AnthroDish

Wellness as both a culture and industry tend to visually skew more feminine—or at least the critiques and cultural assessments of it do. In some ways, this also leads to a superficial exploration of why people feel compelled to choose wellness alternatives, be it supplements or injections or beauty products. But there's more nuance needed, especially given how wellness influencers and media advocating for masculinity through magical, mystical, foreign products. What exactly goes into these cure-alls, and what consequences does it have globally? My guest today, Adam Popescu, explores these themes through his reporting and writing. Adam is a journalist and author who writes about power and our changing world, often exploring the impacts of business on biodiversity, and commerce on culture and climate. He's here today to unpack some of the fascinating work he did for Bloomberg Business on shilajit, a supplement that has recently been favourited by the likes of MAHA proponents and Joe Rogan, but its sourcing has become contentious for many reasons. In today's conversation, Adam talks about the traditional uses of shilajit, and how its been commodified to fit the wellness industry, explores the dynamic between power and masculinity and how it plays out in wellness superfoods, the issues surrounding sourcing shilajit from the Himalayas and what the end products in the West get cut with, and the complexities of whether or not shilajit can be sustainably sourced.  Resources:  Adam's article in Bloomberg Business on shilajit Adam's website: https://www.adampopescu.com/ Adam is leading a wildlife writing retreat next May in the Indian Himalayas with the writers Deepa Anappara, Jonathan Miles, and Kullu Suryawanshi. Basic setup is half the day we look for wildlife and the other half is writing focused with lessons covering fiction, non-fiction and memoir and nature writing. Email him for more here: [email protected]

Scroll through social media these days, and you can easily get hit with a wave of overwhelming expectations around what you should be eating, how much you should be eating, how meals should be plated and styled perfectly for internet audiences, all while trying to make a living and stay afloat. But what happens if we pause from these narratives, and reframe our cooking experiences? Today's guest, Sonali Menezes, explores just that with me today. Sonali is an artist, zinester, and writer. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario with her husband, cat, and houseplants. She loves food, and eats it every day in celebration. Her first book, Depression Cooking: Feeding Yourself When It All Feels Too Hard, is out officially as of today through ECW Press.   In today's conversation, Sonali explores what it means to depression cook and how she structures her recipes to maintain accessibility for those navigating mental health, disabilities, and challenging phases of life, how messages around appetite and hunger in her younger years living in Scarborough and North York informed her anti-diet and approachable writing and recipe-crafting, how the art world she came up in understands eating (or not eating) and its relationship to her illustrations, and establishing gentler relationships with eating and cooking.     Resources: Instagram: @sonaleeeeeee Depression Cooking book

Industrialization has undoubtedly and profoundly shifted our relationship with food globally, and it can be hard to remember the work being done outside of commercialized growing to remain connected to the land through vegetables. What stories are held in the diversity of vegetable species across the globe? Today's guest, Ali Francis, is here to explore their fascinating and curious lives! Ali is an Australian-born journalist and former Bon Appétit reporter living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Cut, BBC, The Guardian, TASTE, and other publications. She's the co-founder of Best Food Blog, a journalist-owned publication about eating. Ali also writes Anyway!, a newsletter about building meaningful lives in these bizarre modern times. Her first book, The Curious Lives of Vegetables: An Artful Exploration of the Wonderful World of Edible Plants, Their History, and Their Crucial Role in Our Future is out now, and is a wild quest to uncover the stories we don't usually hear about plants. In today's conversation, Ali touches on how her and the book's artist Adriana Picker tackled such an immense and robust task of sharing plant narratives through writing and gorgeous illustrations, what factors have contributed to the declining biodiversity of vegetables in the world, how colonial naming conventions shaped our relationship to vegetable varieties, and the important role that seed savers play in building more vibrant, flavourful futures. Resources: Ali's Website The Curious Lives of Vegetables Anyway! Newsletter Best Food Blog Instagram: @alifrancis.me

As we start up season 11 of the podcast, I wanted to share some life and technological updates, as well as what you can expect of this season. We're in a landscape where the steakhouse is back, big meat, wellness, and Ozempic are in, there's recalls abounding across America that are spiralling into Canada for lettuce and berries and jalapenos and eggs. I'm frustrated about the state of global food systems, and the imperialist and fascist leadership that is swiftly impacting everyday lives. My focus this season is to look at what's going wrong, how it's impacting everyday people, and also how different cultures and experiences across the world are grappling with these imperialist changes. Maybe it feels as heavy to you as it does to me. Maybe it feels like it's too much. But it iss underpinning my decisions about which guests to have on this season. Fight fire with really great people doing really important, practical work.  We've got a new look, a powerful line up of guests, and a really fruitful series of conversations for you!  Follow Sarah/AnthroDish:  Website: https://www.anthrodish.com/  Substack: https://sarahduignan.substack.com/  Instagram: @anthrodishpodcast TikTok: @anthrodish Sarah's New TV Show, Mysteries of Ancient Medicine

When it comes to talking about food, we often to choose to look at what people are eating rather than how. And it's this distinction that today's guest, Amber Husain, explores more fully in her new book, Tell Me How You Eat: Food, Power and the Will to Live. Amber is a writer based in South London, UK. In addition to Tell Me How You Eat, she has also written Meat Love and Replace Me. Her essays on politics, literature, and art have been published in Granta, The New York Times, Baffler, and more. She has a PhD from UCL in the history of art and mind-body medicine in the late 20th-century Britain. She teaches history of art, creative writing, and criticism.  In today's conversation, Amber explores some of the ways that appetites can be re-examined, and challenge persistent tropes of eating that narrow down to individual choices. Using socialist and feminist lenses, she speaks to food movements and moments in history that have revealed reasons to eat and live, and the empowerment that comes from using food as a question rather than an answer. Resources: Book: Tell Me How You Eat: Food, Power and the Will to Live Amber's Website: https://amberhusain.com/   Instagram: @amberhusa1n