Digesting Food Studies is a podcast that helps break down research on food systems into manageable portions. It’s for listeners who are learning and teaching about food studies, for those working in fields and factories, and for people in policy and politics, making the rules that govern and guide us. From food justice to sustainability to intercultural identity, from the technologies of agriculture to the relationships embedded in Indigenous foodways, each episode helps digest one big idea. As a tool for teaching, a guide for new researchers, or inspiration for practitioners and activists, Digesting Food Studies bridges the gap between academese and everyday eating.
This podcast is supported in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.
Concentré d’études sur l’alimentation est un podcast qui vous aide à absorber la recherche sur les systèmes alimentaires une bouchée à la fois. Il s'adresse aux personnes qui apprennent et enseignent les études sur l'alimentation, à celles qui travaillent dans les champs et les usines, ainsi qu'aux personnes qui travaillent dans le domaine de la politique. De la justice alimentaire à la durabilité en passant par l'identité interculturelle, les technologies agricoles et la relationalité inhérente dans la connaissance autochtone, chaque épisode vous aidera à intégrer une grande idée. Outil d'enseignement, guide pour les nouveaux chercheurs ou source d'inspiration pour les praticiens et les activistes, Concentré d’études sur l’alimentation comble l’écart entre le monde universitaire et l’acte de manger.
Ce podcast est soutenu en partie par le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada, l'Université Lakehead, et l'Association canadienne des études sur l'alimentation.
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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 Alexia Moyer—the co-Managing Editor of the academic journal, Canadian Food Studies—about her regular Amuse Bouche segment, which serves as an intro to the theme of each episode. Then he chats with Ellen Desjardins, the founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal, who set the journal in motion back in 2013. It’s all in preparation for a season of 20 more episodes, each one featuring an author from the journal, a tempting Amuse Bouche segment, and a reflective After Taste segment, featuring a student response to the article in question.
Guests:
Dr. Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of the scholarly journal, Canadian Food Studies/La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation. She is a Canadian food and literature scholar and, in addition to her time with CFS/RCÉA, works as a writer, photographer, translator, and editor. She is a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in a Montreal, Québec.
Dr. Ellen Desjardins is a former food studies scholar who transitioned over the years from public-health nutrition to sustainable food systems work in Ontario, to research in human geography. She was part of the team that brought forth Canadian Food Studies in 2013, serving as its editor-in-chief for the following six years. Today, she is retired from academia and lives on the southern end of Vancouver Island, focusing on pottery, gardening, and fishing.
Indigenous food sovereignty—and the lack thereof—is intimately linked to histories of colonial oppression and present-day exploitative capitalism and extractivism. Nonetheless, as this episode’s guest Kaylee Michnik shows us, rebuilding sovereignty can happen through intergenerational learning, land-based practices, and relationality. During the Amuse Bouche segment, Alexia Moyer tells host David Szanto about the tasty and tenuous history of camas cultivation by Coast Salish peoples. And in the After Taste, Courtney Vaughan responds to Kaylee’s article, “Moving Your Body, Soul, and Heart to Share and Harvest Food” from Vol. 8 No. 2 of Canadian Food Studies.
Guests:
Dr. Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.
Kaylee Michnik is a registered dietician and is finishing her PhD at the University of Saskatchewan, where she has been researching and contributing to school food program and policy development.
Courtney Vaughan is a researcher, writer, and community organizer who completed a master degree at Carleton University in 2019 in Indigenous and Canadian Studies. She is currently doing her PhD at Lakehead University.
Mentioned in this episode:
OCAP® protocol: the First Nations principles of ownership, control, access, and possession (in research)
Whether you breastfeed, formula feed, or do both, securing sustenance for infants can be both fundamental and fraught. Lesley Frank has been doing research on first food systems and infant-and-caregiver food insecurity for numerous years, and shares her perspectives about sourcing infant formula in the past, present, and future. During the Amuse Bouche segment, Alexia Moyer talks with host David Szanto about the history of milk, including its price, positioning, and propaganda. And in the After Taste, Natalia Alaniz-Salinas responds to Lesley’s article, “Finding Formula,” from the Feminist Food Studies issue of Canadian Food Studies, Vol. 5 No. 1.
