We talk a lot about THE food system, but in reality, our world comprises multiple food systems, along with a lot of other kinds of systems, each of them overlapping with, interacting with, and often conflicting with each other. This episode looks at how those interacting systems of systems often produce really challenging types of conflict, whether it’s between colonialism and Indigenous foodways, corporate-exploitative capitalism and nature, or technological systems and sustainability. Guests include food educator Jane Clause, artist-activist Zack Denfeld, and the incomparable systems thinker, astrophysicist, and former Green Party of Canada leader, Amita Kuttner. And oh, yeah—Maxime and David eat a piece of Christmas cake, quite a few months after the festive season.

Guests:

(Courtney) Jane Clause is the projects coordinator for the Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems and the UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity, and Sustainability Studies. She is also the creator and professor of the Indigenous Food Systems course in the Bachelor of Food Studies program at George Brown College in Toronto. Jane is a registered band member of Six Nations of the Grand River.

And take a look at the Haudenosaunee food projects Jane mentions in the podcast:

• Kayanase (greenhouse and native plant propagation business)
• Chef Tawnya Brant
• Yawékon (catering by Tawnya Brant)
• the Healthy Roots and Our Sustenance initiatives (article in Canadian Food Studies)

Zack Denfeld and Cathrine Kramer founded the Center for Genomic Gastronomy in 2010 and continue to lead many of the research projects the Center undertakes. They are artists, writers, speakers, and prototypers of alternative culinary futures. Their projects, blog posts, and images can be found on the Center’s website, along with the Genomic Gastronomy Lexicon, a mind-expanding collection of terms and definitions that the Center’s team have compiled in the course of their investigations into food, art, and the life sciences.

Dr. Amita Kuttner (they/he) is co-founder of moonlight institute, a non-profit organization that seeks to create frameworks for an equitable and just future. Amita has a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, ran for Canadian parliament in 2019, and served as interim leader of the Green Party of Canada between 2021 and 2022.

Host/Producer: David Szanto

Music: Story Mode

additional audio: Maxime Giroux

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