Meat and Three

In need of an end of summer refresh? Us too. Join us as we dive into the cool waters of history, which we’ve spiked with rum for the occasion. We’ll explore the surprising chronicle of the Mojito through the past lives of its ingredients and their vital mixture. Cheers!

Further Reading:

Discover Rob’s comprehensive guide to rum at Rob’s Rum Guide.

Learn about Tristan Donovan’s work on Fizz and more here. 

Find Ian Williams’s book, Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776 here.

For more cocktail content check out Greg Benson on Back Bar or The Speakeasy.

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Explore sustainability below the surface! While seafood production and consumption continue to increase, the ocean’s finite supply is vulnerable to overfishing and environmental degradation. We look at what it means to sustainably farm, manage and capture seafood. We’ll examine the environmental benefits of the leafy greens living in the ocean and learn how Indigenous people have historically managed oyster fisheries. Plus, we meet a company redesigning the lobster trap to protect surrounding sea life and get to know activists protecting their local ecosystems from industrial expansion. 

Further Reading:

Check out Daybreak Seaweed’s products and mission here.

Learn more about the long history of sustainable oyster fisheries by reading the Nature article published by Dr. Reeder Meyer and her colleagues.

Read about the lobster trapping/right whale controversy through this article by Sara Besky: Lobsters, Whales, and Traps: The Politics of Endangerment in the Gulf of Maine

Learn more about Crystal Canney’s work at Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation as well as Dwayne Shaw’s organization, the Downeast Salmon Federation. 

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Coming clean. Opening up. Seeing right through. Today, we’re talking all things transparent in the food world. From restaurateurs shaking things up with radical financial disclosure, to an enchanting clear dessert, our stories today explore the many meanings of transparency. What can we learn when we’ve got nothing to hide?

Further Reading and Listening:

You can learn more about Irene Li’s latest venture, Prepshift, which aims to improve transparency around restaurant hiring, training, and regulatory compliance here! You can also find more information there about bringing open book management to restaurants. And there’s always Mei Mei Dumplings.

Listen to What Doesn’t Kill You episode 194: What Is Really In That Packaging? Mike Schade Reviews the State of Food Packaging and How It Affects Our Health and the Environment.

Find out how your favorite retailers rank on the toxic chemical Report Card on the Safer Chemicals Happy Families Website. 

To learn more about raindrop cakes and their history here  or here …or  here or here!

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Have you ever walked down a street in New York City and been in awe of the diversity of flavors, tastes, and smells you have encountered? Have you then been compelled to explore the roots of the feasts and the people that cook them? This week on Meat and Three, we celebrate the lives and feats of the immigrants who have and continue to enrich the culinary landscape of the concrete jungle. We look at the legacy of immigrants from the Arabic-speaking world, eat some Filipino fast food with a side of nostalgia, and meet the makers behind Mexican food trucks in The Bronx. Plus, we take a hard look at the access issues that affect some of our city’s newest residents.

Further Reading:

You can learn more about Dr. Matthew J. Stiffler’s work on Arab and Muslim American studies here. 

Read A Mexican State of Mind: New York City and the New Borderlands of Culture by Dr. Melissa Castillo-Planas.

See how Jollibee and Filipino-ness are intertwined through this brief history of the brand 

Get involved with Mixteca here, and learn more about the New York Immigration Coaliton’s efforts to expand the Excluded Workers Fund here. 

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Delve into the wider worlds of seed preservation, Indigenous seed rights, and farmer-managed seed systems. Whether you’re a professional farmer, avid gardener or your relationship with seeds simply involves snacking on them - we’ll introduce you to chefs, activists, and plant scientists who are changing the ways seeds are saved and shared. We’ll pay a visit to urban farms, seed banks, and kitchens to shed light on the cultural, environmental, culinary significance of these small but mighty pods, that carry with them millennia of history as well as hope for the future. 

Further Reading:

Learn more about the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa and their work on resilient seed systems here.

Visit the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology’s website and the Seed and Knowledge Initiative’s page to read about their efforts to protect small farmers in southern Africa.

