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 du 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 du 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). In response, PhD student Shay Quinn offers perspectives on arts-informed research.

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.