia Moyer talks with host David Szanto about the parallels between gen...

Is meat a product, a process, or both? And what about plant-based “meat” and other meat-like foods? Élisabeth Abergel and Ryan Phillips, the guest editors of the Meat Studies themed section in Vol. 11 No. 1 of Canadian Food Studies , offer take on this chewy subject. During the Amuse Bouche segment, Alexia Moyer talks with host David Szanto about the tools we use when eating meat, and how they hav...

In this preview episode, we introduce how this podcast will help unpack research on food systems in a variety of ways. Host David Szanto talks with Alexia Moyer—the co-Managing Editor of the academic journal, Canadian Food Studies —about her regular Amuse Bouche segment, which serves as an intro to the theme of each episode. Then he chats with Ellen Desjardins, the founding Editor-in-Chief of the...