Learn more about chef Sean Sherman and the Sioux chef here, Dream of Wild Health here and the Seed Savers Exchange here. Support Owamni and donate to NATIFS here.

Check out the amazing variety of arid-adapted seeds at Native Seeds/SEARCH. Or adopt a crop!

Learn more about the work that Kirsten Kirby-Shoote does at I-Collective here.  

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Frankfurter, wiener, glizzy, hot dog - whatever you call it - the food is a global staple and has become an American icon. It’s time to celebrate National Hot Dog Month on Meat and Three! While the tubed food is pervasive throughout the rest of the world, it is a multi-billion dollar industry in America. Whether hot dogs are kosher or vegan, hailing from Coney Island or Chicago, we’ll take a look at their history and how they are made and consumed today. Travel back all the way to the stone age, get an education from Hot Dog University, and even take a trip to a hot dog factory floor!

Further Reading:

Bruce Kraig is an emeritus professor of history at Roosevelt University in Chicago and the author of two books on hot dog history: Hot Dog: A Global History, and Man Bites Dog: Hot Dog Culture in America.

Read Frederick Kaufman’s book, A Short History of the American Stomach and his wonderful articles: The Secret Ingredient about kosher food and Fat of the Land about hot dogs. 

John Carruthers is a journalist, cook, and hot dog connoisseur. You can read his books Eat Street and ManBQue.

Grab a bite at Grilled on Suydam street in Bushwick, or grab a booth at Abe’s Pagoda for your next night out.

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What can a nascent fruit tree tell us about camaraderie? How can increasing investments alert us to the challenges of capitalism? Meat and Three explores what HRN’s shows are saying about growth. We’ll nurture curiosity in the garden, weigh the pros and cons of the fake meat industry, and consider the role of restaurants in gentrifying neighborhoods. 

Further Reading and Listening:

Learn more about starting your garden journey on Feast Yr Ears episode 202: Garden Now!

Enjoy our episode about peaches on our podcast for kids: Time for Lunch episode 7: Peaches!

Dive deeper into ideas about combating gentrification through intentional hospitality on Tech Bites episode 250: Put the Giving Into Thanksgiving With the Neighborhood’s Table. 

Find The Neighborhood’s Table Community Survey Results here.

Listen to the full episode of Tech Bites episode 248: The Age of Unprecedented Investment in Food Tech with Rachel Konrad to hear more on investment in food tech. 

You can read more of Alicia Kennedy’s writing on her blog, “From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy.” 

HRN is home to transformative exchanges about food. Our 35+ member-supported food podcasts empower eaters to cultivate a radically better world. This month, we’re asking you to join us. Become a monthly sustaining member at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.

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Exclusivity and inclusion can greatly influence our relationships with food, and even create fanatic communities around certain food brands. But we’ve been wondering, what’s the line between what’s trendy and cult-y? We take a hard look at that question and how it plays out in our consumption today. Plus we discover some surprising connections between familiar food brands and fringe religious groups and far-fetched beliefs about health, wellness, and nutrition. 

Further Reading and Listening:

Interested in learning more about the Rancho Gordo Bean Club? Check out their website.

Carlnita Greene, Tina Sikka and Leighann Chaffee all contributed chapters to Food Cults: How Fads, Dogma, and Doctrine Influence Diets (2016), a book edited by Dr. Kima Cargill, a professor of psychology at University of Washington whose research focuses on nutrition and overeating.

Learn more about the psychology of eating from Chaffee’s most recent book, co-authored with Stephanie p. da Silva and released in January 2022.

And, read more from Dr. Greene in her book on gluttony and gourmands, or in this volume that she edited on foodscapes.

Learn more about Benjamin Lorr’s work investigating the modern day supermarket in his book, The Secret Life of Groceries and in this article.

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For the past two years, the news has been stark and at times, downright terrifying. War, disease, supply shortages – but these matters do not exist in a vacuum. These global concerns have trickle-down effects on industries across the board, including the food world. From food recalls to fast food worker strikes to global shortages, we look to shows across our network to uncover the history, legislation, and key issues behind headline news and how it relates to what we eat. 

