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Meant To Be Eaten

Heritage Radio Network

Meant to be Eaten looks at cross-cultural exchange in food and contemporary media. What determines “authenticity”? What, if anything, gets lost in translation when cooking foods from another’s culture? First-generation Chinese host, Coral Lee, looks at how American culture figures forth in less-than mainstream ways, in less-than expected places.

Location:

United States

Description:

Meant to be Eaten looks at cross-cultural exchange in food and contemporary media. What determines “authenticity”? What, if anything, gets lost in translation when cooking foods from another’s culture? First-generation Chinese host, Coral Lee, looks at how American culture figures forth in less-than mainstream ways, in less-than expected places.

Language:

English


Episodes
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Gastromica's New Feed On HRN

6/15/2022
If you’ve been keeping up with Meant To Be Eaten, you know that our last few seasons were produced in collaboration with Gastronomica, the Journal for Food Studies.Gastronomica now has its very own feed on the Heritage Radio Network where they are continuing this work! So, if you’re a fan of Meant To Be Eaten, go check out Gastronomica and subscribe! Here’s a little sneak peak of what you can expect. On this episode, host Jaclyn Rohel, a member of the Gastronomica Editorial Collective, talks with food historian Krystyn Moon and biologist Jennifer Rhode Ward about their new research on the complexities of taste, identity, and food access in Cuba. Krystyn and Jennifer shed light on why hierarchies of taste persist even amidst state attempts to flatten social hierarchies. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Gastronomica by becoming a member! Gastronomica is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:16:23

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What to Read Now: Melissa Fuster's Caribeños at the Table

11/28/2021
This episode is part of a collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, hosted by editorial collective member Jaclyn Rohel. Jaclyn shares some new and soon-to-be published titles in food studies and is joined by her Gastronomica colleague Melissa Fuster in conversation about Melissa’s new book, Caribeños at the Table: How Migration, Health, and Race Intersect in New York City (UNC Press, 2021). An expert in both public health nutrition and food studies, Melissa weaves together research in history, policy, health, and everyday life to connect newcomers’ culinary practices to the complex structural factors that shape well-being. Melissa also discusses how this work led her to develop her community-based research initiative, the Latin American Restaurants in Action Project. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant to be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant to be Eaten is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:39:14

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Stephen Velasquez on Art and Activism

11/21/2021
This episode is part of a collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Paula Johnson. In this episode, curator Stephen Velasquez discusses how activism and food history come together in a graphic calendar. The Calendario de Comida 1976, created by California-based artist collectives in 1975, sought to bring attention to alternative foodways and indigenous food knowledges as part of a broader social justice movement. Stephen discusses some of the imagery within the calendar and expands on the role of Chicano activists in reimagining colonial histories and identity. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant to be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant to be Eaten is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:33:17

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Sucharita Kanjilal on Tomatoes and Taste-making in Indian Recipes

11/14/2021
This episode is part of a collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Krishnendu Ray. The tomato is a staple ingredient in Indian subcontinental cooking, but this is a relatively recent phenomenon. In this episode, anthropologist Sucharita Kanjilal explains how tomatoes became incorporated into Indian pantries in the 20th century. Weaving together the histories of two British imports -- the tomato and the recipe -- she discusses the fluidity of taste-making in postcolonial India. Photo courtesy of Sucharita Kanjilal. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant to be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant to be Eaten is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:34:29

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Aya H. Kimura on Pickling: Histories of Tsukemono

11/7/2021
This episode is part of a collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Daniel Bender. Aya H. Kimura unpacks the biocultural history of tsukemono (Japanese pickles). She discusses the different kinds of traditional tsukemono in Japanese dining cultures and explains how these preserves are made. She also offfers insight into how modern agriculture has affected tsukemono. Photo credit to Aya H. Kimura. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant to be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant to be Eaten is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:44:27

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Benjamin Schrager on Risk, Regulation, and Raw Chicken in Japan

