This episode considers carceral food systems and the roles food plays in expressing identity and liberty, as well as oppression and power. Alexia Moyer’s Amuse Bouche segment starts it off with a historical record of how WWII prisoners of war in Singapore dealt with hunger, privation, and the distribution of food labour. After that, Amanda Wilson discusses themes from the May 2025 themed section of Canadian Food Studies that she co-edited, “Exploring Carceral Food Systems” (Vol. 12, No. 1). And, closing things out, chef-activist-PhD student Joshna Maharaj responds to Kelsey Timler’s article, “Protest pizzas: Resisting carcerality with storytelling, community building, and an array of toppings”.

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.

Amanda Wilson is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Innovation at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. Her research looks at food movements, alternative food networks, and carceral food systems, as well as “the politics of possibility.”

Joshna Maharaj is a chef, writer, and activist, and a current PhD student at Technological University Dublin. She is the author of the book, Take Back the Tray: Revolutionizing Food in Hospitals, Schools, and Other Institutions.

Mentioned in this episode:

- The Taste of Longing by Suzanne Evans

- Take Back the Tray by Joshna Maharaj

Credits:

Host/Producer: David Szanto

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

Audio consultant: Zélie Scherrer

Music: Alex Guz and Evgeny Bardyuzha on Pixabay

Sound Effects: Aviana_Phoenix, BenKirb, and freesound_community on Pixabay

Image: Paterson Hodgson

#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.

In this episode, we look at the ways in which literature for kids addresses food insecurity, hunger, and poverty, including the lasting impact of such representations. Alexia Moyer’s Amuse Bouche segment considers a passage from a classic Canadian novel in which shame and poverty, unfortunately, go together on the dinner plate. In a more positive vein, Dian Day talks about her new kids’ book about food insecurity, as well as her qualitative analysis published in Volume 11, Number 1 of Canadian Food Studies, “Food insecurity in books for children” (March 2024). Wrapping things up, Ruby Harrington considers Dian’s article within a broad perspective on familial and infant food insecurity.

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.

Dian Day is a writer and poet who recently completed her PhD in Cultural Studies at Queens University. With illustrator Amanda White, she is the author of the kids’ book, Shy Cat and the Stuff-the-Bus Challenge.

Ruby Harrington works for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and was previously a master student with the Fed Family Lab at Acadia University.

Mentioned in this episode:

- The Tin Flute / Bonneur d’occasion by Gabrielle Roy

- Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

- Fed Family Lab

Credits:

Host/Producer: David Szanto

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

Audio consultant: Zélie Scherrer

Music: Alex Guz and Evgeny Bardyuzha on Pixabay

Additional music: VoiceBosch on Pixabay

Sound Effects: Aviana_Phoenix and BenKirb on Pixabay

Image: Amanda White/Second Story Press

#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.

This episode considers the menu as documentation of cultural history and as representation of restaurant offerings. From our guests’ points of view, menus tell official stories of options and choice making, while also keeping certain things off the record. Alexia Moyer starts things off with a menu planning cookbook from 1967, followed up by a conversation with Koby Song-Nichols about his article, “Can historians order off the menu?”, from Vol. 11, No. 2 of Canadian Food Studies, published in August 2024. Finally, Anson Hunt shares his thoughts on how menus play their role in the ‘conversations’ that take place in and around restaurants.

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.

Koby Song-Nichols is a historian and food studies scholar based in Toronto whose research follows the ways Chinese Canadians and Chinese Americans have used food within intercultural and intergenerational relationships and communities.

Anson Hunt is a PhD student at Carleton University whose research revolves around alternative food systems and the potential roles of chefs and restaurants in the production and reception of food information.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Northern Cookbook edited by Eleanor A. Ellis
• For a selected list of menu collections, see the appendix in Koby Song-Nichols’ article, “Can Historians Order off the Menu?”

Credits:

Host/Producer: David Szanto

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

Audio consultant: Zélie Scherrer

Music: Alex Guz and Evgeny Bardyuzha on Pixabay

Additional music: Noru on Pixabay

Sound Effects: Aviana_Phoenix and BenKirb on Pixabay

Image: Merethe Liljedahl 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.