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.

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–guest edited. Alexia Moyer shares learnings from Brian Brett’s book, Trauma Farm, and PhD student Heidi Janes responds to a selection of CFS articles about corporate power.

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.

Jennifer Clapp is a Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo. She is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems as well as the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub.

Heidi Janes is a PhD student in Political Science at the University of Victoria, where she researches corporate power in the food system and how philanthropic and humanitarian logics play roles in the political economy.

Mentioned in this episode:

Food by Jennifer Clapp

Titans of Industrial Agriculture by Jennifer Clapp

IPES-Food "Land Squeeze" Report

“Watt” on Wikipedia

Credits:

Host/Producer: David Szanto

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

Music: Alex Guz and Evgeny Bardyuzha and freesound_community on Pixabay

Sound Effects: Aviana_Phoenix and BenKirb on Pixabay

Image: Johnson Martin on Pixabay

#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.

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 children while Asian” (Vol. 12, No. 2).

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.

Yukari Seko is an Associate Professor in the School of Professional Communication at Toronto Metropolitan University, and Director of TMU’s Centre for Studies in Food Security.

Shay Quinn is a PhD student in Community and Population Health Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan who examines how Indigenous youth express ideas about traditional foodways.

Mentioned in this episode:

- The Lunchbox (film written and directed by Ritesh Batra)

- Canada’s School Food Program

- The Miner’s Lunchbox, designed by Leo May

Credits:

Host/Producer: David Szanto

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

Music: Alex Guz and Evgeny Bardyuzha from Pixabay

Additional music: Saseendran VV on Pixabay

Sound Effects: Aviana_Phoenix and BenKirb on Pixabay

Image: David Szanto

#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.

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 Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.

Jennifer Brady is an Associate Professor at Acadia University, cross-appointed to Women's and Gender Studies and the School of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Barbara Parker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Lakehead University, researching food and gender, critical dietetics, food pedagogy, and the school food environment.

Elaine Power is a Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University and is currently researching arts-based knowledge mobilization in relation to food insecurity.

Liz Lovell is a Community Food Systems Coordinator with the Food Action Network of Northwestern Ontario, and a recent master’s graduate from Lakehead University.

Steph Chartrand is a PhD student in Adult Education and Community Development at OISE, at the University of Toronto.

Mentioned in this episode:

- “Waste management as foodwork” by Carly Fraser and Kate Parizeau

- “Finding Formula” by Lesley Frank

- From Betty Crocker to Feminist Food Studies edited by Arlene Avakian and Barbara Haber

- The Home Cookbook (1877)

- Baking as Biography by Diane Tye

- The Practice of Everyday Life: Living and Cooking

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, BenKirb, and freesound_community on Pixabay

Image: OpenClipart-Vectors on Pixabay

#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.

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 for tackling food waste in Canada” from Vol. 9 No. 1 of Canadian Food Studies, and a response to the article from PhD student, Dante Gbejewoh.

Guests:

Dr. 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.

Tammara Soma is an Associate Professor at the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University. Her research includes food systems planning, food loss and waste, and circular food economies.

Dante Gbejewoh is a PhD Candidate in Environmental Studies at Queen’s University and a member of the Food Policy Council for Kingston Frontenac Lennox & Addington. His research examines on-farm conservation activities and agroecological transformation.

Mentioned in this episode:

“Waste management as foodwork: A feminist food studies approach to household food waste” by Carly Fraser and Kate Parizeau

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, BenKirb, and freesound_community on Pixabay

Photo: David Szanto

#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.

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 knowledges. The focus article is Alissa Overend’s and Ronak Rai’s “Un-learning and re-learning: Reflections on relationality, urban berry foraging, and settler research uncertainties” from Vol. 11 No. 2 of Canadian Food Studies.

Guests:

Dr. 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.

Alissa Overend is an associate professor at MacEwan University in Edmonton, learning and teaching about food and nutrition, health and illness, critical disability studies, and intersectional inequality.

Ronak Rai is a PhD student at the University of Alberta did her master’s studies on the challenges and opportunities that first-generation immigrant therapists face in the context of working with Indigenous clients.

Annika Walsh is a transdisciplinary food artist and researcher who recently completed a master of science degree in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems at UBC.

Mentioned in this episode:

- Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson

- Elements of Indigenous Style

- Shifting Food Facts by Alissa Overend

- The Ground Up? podcast

- AnnikaWalsh.com

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, BenKirb, and freesound_community on Pixabay

Cover art photo: Bonnie McDonald on Pixabay

#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.