10/31/2021
This episode is part of a collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member James Farrer. Geographer Benjamin Schrager talks about his new article, “Risky but Raw: On (Not) Regulating One of the Most High-Risk Dishes in Japan,” published in Gastronomica (issue 21.3). He raises awareness about food risk and discusses the tastes and textures of some raw chicken dishes, local regulatory responses, and the development of the poultry industry in Japan more broadly. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant to be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant to be Eaten is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:36:45

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Raúl Matta and Padma Panchapakesan on Dining Out: Changing Values of Good Taste

10/24/2021
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Josée Johnston. Raúl Matta and Padma Panchapakesan discuss how ideas of "good taste" have changed over time with the aid of different judgment devices. Focusing on the role of chefs, they unpack the sociology of tastemakers amidst the changing landscape of the restaurant industry. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant to be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant to be Eaten is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:37:28

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Chicken Politics

6/13/2021
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Melissa Fuster. Michaël Bruckert explores meat industrialization in South India. Recounting his fieldwork in the region of Tamil Nadu, Bruckert traces the commoditization of poultry, from farms, markets, and butcher shops to eateries, home kitchens, and consumers’ plates. In this global South context, he explains how recent developments in animal agriculture have changed how people think about chicken - as animal and as meat - and have in the process materially transformed the chicken itself. Image courtesy of Michaël Bruckert. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant to be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant to be Eaten is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:40:37

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When the Rainbows Bring the Crawfish

6/8/2021
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Paula Johnson. V. Constanza Ocampo-Raeder explores human-nature relationships through the social life of camarones, a Peruvian river crustacean. Drawing together stories of landscape, labor and gastronomic revival, Ocampo-Raeder distills the complexity of crawfish-catching from river to plate. Photo Courtesy of V. Constanza Ocampo-Raeder Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant to be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant to be Eaten is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:35:22

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Japanese Immigrants’ Pantry

5/23/2021
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Bob Valgenti. Eric Funabashi discusses Japanese immigrants' culinary experiences in Brazil following the initial migration of Japanese workers to São Paulo’s coffee farms in 1908. Drawing on published cookbooks and immigrants’ private diaries, he shows how Japanese immigrants forged new culinary practices and identities in Brazil over the course of the 20th century. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant to be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant to be Eaten is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:35:37

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What to Read Now

5/16/2021
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Jaclyn Rohel. Jaclyn is joined by her colleague, anthropologist Janita Van Dyk, to introduce a new feature on recent and upcoming books in Food Studies, “What to Read Now.” This episode focuses on Just the Tonic: A Natural History of Tonic Water (Kew Publishing, 2019) in conversation with authors Kim Walker and Mark Nesbitt to explore sparkling water in the history of medicine, in cocktail cultures, and in the archives. Photos courtesy of Kim Walker and Mark Nesbitt. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant to be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant to be Eaten is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:28:10

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Race in American Food Television

5/10/2021
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Krishnendu Ray. Alison Hope Alkon and Rafi Grosglik discuss representations of race in food media. Drawing on examples from contemporary popular culture, they explore how the medium of television engages with racial inequalities and how it could act as a critical intervention for social change. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant To Be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant To Be Eaten is powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:35:23

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Ketchup as a Vegetable: Condiments and the Politics of School Lunch in Reagan’s America

2/21/2021
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, guest hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Melissa Fuster. Historian Amy Bentley returns to the show to discuss the politics of food and nutrition. She traces how the Reagan administration 40 years ago shifted (deliberately or inadvertently) the classification of ketchup from a condiment to a vegetable in an effort to overhaul national school lunch programs and cut government costs, a move that disproportionately affected the health of lower-income children. Photo courtesy of Amy Bentley. Meant To Be Eaten is powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:38:27

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Lunch Interrupted! COVID-19 and Japan’s School Meals

