AnthroDish

Sarah Duignan
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AnthroDish is a podcast that explores the powerful relationships between between food, culture, and identity through the lens of anthropology. Hosted by anthropologist Dr. Sarah Duignan, each episode explores the stories behind what we eat and drink, reflecting larger social, political, and historical systems. Featuring conversations with chefs, scholars, writers, and food experts, each episode blends current issues with anthropological ideas to highlight how food shapes (and is shaped by) the world around us. AnthroDish invites you to look at food not only as nourishment, but as a window into our ever-shifting world.

  1. 2 DAYS AGO

    171: Breaking Down the Myth of a Singular Caribbean Foodway with Chef Leigh-Ann Martin

    When it comes to Caribbean food, there tends to be a viewpoint that it can be a monolithic culinary experience. And particularly as those living in countries like Jamaica, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, or other Caribbean countries move in the diaspora, it necessitates a nuanced look at how culinary traditions and knowledges are shared, shifted, and expanded with new generations.  My guest today, chef Leigh-Ann Martin, reminds us that there is such a rich regional diversity and abundance that needs to be explored more fully. Leigh-Ann is a trained chef, thought leader, and senior administrative professional based in the New York City area. She has worked at top finance and accounting firms, and continues her corporate career while consulting on the coursework for the No Words Project, or being featured in food media such as The New York Times, Eater, Washington Post, Food Insider, Vittles, and A Hungry Society podcast. Leigh-Ann has contributed meaningful words that echo Caribbean abundance and delicious recipes for While Entertaining, Ark Republic, Cooking Sense, and Tenderly Magazine. She worked as a line cook at Butter Restaurant and the Darby Supper Club upon her graduation from culinary school, and launched A Table For Four in 2018. This pop-up is an intimate dinner series that merges her Trini upbringing with her culinary training. Most recently, Leigh-Ann was invited to lead a workshop at the World of Flavors International Conference and Festival hosted by the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, CA. and has served on the board of Kind Kitchen Group, which aims to drive social change through food, education, and community empowerment.  In today's conversation, we explore her upbringing in Trinidad and its lasting influences on how she thinks about ingredient sourcing and culinary experiences, the navigation of personal and collective histories in creating tasting menus, and breaking down the myth of a singular Caribbean culinary foodway. I've long admired the work Leigh-Ann is doing, so I am particularly thrilled to have her on the podcast this week!  Resources:  Website: https://leighannmartin.com/ Instagram: @chefleighann

    48 min

  2. 24 FEB

    170: Ingredients for Building a Community Through a Cottage Bakery with Teresa Finney

    What does it take to make the most out of the internet when you're building a micro or cottage bakery? My guest today, Teresa Finney, is here to explore this through her journey building At Heart Panadería. Teresa is a pastry chef and writer from the Bay Area in California, with family roots in Guadalajara, Mexico. Now based in Atlanta, Georgia, she runs At Heart Panadería, a contemporary Mexican bakery. She is also the author of Panadería: A Cookbook Zine, which contains five thoughtfully crafted original recipes from her cottage bakery.  In today's discussion, we explore how she began her cottage bakery in her at-home kitchen, the shifting relationship with the internet to spread the word of her new bakes, the importance of sourcing seasonal and local ingredients, the relationship between baking and the body, and the role she sees bakers playing in serving their communities. Resources: Teresa's Website At Heart Panadería Newsletter Cookbook Zine Instagram: @atheartpanaderia

    42 min

  3. 17 FEB

    169: Do Food Justice Movements Understand Community Needs? with Dr. Hanna Garth

    My guest this week, Dr. Hanna Garth, is here to speak to how food justice movements are affected by long-term misconceptions and assumptions about the communities they work with. Hanna is a sociocultural and medical anthropologist, and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University, who studies food access and the global food system. Drawing on 15 years of research on the food justice movement in South Central Los Angeles, her second book Food Justice Undone: Lessons for Building a Better Movement is out now with the University of California Press.  In today's conversation, we're discussing some of the central themes in her latest book, Food Justice Undone, such as the roles of liberalism and whiteness in maintaining power structures and dynamics in food justice movements, the racialized differences in food justice work, and the power of language, statistics, and small moments in shaping the landscape and politics of food movements.  Resources: Hanna's Website: http://www.hannagarth.com/  Instagram: @hgarth Book: Food Justice Undone

    44 min

  4. 10 FEB

    168: What is the Relationship Between Nutrition and Intuition? with Stephanie Voytek

    My guest this week, Stephanie Voytek, is a registered dietician here to walk through some of the key issues around nutrition and anxiety in our current social media landscape. She has with a range of experience working in the field of nutrition, from providing education to the community through food access programs, working in the fields and kitchens on farms, and counseling folks with eating disorders. Her range of work experience allows her to understand people, and find the entry point for nutrition-related behavior change in each community and individual. Her work emphasizes pleasure as central to nutrition education, replacing nutrition prescription with food connection as a central intervention.  In today's conversation, we're diving further into the idea of pleasure and intuition as it relates to nutrition. These are terms that can get thrown around a bit willy-nilly in wellness spheres, but as Stephanie points out, there's actually a lot of scientific and evolutionary value in these concepts as they relate to our appetites and eating behaviours. We also speak to the significant impact that industrialized and post-WWII era food systems have had on our modern reckonings with food, and she provides tips on finding a supportive and good match when you're looking for a dietician service provider. Resources:  Stephanie's Newsletter, A Spoonful of Stories