Further Reading and Listening: 

Learn more about the founding of the FDA on A Taste of the Past episode 346: Poison Squad: Founding of the FDA and about the FDA’s present short-comings on What Doesn’t Kill You: episode: 364: Explosive Report on How the FDA is Failing Our Food System. 

You can read Deborah Blum’s book Poison Squad here or watch the film about it here.

Dig deeper into the history of, and current controversies surrounding OSHA on What Doesn’t Kill You Episode 316: Where is OSHA in meatpacking?

Listen to the full episode of What Doesn’t Kill You episode 347: Poultry Farmer Blows the Whistle on Perdue and find out more about Rudy Howell’s story and how you can support the Food Integrity Campaign at https://foodwhistleblower.org/

Find out more on Why the War in Ukraine Will Affect Food Supplies Globally on episode 363 of What Doesn’t Kill You 

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We’ll introduce you to incredible organizations combatting hunger and homelessness in the LGBTQ+ community and take stock of queer culinary spaces that are safe, joyful, and liberating. Join us for an episode all about Pride as we dig into the rich intersection between food, drink, and the LGBTQ community.

Further Reading:

Learn more about the work that the Brave Space Alliance does here. 

To learn more about the Los Angeles LGBT Center Culinary Program and find out how you might enroll in it, visit this website, visit the Liberation Coffee House and their Anita May Rosenstein campus or contact them here.

For more on Ginger’s check out their instagram page. For more information on the work being done by the Lesbian Bar Project to document and support lesbian bars across the country, click here. 

HAGS will be opening on July 20th! Keep an eye on their website to get your reservation and follow their restaurant’s journey on Instagram. 

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Laugh out loud as we explore the world of comedy through food. We discuss what makes food fights funny, jump on the imposter cakes bandwagon, and devour some truly absurd meals before sitting down at the dinner table for hilarious punchlines.

Further Reading and Listening:

Hear more jokes on Time For Lunch.

Dr. Robert King is a film historian and professor of media at Columbia University. To learn more about his work, go here. 

The Netflix series, Is It Cake? will blow your mind. Here is also the kettle imposter cake that HRN’s intern Kiara Thomas was so shocked by. Giselle also mentions the #everythingiscake on TikTok, go down that rabbit hole - you won’t be disappointed.

Dennis Lee is a staff writer at the take out. Check out his writing here. And explore his blog “Food is Stupid” here. 

To listen to the full episode featuring Katie Workman on My Family Recipe, go here. 

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Celebrate and honor Juneteenth on this episode of Meat and Three! We’ll discuss the culture, food, and history of this important holiday that recognizes the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Learn about soul food with a creative twist, discover the food history behind the holiday, and be inspired by a chef giving back to his community. 

Further Reading: 

Pre-order Nicole’s new book, Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations. Listen to Nicole’s interview on our own HRN’s A Taste of the Past this June! Check out the June 2011 and 2013 Hot Grease episodes you heard. 

Start your soul food journey with Adrian Miller by checking out his James Beard Award winning book Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time.

Learn more about Smoky Johns and Brent Reaves on the restaurant’s website and Instagram.

Follow Chef Chris Williams's work in Houston on Lucille’s and Lucille’s 1913’s websites.  

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There’s no question that the Southeast Asian diaspora has influenced American dining. Pad Thai has become as ubiquitous as the hamburger. But what food, flavors, and culinary traditions are yet to become mainstream? And what stories remain to be told?

Influence is not exerted one way. Many Southeast Asian chefs who influence their communities are influenced by them in equal measure. Whether it’s incorporating local ingredients, feeling inspired by family heritage, or building a loyal following even as challenges like Covid persist, exchanges of knowledge and delicious bites abound. In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, we’ll introduce you to influential chefs, entrepreneurs, and artisans who are bringing creativity and commensality to their work.

Further Reading and Listening:

Listen to Yia Vang’s full interview on Snacky Tunes Episode 426.

Learn more about Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja.

If you want to support Daniel’s project and enjoy Southeast Asian flavors in a chocolate shell online and at his upcoming retail store, catch up with him on his website or Instagram.

