On October 5, I launched the Daal Project podcast in person in Kingston, Ontario. Here is an excerpt of my conversation with the dynamic Joshna Maharaj about daal, the complexity of South Asian cuisine, connections with other food cultures and more. Shobhana Xavier introduces the launch.

Recipes referenced in this episode include this coconut daal, toor daal with peanuts, and my own masoor moong daal.

Joshna Maharaj is a chef, speaker & activist who believes strongly in the power of chefs & social gastronomy to bring values of hospitality, sustainability & social justice to the table. Joshna’s first book Take Back the Tray captures the lessons & experience from her work in creating a movement to reconnect food with health, wellness, education, and rehabilitation in public institutions. Joshna is an award-winning, two-time TEDx speaker and just completed a Master’s in Gastronomy at TU Dublin in Ireland.

Shobhana Xavier is professor of religion and diaspora at Queen’s University’s School of Religion (in, Kingston, Canada). She works on Islam, Sufism, and popular spirituality, especially in the United States, Canada, and Sri Lanka (North America and South Asia). She explores developments and practices of contemporary Sufism through the lens of migration, diaspora, gender, popular culture, rituals, spaces, food, and institutions. She is also a co-host of the New Books in Islamic Studies and Just Eats podcasts.

Intro and exit music: Creep by Lal @lalforest

Follow @daalproject on instagram and access additional recipes at daalproject.org

Nazma Rahman moved to Kingston, Ontario in 1970. In this episode she teaches me a Bangladeshi masoor daal with panch phoran. You will hear a mostly long kitchen soundscape followed by a conversation I had with Nazma Aunty and her husband, Hafizur Uncle, about what it was like to be Muslim here back in the day, and how they established the Islamic Society of Kingston.

Nazma Rahman is from Nilphamari, Bangladesh. She has lived in Kingston, Ontario, since 1970, where she is a founding member of the Islamic Society of Kingston. Access her daal recipe here.

Intro and exit music: Creep by Lal @lalforest

Follow @daalproject on instagram and access additional recipes at daalproject.org

In this episode, Sheetal Aunty teaches me a her take on a traditional Gujarati toor daal with jaggery – that’s right, it has sugar in it! As we cook, Sheetal Aunty and I connect over our shared Gujarati heritage and love of cooking and eating Indian cuisine.

Sheetal Purohit is from Porbandar, Gujarat, India, and she loves Kingston, her home for the last 24 years.

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Gulshan Babbar, or Gulshan Aunty to me is from Amritsar, India and has called Kingston, Ontario her second home since 2001. She is a pillar of the local Hindu community, organizing cultural and religious events alongside running her own business. She shares her dal makhani recipe and also teaches me to make ghee as we talk about why she loves daal and Kingston.

Gulshan Babbar is from Amritsar, Punjab, India. She is the owner of Bayridge Grocery in Kingston, Ontario and is Secretary of the Hindu Mandir of Kingston Board of Directors.

Intro and exit music: Creep by Lal @lalforest

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In this episode, Eram Aunty shares her mother’s masoor moong daal recipe with slow fried garlic cloves, while she talks about her passion for educating children.

Eram Butt is Pakistani with ancestors from Kashmir. Living in Kingston since 2011. Eram is the Principal of Manar Academy as well as the Islamic Society of Kingston’s Evening & Weekend School where she coordinates the Qur’an and Islamic Studies classes.

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In this episode, Simran Sharma teaches a rich toor daal with browned onions, cinnamon and other whole spices. She also asks “What would it mean if food becomes free? If you are not worrying what are we going to eat for the next meal?”

Simran Sharma is a PhD candidate and migrant worker at Queen’s University. Her research traces solidarities between Black enslaved and South Asian indenture workers on the Plantations.

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In this episode, Jill Glatt of Magpie Print shop shares her interpretation of the family daal recipe accompanied by smoked fish and talks about what it means to measure with one’s heart.

Jill Glatt is a Katarokwi/Kingston Ontario-based illustrator, natural dyer, printmaker, and arts educator. Her artistic practice is based around and informed by ecology, community, and sustainability. Jill is also the Volunteer Coordinator for the Skeleton Park Arts Festival and sits on their board of directors as President. Learn more at Magpie Printshop.

Intro and exit music: Creep by Lal @lalforest

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Reena Kukreja teaches ghiya wali chana daal, aka bottle gourd with split chickpeas, a Punjabi recipe often eaten in the summer months. Reena also talks about food memory and her trajectory in filmmaking.

Reena Kukreja is an Associate Professor at Queen’s University in the Department of Global Development Studies. Reena is a feminist-activist, researcher, teacher, and a documentary filmmaker who is interested in understanding the complex impact of migration on people’s intimate lives.

Intro and exit music: Creep by Lal @lalforest

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