Digesting Food Studies
Episodes
Kids' Lit and Food Insecurity
02 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we look at the ways in which literature for kids addresses food insecurity, hunger, and poverty, including the lasting impact of such...
Reading Menus as History
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This episode considers the menu as documentation of cultural history and as representation of restaurant offerings. From our guests’ points of view,...
Social Economy of Food
05 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This episode explores how the economies of food systems might be re-thought and reoriented towards creating integrated value exchanges beyond just the...
On the Nanaimo Bar Trail
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Certain foods are named for the places they come from, but many foods acquire place-based names for quite different reasons. This episode peels back t...
Fisheries Diversification
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Diversification is a survival strategy that applies to many aspects of food systems, from biomes to economies to cuisine. This episode is about many o...
Flexitarianism
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Are you a carnivore? A vegan? A frugivore? Or do you fall in between categories of eater, identifying more as a flexitarian? As we learn from this epi...
Eating & Social Isolation
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Eating and togetherness go hand in hand, or at least, that’s what our socioculture tells us. Yet many people, particularly seniors, live and dine al...
Toward 2026
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As we slide into 2026, Digesting Food Studies is taking a break for a couple of weeks. But never fear, we have some other food and food-related shows ...
Centralization of Power in Food Systems
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a lot of power in food and food systems. This episode explores the centralization of that power, particularly the ways in which corporations...
Lunch Box Identities
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bringing food to school from home implicates a lot of issues: logistics, taste, temperature control, shame, pride, and carrying devices. This episode ...
Feminist Food Studies
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Feminist studies and food studies have a fascinating history of difference, alignment, and emergence. This episode covers some of that span, from rice...
Food Waste
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tackling food waste is a big issue, particularly in wealthy countries. It emerges from all aspects of the food production-consumption web, implicating...
Un-learning and Re-Learning
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How academics know and learn things is dependent on a myriad of conventions, many of which are coupled to a history of extractivism and colonialist st...
Les pesticides et la politique
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(show notes in English)Alors que la contestation mondiale contre les herbicides à base de glyphosate s'intensifie et que les politiciens et les entre...
School Food Programs
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Well-conceived and collectively enacted school food programs can bring numerous, cascading benefits to students, communities, and food environments mo...
Indigenous Food Sovereignty
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Indigenous food sovereignty—and the lack thereof—is intimately linked to histories of colonial oppression and present-day exploitative capitalism ...
Infant Food Insecurity
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Whether you breastfeed, formula feed, or do both, securing sustenance for infants can be both fundamental and fraught. Lesley Frank has been doing res...
Food Art & Material Practice
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How can food art—collaborative or individual—show what is both special and ordinary about food, domestic labour, and systemic relationships? Susan...
Teaching about Food Systems
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do we best learn about the complexities of food systems, particularly within the constraints of university-level courses? Jennifer Sumner and Mich...
Introducing Meat Studies
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is meat a product, a process, or both? And what about plant-based “meat” and other meat-like foods? Élisabeth Abergel and Ryan Phillips, the gues...
Welcome to Food Studies
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this preview episode, we introduce how this podcast will help unpack research on food systems in a variety of ways. Host David Szanto talks with Al...