A roundtable conversation on water, drawing connections between place, taste, and social justice.

How is the war in Ukraine impacting regional food supply chains? In this episode, Gastronomica’s Bob Valgenti speaks with scholars Diana Mincyte and Fabio Parasecoli about the current state of food systems in countries that immediately border Ukraine. They shed light on crisis and resiliency in localized food networks --...

Could the future of a cuisine be designed, and if so, by whom? Gastronomica Co-Chair Signe Rousseau hosts Fabio Parasecoli in a discussion of the cultural work that tastemakers do in creating new forms of value in Polish food. From potatoes and vodka, to wine, to mushrooms and other foraged...

How does a food come to be linked to a place when there is movement and change? In this episode, food anthropologist Ishita Dey talks with Gastronomica’s Krishnendu Ray about placemaking amidst historical, political, and ecological change in Bangladesh. Ishita shares stories and insights on the craft of sweetmaking from...

What role could a restaurant play in defining a place? In this episode, Gastronomica Editorial Collective member Jaclyn Rohel speaks with writer Matthew Meduri about the role of the chicken house in a changing economy in Barberton, Ohio. Weaving together histories of migration, post industrialism, and urban transformation, Matthew Meduri...

What is Mediterranean cuisine, and who shapes its meaning and boundaries? In this episode, Gastronomica Editorial Collective member Amy Trubek speaks with Jennifer Dueck about tastemaking and gastronomic representation in American journalism. A historian of Middle Eastern culture and politics, Jennifer traces the construction of Mediterranean cuisine in the American...

What can food imaginaries of the past reveal about pathways towards food justice? In this episode, Gastronomica Editorial Collective member Bob Valgenti talks with sociologist Endia Louise Hayes about her newest article, featured in Gastronomica’s Summer 2022 issue. Drawing together political histories, lived experience, and collaborative discourses for future possibilities...

What does it mean to “eat healthy”? Gastronomica Co-Chair Dan Bender hosts Jason Edward Pagaduan in a conversation about the moral underpinnings of food. Drawing on his newly published story in Gastronomica, Jason shares his experience in a suburban mall walkers club, where he encountered unexpected ways to care for...

​Rooftop cultivation can play an important role in feeding communities, but what is the place of animals in elevated urban gardens? In this episode, Gastronomica Editorial Collective member Lisa Haushofer talks with anthropologist Noha Fikry about the uses of home rooftops for feeding one’s family. Drawing on her ethnographic research...

Food scholars have found that notions of “good taste” often distinguish people based on class and social inequality. But how do people give meaning to food and taste in a socialist economy? Join host Jaclyn Rohel, a member of the Gastronomica Editorial Collective, as she talks with food historian Krystyn...