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.

This episode explores how the economies of food systems might be re-thought and reoriented towards creating integrated value exchanges beyond just the financial kind. Sharing, gifting, and informal economies have been around forever, and they might be seeing a new resurgence that offers promise for the long-term. Alexia Moyer starts things off with gifts from Sandro Botticelli and Catherine Parr Traill, followed up by a conversation with Irena Knezevic, one of the guest editors of the themed issue of Canadian Food Studies, “The social and informal economy of food” (Vol. 6, No. 3), published in November 2019. Finally, Christophe Dubois shares his thoughts on social gastronomy and Mary Anne Martin’s use of feminist theory to explore urban agriculture.

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.

Irena Knezevic is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University. She studies communication, culture, and health, including such themes as food labelling, health communications and advertising, and health equity.

Christophe Dubois is a recent graduate of the master’s program in social work at l’Université du Québec à Montréal. A former restaurant cook, he currently devotes his time to the practice of social gastronomy, helping young people develop skills and work experience in food.

Mentioned in this episode:

- La Gastronomie sociale, documentary series

- “Venus and the Three Graces Presenting Gifts to a Young Woman” by Sandro Boticelli

- The Female Emigrant’s Guide by Catherine Parr Traill

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 and BenKirb and freesound_community on Pixabay

Photo: anonymous

#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.

Certain foods are named for the places they come from, but many foods acquire place-based names for quite different reasons. This episode peels back the layers of that oh-so-Canadian treat, the Nanaimo Bar. Lenore Newman fills us in on his history and heritage, while also commenting on the quasi-luxury that the dessert represented in past, and maybe still does. Sandwiching this exploration, Alexia Moyer tells us about the iconic French pastry, the Paris-Brest, and Julia Mitchell responds to Lenore’s article, “Notes from the Nanaimo Bar Trail.”

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.

Lenore Newman is a professor in the department of Planning, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley, as well as Director of its Food and Agriculture Institute.

Julia Mitchell is a master student in arts and communication at Carleton University, exploring the use of French terminology on English-language menus.

Mentioned in this episode:

- Speaking in Cod Tongues by Lenore Newman

- La Poutine by Geneviève Sicotte

- Paris-Brest (pastry)

- “But is it Authentic?” by Lisa Heldke

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 and BenKirb and freesound_community on Pixabay

Photo: Joy (CC-BY 2.0, no changes made)

#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.

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.