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 challenges of green sea urchin diversification in Eastern Canada,” from Vol. 12, No. 1 (2025). Alexia Moyer shares a story of the Gulf of St-Lawrence and master student Adelle D’Urzo Paugh responds to Charlotte’s article with reflections on participatory co-learning and the Capitalocene.

Guests:

Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.

Charlotte Gagnon-Lewis is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at the University of Ottawa, where she takes a political ecology lens to the socio-ecological entanglements of food systems.

Adelle D’Urzo Paugh is a master’s student in Environmental Studies at Queen's University, examining the use of participatory research and survey tools in small-scale fisheries networks.

Mentioned in this episode:

- The Montreal Biodome

- Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation

- Maqahamok, a Wolastoqey pub in Cacouna, QC

Credits:

Host/Producer: David Szanto

Executive Producers: Rachel Engler-Stringer, Laurence Godin, Charles Levkoe, Phil Loring, Kristen Lowitt

Music: Alex Guz and Evgeny Bardyuzha on Pixabay

Sound Effects: Aviana_Phoenix and BenKirb and freesound_community on Pixabay

Photo: Hannah Robinson

#DigestingFoodStudies

Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.

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,” comes from Vol. 11, No. 4 of Canadian Food Studies. Sandwiching this meat-alternatives theme are Alexia Moyer on a powerful kitchen implement, and Milka Milicevic on the power of true alternatives in eating.

Guests:

Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.

Kelsey Speakman is a lecturer at the University of Toronto and spends her research energies looking at multispecies interactions in consumer culture and ethical relationships in food provisioning.

Milka Milicevic is in her fourth year in the Honors Bachelor of Food Studies program at George Brown College, with previous professional experience in nutrition and market research.

Mentioned in this episode:

- George Brown Polytechnic’s Honours Bachelor of Food Studies

- The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth

Credits:

Host/Producer: David Szanto

Executive Producers: Rachel Engler-Stringer, Laurence Godin, Charles Levkoe, Phil Loring, Kristen Lowitt

Music: Alex Guz and Evgeny Bardyuzha on Pixabay

Sound Effects: Aviana_Phoenix and BenKirb and freesound_community on Pixabay

Photos: Alexia Moyer

#DigestingFoodStudies

Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.

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 Melanie Binette’s “Invisible guests: A sound installation in a Montréal community restaurant,” from Vol. 4, No. 2 (2017). Alexia Moyer shares two very different soundscapes, and Art History master student, Samphe Ballamingie, responds to the sound installation at the centre of Melanie’s text.

Guests:

Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.

Melanie Binette is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, and researcher who co-founded Milieu de Nulle Part, a performance collective dedicated to in situ and in socius performance.

Samphe Ballamingie is a filmmaker, video editor, writer, and podcaster who is currently doing a master’s degree in Art History at Concordia University in Montreal.

Mentioned in this episode:

- Milieu de Nulle Part

- Natalie Doonan – Le Sensorium

- Le Chic Resto Pop

- Stats Canada – single-person households

Credits:

Host/Producer: David Szanto

Executive Producers: Rachel Engler-Stringer, Laurence Godin, Charles Levkoe, Phil Loring, Kristen Lowitt

Music: Alex Guz and Evgeny Bardyuzha on Pixabay

Sound Effects: Aviana_Phoenix and BenKirb and freesound_community on Pixabay

Soundscapes: Rotterdam Library—Library 03 090724.wav by LG—Attribution 4.0; Montreal restaurant—restaurant.wav by rivernile7—Attribution 3.0

Image: Patrick Ma

#DigestingFoodStudies

Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.