Guests:
Dr. Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.
Dr. Lesley Frank a Canada Research Chair in Food, Health, and Social Justice at Acadia University in Nova Scotia. There, she runs the Fed Family Lab, which focuses on the study of family and childhood food insecurity.
Natalia Alaniz-Salinas a PhD Candidate at the University of Saskatchewan, working in Community and Population Health Sciences and addressing school food programs. She previously worked as a nutritionist in Chile.
How can food art—collaborative or individual—show what is both special and ordinary about food, domestic labour, and systemic relationships? Susan Goldberg gives her thoughts on the subject as she discusses her art piece, “Milk & Bread” from Volume 12, Issue 1 of Canadian Food Studies. During the Amuse Bouche segment, Alexia Moyer talks with host David Szanto about the parallels between gender and in different types of cutlery and tableware. And in the After Taste, Caylie Warkentin responds to Susan’s piece with her own take on where material practice can take us as food thinkers and doers.
Guests:
Dr. Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.
Susan Goldberg is a writer, artist, and psychotherapist, living and working in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Caylie Warkentin recently completed a master’s degree in Communication with a Specialization in Climate Change at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication.
Mentioned in this episode:
Sporkby Kyo Maclear, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
How do we best learn about the complexities of food systems, particularly within the constraints of university-level courses? Jennifer Sumner and Michael Classens, the guest editors of the "Food Pedagogies in Canada" issue of Canadian Food Studies (Vol. 8 No. 4), respond to this chewy question, among others. During the Amuse Bouche segment, Alexia Moyer talks with host David Szanto about the kinds of school environments that support food learning before post-secondary education. And then, in the After Taste, Eric Schofield responds to “Toward a Common Understanding of Food Literacy,” by Kimberley Hernandez, Doris Gillis, Kathleen Kevany, and Sara Kirk.
Guests:
Dr. Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.
Dr. Jennifer Sumner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, at OISE/University of Toronto, and a founder of critical food pedagogy in Canada.
Dr. Michael Classens is an Assistant Professor in the School of the Environment at the University of Toronto, teaching and writing on sustainability, racial justice, and critical food pedagogy.
Eric Schofield is a master’s student at Lakehead University and a culinary arts instructor at Stelly’s Secondary on Vancouver Island.
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 guest editors of the Meat Studies themed section in Vol. 11 No. 1 of Canadian Food Studies, offer take on this chewy subject. During the Amuse Bouche segment, Alexia Moyer talks with host David Szanto about the tools we use when eating meat, and how they have evolved over the years. Then, in the After Taste, Emma Paisley responds to Emily Kennedy, Shyon Baumann, and Josée Johnston’s article, “Meat politics at the dinner table.”
Guests:
Dr. Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.
Dr. Elisabeth Abergel is a professor in the Département de sociologie at l’Université du Québec à Montréal and is an interdisciplinary researcher in health, society, and environmental issues.
Dr. Ryan Phillips a sessional lecturer in Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University who researches advertising and promotional cultures, particularly with regard to plant-based meat and sports broadcasting in Canada.
Emma Paisley is a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Social Research Program at at Trent University, researching the ecologies of food learning in university campus foodscapes.
Well-conceived and collectively enacted school food programs can bring numerous, cascading benefits to students, communities, and food environments more broadly. As Federal legislation brings into being such programs across Canada and Indigenous territories, ongoing research and reflection will be needed, as Rachel Engler-Stringer tells us in this episode. Starting things off, though, Alexia Moyer’s Amuse Bouche segment reveals a number of lessons—some more useful than others—from Saskatchewan’s early 1900s school food planning. And in the After Taste, Penelope Stam responds to the focus article, “The case for a Canadian national school food program” from Vol. 5 No. 3 of Canadian Food Studies.
Guests:
Dr. Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.
Rachel Engler-Stringer a professor in Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan, and a leading expert in school food programs.
Penelope Stam is an undergraduate student at Western University and a food systems researcher with Food Research-Action Montreal at Dawson College.