    31 min

  5. 3 FEB

    167: Rethinking Cultural Food Security in UK School Systems with Sarah Oresnik

    My guest today, Sarah Oresnik, is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at McMaster University. Their research interests centre around food insecurity and its impact on our health and wellbeing. Within their PhD, their focus is on how youth navigate food insecurity, looking at youth experiences in Southampton, UK. Sarah grew up in the kitchen learning recipes from their parents and grandparents, which has translated to their continued investigations and reflections on their own food environment.   In our conversation, Sarah shares about their current research working with teens in the UK to explore the merits and challenges of their school nutrition programs. They highlight the limitations of daily food allowances and electronic payment options, the impacts that food insecurity and cultural experiences have on shaping food preferences and values, and does a brilliant deep dive challenge the very idea of what "cultural foods" can be for teens in diasporic communities. Resources: Email: oresniks@mcmaster.ca Open access paper: A syndemic perspective on food insecurity, gestational diabetes, and mental health disorders during pregnancy in Social Science & Medicine

    39 min

  6. 27 JAN

    166: How Daily Bread is Tackling Toronto's Food Insecurity Crisis with Mike Greenberg

    Here in Canada, we have a food security crisis—and a cost-of-living crisis. While there are many, many factors that are shaping this continued issue across the country, one of the challenges of navigating food insecurity here is that we rely primarily on non-profit food banks to support those in need. One non-profit food organization in Toronto, Daily Bread, is on a mission to eliminate food insecurity and advocate for solutions to end poverty. Daily Bread prepares over 250,000 meals annually, including more than 43,000 heat-and-eat meals delivered through the Red Cross Mobile Food bank to individuals facing barriers like mobility challenges, inadequate housing, or mental health conditions that make traditional food access difficult.  In 2024, Toronto food bank visits hit an all time high of 4.1 million, and Toronto declared a state of emergency about food insecurity. In response, Daily Bread has seen their visits increase, with their Food Services Manager Michael Greenberg overseeing a kitchen that produced more than 270,000 meals between 2024-2025. Mike is on the show today to speak about the work he and his team do at Daily Bread to ensure that their food bank kitchen can logistically maintain itself with such high demands, the nutritional and social impact of food insecurity for clients who cannot prepare their own meals, and the vital role food banks play in advancing equity and dignity in food access. Resources:  Daily Bread website Who's Hungry Report 2025 Instagram: @dailybreadto

    29 min

  7. 20 JAN

    165: Terroir, Taste, and Wine Pairing for the People with Cha McCoy

    To kickstart the second half of AnthroDish season 10, we're shifting to a topic I generally feel very intimidated by: wine. But, as my guest Cha McCoy reveals this week, there is a lot to unearth in making sense of why wine feels intimidating or harder to access. Cha is an entrepreneur, educator, and event producer. As a certified sommelier, she developed The Communion, a wine dinner series that offers an inviting, accessible approach to gathering and enjoying wine. This experience inspired her to open her first brick-and-mortar store, The Communion Wine & Spirits.  Today, Cha talks about her new book, Wine Pairing for the People: The Communion of Wine, Food, and Culture from Africa and Beyond. This book is unique in how it approaches the concepts of terroir, and the pairing ideology of what grows together goes together. Cha expands wine pairings, where traditional foods and cuisines from Africa, Asia, and the Americas are given pairings of wines that celebrate heat, tang, spice. In our conversation, Cha shares her refreshing approach to terroir for regions of the world that aren't known for their grape wines, and describes how certain taste preferences are shaped, what flavours are valued or looked over under colonial approaches to wine pairings.  Resources:  Book: Wine Pairing for the People  Cha's Website   Instagram: @chasquared  LinkedIn: Cha McCoy

    50 min

  8. 16/12/2025

    164: Embracing Seasonality in Edomae-Style Sushi with Chef Cheng Lin

    Edomae sushi is an Edo style of sushi making that underscores marinating, curing, and aging techniques. Within that, there is one chef, Cheng Lin, standing out for his attention not only to these techniques, but bringing an emphasis on seasonality and sourcing of ingredients.   Born and raised in Fujian, China, chef Cheng Lin began his culinary career in 1997 when he moved to New York City and worked in restaurants such as Hatsuhana, Sushi Seki, and Blue Ribbon. Continuously looking to refine his skills at trailblazing culinary concepts, he eventually joined Chef Masa Ito and Kevin Kim at ITO Tribeca. Chef Cheng Lin was captivated by the comic "Shota No Sushi," a tale of a boy whose passion for sushi mirrored his own, and dreamt of creating a haven for sushi enthusiasts that he would call Shōta. Now, over two decades later, Chef Cheng Lin helms Shōta Omakase in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and it is the culmination of his near 30-year commitment to perfecting the art of sushi making. Combining traditional Edomae-style sushi with modern flair, and a painstaking dedication to sourcing the highest quality ingredients, Chef Cheng Lin shares his love through attention to detail, refined technique, and unmatched flavor. In today's conversation, we explore his commitment to sourcing ingredients that honour the traditional techniques used in Edomae-style sushi, considerations of seasonality when selecting which fish to incorporate on the menu, and how Cheng and his staff have adjusted to their dining services in the wake of receiving a Michelin star within one year of opening.  Resources: Shōta Omakase Restaurant Website Instagram: @shotaomakase Chef Cheng's Instagram: @sushi.chef.cheng.lin

    29 min
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About

AnthroDish is a podcast that explores the powerful relationships between between food, culture, and identity through the lens of anthropology. Hosted by anthropologist Dr. Sarah Duignan, each episode explores the stories behind what we eat and drink, reflecting larger social, political, and historical systems. Featuring conversations with chefs, scholars, writers, and food experts, each episode blends current issues with anthropological ideas to highlight how food shapes (and is shaped by) the world around us. AnthroDish invites you to look at food not only as nourishment, but as a window into our ever-shifting world.

Information

  • Creator
    Sarah Duignan
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    178
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    AnthroDish

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