Read more about the growth of Southeast Asian cocoa and chocolate industry here.

Find Lady Wong here.

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How does what we eat impact who we become? This episode of Meat and Three explores what diet can tell us about the biographies of famous chefs, writers, and iconic locales. We’ll hear about how Sylvia Plath’s private recounting of her meals became a Twitter sensation. Then, we’ll talk with another writer looking to recreate some other famous literary foods. We’ll also consider how Julia Child’s life story and legacy is being re-developed for a new generation of audiences. Plus, a story about how a city’s history can be viewed by its food.

Further Reading and Listening:

- Eric Kim’s debut cookbook, Korean American: Tastes Like Home is out now. He was interviewed on Inside Julia’s Kitchen.

- For more about what Sylvia ate, follow @whatsylviaate on Twitter. And check out Rebecca Brill’s writing here.

- You can check out The Paris Review to read an archive of Valerie Stivers’ work.

- Listen to Inside Julia’s Kitchen. You can hear more of Daniel Goldfarb here and more of Blake Davis here.

- Check out the Big City Food Biographies series here. Learn more about Judith Dern and Liz Williams on their websites.

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Come along for a food (policy) tour of HRN’s home city and state of New York. We speak to a local Queens business owner about how to-go cocktails saved his business during the pandemic and we’re introduced to an organization that’s helping street vendors bounce back from their financial losses. We hear from residents from the Big Apple who are hoping that curbside composting comes to their neighborhood. Plus, we talk with a professor at Cornell University, whose research on soil health and climate smart farming educated lawmakers to pass the New York State’s Soil Health and Climate Act. 

Further Reading:

To learn more about the new to-go cocktail policy, check out EaterNY’s full report here.  

If you were intrigued by Mojitos Restaurants 20 different mojito flavors here’s their website and they’re located on the corner of Northern Boulevard and 81st Street in Jackson Heights, Queens, NY. 

Read about the legislation Intro 1116-B here. 

Explore the work of the Street Vendor Project here.

Find a GrowNYC Food Scrap Drop-Off near you here.

To learn more about efforts to improve New York State’s Soil Health, check out https://www.newyorksoilhealth.org/.

Learn more about the role that farms can play in climate change mitigation with HRN’s new podcast No Farms No Future from the American Farmland Trust.

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Enjoy a meal in different magical worlds this week on Meat and Three. We discuss some of the fictional foods that populate the books and movies we grew up with and ignite the curiosity of your inner child. We drop in on a dinner series inspired by literature, make the butterbeer that Hogwarts students and teachers love to sip on, and learn how to recreate edible creatures found in video games. 

Further Readings and Listening:

To hear more about Kate Young's thoughts on food and fiction, listen to episode 48 of Meant to Be Eaten to learn more.

Keep up with Chef Evan Hanczor and his dinner series here!

To learn more about Victoria Rosenthal and her recipes, visit her blog Pixelated Provisions or reach her at pixelatedprovisions@gmail.com. Additionally, find out about her cookbooks and purchase them here!

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We examine the forces and individuals that have shaped food culture, investigate how our tastes change with age, and ponder how taste is evaluated by arbiters like the Michelin Guide and food media. Chef Val Cantu of Californios, the only two-Michelin-star Mexican restaurant in the world, addresses racist stereotypes around Mexican food. We speak with author Mayukh Sen about his recent book, Taste Makers, which tells the stories of seven immigrant women who have influenced American cuisine. A brief look at the history of the Michelin Guide reveals the organization’s involvement in French colonialism, and accusations of cultural bias in the star selection process. Plus, we learn how our physical senses of taste and smell change over time.

Further Reading:

If you are interested in dining at Californios, you can make reservations here. 

Read more about Mayukh Sen’s book,Taste Makers, here.

For more information on the history of the Michelin Guide, go here. And for more on the history of Michelin in Vietnam, check this and this out. For the first person account referenced in the story, check out Tran Tu Binh’s memoir.

To learn more about Gary Beauchamp and his work at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, check out his profile. Dig further into how age impacts taste here and here.

