This episode focuses on food media, digital technology in agriculture, and some of the ways in which artificial intelligence might have an impact on cooking, eating, and nutrition. We also get into a few related themes, including food porn, celebrity chefs, data sensors, and the promises and warnings of science fiction. David talks with food scholars Signe Rousseau and Maaz Gardezi to find out where we’ve been and where we’re going when it comes to media and tech, exploring the blurry line between the digital and analog worlds of food. During the ‘Stick This in Your Mouth’ segment, Maxime offers up his opinions on futurist meals, and closing things off, we hear from ChatGPT during the Food Questionnaire.

Guests:

Dr. Signe Rousseau teaches critical and digital literacy at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Her PhD focused on the rise of celebrity chefs before “food media” was a commonly used term, and she is the author of Food and Social Media and Food Media. She is currently Co-Chair of Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies. During the podcast, she mentioned the following food folks:

- José Andres and the World Central Kitchen

- Heston Blumenthal and his restaurant The Fat Duck

- early food TV host Keith Floyd and his show, Floyd Cooks

Dr. Maaz Gardezi is a faculty member in the department of sociology at Virginia Tech. His research focused on two interrelated issues in the US and South Asia—climate change adaptation and mitigation, and the social implications of emerging digital technologies in agriculture. For more on digital and precision agriculture, as well as the effects of Big Data in food production, take a look at the articles listed on the Making a Meal of It website.

ChatGPT is an AI language model designed to assist users with a wide range of tasks and inquiries, created by OpenAI. Check out what it has to say about how AI might affect the ways people grow and eat food on the Making a Meal of It website.

Host/Producer: David Szanto

Music: Story Mode

additional sound: William Termini via FreeSound

@makingamealpodcast

makingamealofit.com