Alors que la contestation mondiale contre les herbicides à base de glyphosate s'intensifie et que les politiciens et les entreprises chimiques ajoutent leurs propres pressions concernant l'utilisation des pesticides, il est temps que tout le monde se penche davantage sur notre (sur)utilisation des intrants agricoles. Le terrain est toutefois complexe, comme nous l'expliquent Marie-Hélène Bacon et Laure Gosselin, invitées de cet épisode. Et ça l'est depuis des siècles, comme nous l'aide à comprendre Alexia Moyer dans son segment Amuse-Bouche, qui fait référence à une ressource historique assez révélateur. L'article phare de ce numéro est « Pesticides : Le Talon d'Achille des politiques alimentaires canadiennes et québécoises », tiré du vol. 5, n° 3 de La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation.
Invités :
Dr Alexia Moyer est co-administratrice de La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation et membre fondatrice du collectif éditorial red line-ligne rouge, basé à Montréal.
Marie-Hélène Bacon est chercheuse et coordinatrice au Collectif de recherche écosanté sur les pesticides, les politiques et les alternatives, un groupe interdisciplinaire de chercheurs à l'Université du Québec à Montréal.
Laure Gosselin est doctorante en sciences politiques à l'Université Laval (au Québec) et à la Technische Universität Dresden (en Allemagne), et chercheuse en systèmes alimentaires au sein du groupe Forum Recherche-Action Alimentaire Montréal au Collège Dawson.
Mentionné dans cet épisode :
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Un-learning and Re-Learning
Season 1 · Episode 108
Thursday, October 16, 2025 • Duration 29:40
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 structures. Coming to grips with that—and re-learning relational and reciprocal methods and habits can be challenging. This episode dives into un-learning, starting off with Alexia Moyer’s Amuse Bouche segment on the partial sharing of traditional knowledges. The focus article is Alissa Overend’s and Ronak Rai’s “Un-learning and re-learning: Reflections on relationality, urban berry foraging, and settler research uncertainties” from Vol. 11 No. 2 of Canadian Food Studies.
Guests:
Dr. Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.
Alissa Overend is an associate professor at MacEwan University in Edmonton, learning and teaching about food and nutrition, health and illness, critical disability studies, and intersectional inequality.
Ronak Rai is a PhD student at the University of Alberta did her master’s studies on the challenges and opportunities that first-generation immigrant therapists face in the context of working with Indigenous clients.
Annika Walsh is a transdisciplinary food artist and researcher who recently completed a master of science degree in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems at UBC.
Feminist studies and food studies have a fascinating history of difference, alignment, and emergence. This episode covers some of that span, from rice pudding (without eggs) to an issue of Canadian Food Studies (Vol. 5 No. 1) that is dedicated to feminist food studies. Lots of voices this week, including two different student reading responses!
Guests:
Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.
Jennifer Brady is an Associate Professor at Acadia University, cross-appointed to Women's and Gender Studies and the School of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Barbara Parker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Lakehead University, researching food and gender, critical dietetics, food pedagogy, and the school food environment.
Elaine Power is a Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University and is currently researching arts-based knowledge mobilization in relation to food insecurity.
Liz Lovell is a Community Food Systems Coordinator with the Food Action Network of Northwestern Ontario, and a recent master’s graduate from Lakehead University.
Steph Chartrand is a PhD student in Adult Education and Community Development at OISE, at the University of Toronto.
Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.
Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.
Executive Producers: Rachel Engler-Stringer, Laurence Godin, Charles Levkoe, Phil Loring, Kristen Lowitt
Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.
Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.
Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.
Executive Producers: Rachel Engler-Stringer, Laurence Godin, Charles Levkoe, Phil Loring, Kristen Lowitt
Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.
Effets sonores : Aviana_Phoenix, BenKirb, u_jd81cxyq22 et NickyPe sur Pixabay
Photo : Kath Clark/USC Canada
#DigestingFoodStudies
Concentré d’études sur l’alimentation est financé en partie par le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada, l'Université Lakehead et l'Association canadienne des études sur l'alimentation.
Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.
Executive Producers: Rachel Engler-Stringer, Laurence Godin, Charles Levkoe, Phil Loring, Kristen Lowitt
Music: Alex Guz and Evgeny Bardyuzha on Pixabay
Sound Effects: Aviana_Phoenix, BenKirb, and freesound_community on Pixabay
Image: OpenClipart-Vectors on Pixabay
#DigestingFoodStudies
Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.
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