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We report on Ukraine using food as our lens, from on the ground relief efforts to mounting concern about international food shortages. We hear from World Central Kitchen’s CEO who is stationed in Lviv helping to equip restaurants with ingredients and serve refugees hot meals. In New York City, we visit Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen where Ukrainians in the diaspora are coming together to process current events and make varenyky. Plus, we analyze the effects of the war on the “breadbasket of the world,” exploring how farmland in Ukraine is faring and how farmers around the world may respond. We’ll see that how and what we eat can be a source of scarcity and comfort, of fear and of hope. 

Further Reading:

To support the work of World Central Kitchen, you can donate here. 

Follow the work that Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen does on Instagram and TikTok. 

Learn more about the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club here. For a brief history of the Ukrainian Famine, also known as Holodomor, read here.

Take a deep dive on how the war will impact global grain markets here, or learn more about fertilizer prices and food scarcity in the U.S. here.

To learn about the origins of the war in Ukraine, read this New York Times article, or to hear about Putin’s justifications for the invasion, listen here. For current updates on the war, the United Nations publishes daily reports.

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Food and religion collide in many ways - from fasting to feasting and through strict rules, symbolic dishes, and traditional foodways that span across centuries. Today, we look closely at this relationship, examining what holy texts and historical circumstances can tell us about how we eat today. We explore the legacy of Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, look at the Impossible pork dilemma for those who abide by halal or kosher restrictions, travel to the Garden of Eden to see if there was any meat, and get to know the devil’s relationship with dieting. 

Further Reading:

This episode featured Meat and Three bonus episode, Fasting and Feasting in Quarantine. 

Find Jeffrey’s company, the Gefilteria, here and check out his book, the Gefilte Manifesto here.

To learn more about Jonah Goldman’s coverage on Impossible Pork not being certified by OU and IFANCA, read his article in The Counter.

Victoria Moran is an American author and speaker, specializing in both spirituality and veganism. Check out her cookbook, The Main Street Vegan Academy Cookbook, and her website. 

If you were intrigued by the subtle plug of Klaus Yoder’s podcast Seven Heads Ten Horns, you can listen to it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Sara Mathes mentions that she found herself neck deep in a YouTube video posted by televangelist, Katie Souza. The video is called “Satan Uses Food to Kill Us,” just in case you want to do the same. The segment was also informed by readings from Ken Albala’s edited volume, Food and Faith in Christian Culture.

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It’s maple harvesting season! Find out about this Northeastern staple this week, as we take a deep dive into the delicious syrup we all know and love. We’ll visit a maple festival and pageant in Upstate New York, discover the challenges harvesters face as our climate changes, and learn about a recent conflict between Indigenous farmers and the Detroit police that had maple at its crux. 

Further Reading and Listening:

This year’s Maple Queen Pageant will take place on Friday, April 1st, 2022. It will kick off the CNY Maple Festival’s 50th year. You can learn more on the festival’s Facebook page or at http://www.maplefestival.org. 

You can order Dave’s maple syrup at https://hillsborosugarworks.com. You can also find them @hillsborosugarworks on Instagram.

In 2018, Dr. Tim Perkins, the director of the UVM Proctor Maple Research Center presented several studies on maple production and climate change, one of which predicted that the number of suitable sugaring days in the Lake Champlain Basin would decrease due to climate change (from about 60 days in the 1970s to 49 days by mid- to late century). Thus far, major improvements in sap collection technology have offset or even reversed the loss in yield that could have come with shortening seasons.

The 2021 Vermont sugaring season saw a 21 percent decrease in production from 2020, after decades of increasing maple production.

For more from Proctor Maple Research Center, visit their website. Read the Future of Vermont Agriculture Action Plan here, and listen to The Farm Report episode on Vermont maple production, also featuring Mark Isselhardt, here.

Jerry Jondreau co-authored the “Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu” about the impact of climate change on our lives and on maple specifically. This document aims to bridge the gap for non-tribal people to follow Indigenous footsteps in environmental protection. 

To learn more about Jerry Jondreau and Dynamite Hill Farm, visit their Facebook page. Get to know the Detroit Sugarbush Project here, and read about the police shutdown in Detroit here, 

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