2/14/2021
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, guest hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Jessica Carbone. Alexis Agliano Sanborn explores how Japan's school lunch programs connected people and supported communities in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlighting civil-society initiatives, she shows how school lunch programs were a source of resiliency in local food supply and distribution networks. Photo courtesy of Alexis Agliano Sanborn. Meant To Be Eaten is powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:30:58

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Rumor, Chinese Diets, and COVID-19: Questions and Answers about Chinese Food and Eating Habits

2/7/2021
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, guest hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Krishnendu Ray. Historians Michelle T. King and Wendy Jia-Chen Fu discuss the stigmatization of Chinese food and eating habits in Anglophone media coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. They weigh in on common questions surrounding wet markets and the wildlife trade in Chinese food systems, dispel misinformation, and share ways to both combat negative stereotypes about Chinese food and support Chinese American communities in the United States. Photo courtesy of Michelle T. King. Meant To Be Eaten is powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:33:03

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Paqueteros and Paqueteras: Humanizing a Dehumanized Food System

1/31/2021
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies <https://online.ucpress.edu/gastronomica>, guest hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Jaclyn Rohel. Alyshia Gálvez explores the work of transnational food couriers known as paqueteros and paqueteras. These informal grassroots entrepreneurs connect people and places across international borders through the delivery of goods, care packages, and specialty and traditional foods. Drawing on ethnographic research of micro-local foodways in Mexico (Puebla) and the United States (New York) and the connections between them, Gálvez discusses how informal food couriers humanize an increasingly industrialized food system in the post-NAFTA landscape. Please note that around the 10-min mark, Professor Gálvez mentions having been asked by federal attorneys to serve as an expert witness, while she meant to say that she had been approached by public defenders in that capacity. Photo courtesy of Alyshia Gálvez. Meant To Be Eaten is powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:44:04

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Feeding the City, Pandemic and Beyond

1/24/2021
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, guest hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Bob Valgenti. Bryan Dale and Jo Sharma share a COVID-19 dispatch from Toronto, Canada. They discuss how their project "Feeding the City, Pandemic and Beyond" has developed a model of public scholarship that documents food system experiences, community challenges and local resilience. By engaging grassroots voices, from farmers and urban growers to school food advocates, market provisioners and other local stakeholders, they highlight actions toward sustainable food solutions for building a socially just and resilient global city. Photo courtesy of Bryan Dale and Jayeeta Sharma. Meant To Be Eaten is powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:41:16

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Decoding Miracle Food Cures for COVID-19

11/29/2020
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies Meant To Be Eaten is powered by Simplecast.`

Duration:00:27:17

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Salmon on the Table

11/22/2020
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, guest hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Melissa Fuster. John Gifford discusses salmon and sustainability, drawing from his piece that appears in the current issue’s section on “Working with Ingredients.” Taking us to the waters off the coast of Vancouver Island, he explores the environmental effects of aquaculture, which is growing to meet global demands for fish. He then looks to Lake Michigan, to offer an alternative model of fishing that is both sustainable and in harmony with Indigenous culture. Photo Courtesy of John Gifford Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant to be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant to be Eaten is Powered by Simplecast

Duration:00:41:33

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The Food and COVID-19 NYC Archive: Mapping the Pandemic’s Effect on Food in Real Time

11/15/2020
This episode is part of a special series in collaboration with Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, guest hosted by Gastronomica editorial collective member Jaclyn Rohel. Amy Bentley and Stephanie Borkowsky discuss The Food and COVID-19 NYC Archive, which documents the ongoing changes to New York City's food system during the pandemic. Their article, which appears in the current issue’s special section on COVID Dispatches from around the world, explores the origins and evolution of the project and includes excerpts and photos from the archive. Visit the collection at: https://wp.nyu.edu/foodandcovid19/ Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Meant To Be Eaten by becoming a member! Meant To Be eaten is Powered by Simplecast.

Duration:00:34:33