What is tea art, and when and how did it emerge as a social practice? In this episode, Daniel Bender of Gastronomica hosts anthropologist Thiago Braga in a conversation about the aesthetics of tea in urban China. Drawing on his latest research, featured in Gastronomica’s newest issue (Summer 2023), Thiago...

Through her profound connection to her people and land in Apex, North Carolina, cultural preservationist Gabrielle Eitienne shares the importance of place and the power of archiving the wisdom of your community. Says Eitienne: "I was working in the food industry, I was doing pretty well. I had just gotten...

Coming soon from HRN, Culture Flavor is a podcast about food and culture centered in Black Indigenous foodways. Hosted by Zella Palmer, Director and Chair of the Dillard University Ray Charles Program in African American Material Culture in New Orleans, Louisiana. Each episode features high vibrational conversations with...

There’s a school of thought that suggests that aging mezcal in wood isn’t traditional, and that the changes imparted by the barrel distract from the flavors and aromas of the agave. And, sure, there are some communities where the mezcaleros would never age in anything other than glass for those...

Back in the 1990s, the Mexican government took legal control of the word “mezcal” away from the people who have shepherded mezcal traditions for hundreds of years. But legal control isn’t the same as moral control. But what does it mean to refer to an uncertified agave spirit as mezcal...

When Maluma announced he was releasing a cristalino mezcal, a corner of the world went nuts: tens of thousands of his fans, excited to try it, and hundreds of mezcal geeks, outraged over a perceived attack on Mexico’s cultural heritage. Meanwhile, most of the world went about their day. It’s...

One of the things you hear over and over is that pechuga – the mezcal made (often) by adding raw chicken (or turkey or venison or name-your-protein) – is a special spirit made for celebrations. But then you see novelty pechugas, made with bacon or al pastor. So what’s the...

Read almost any of those “differences between tequila and mezcal” articles, and they’ll tell you that tequila steams their agave, mezcal roasts it underground. But in the cover to this week’s episode, you can see Chava and me sitting in the skeleton of a century-old boiler at an even older...

If you hang around a certain crowd, they’ll tell you that mezcal needs to be at least 50% alcohol by volume to be true to the cultural heritage of the spirit. And while that is certainly true in some communities, Mexico is not homogenous. We geek out on some 28%...

We meet Ji Hye Kim, a chef who has a passion for making Korean food with a Michigan twist. As the owner of Miss Kim restaurant in Ann Arbor, Ji Hye calls upon Korean Buddhist food tradition which emphasizes using local and seasonal ingredients. Ji Hye works with local farmers...