Our Podcast: “Food &…”

Listen to Episode 11 here:

Changing the Menu to Combat the Climate Crisis

The topic of climate change occurs frequently throughout the breadth of our studies, and always leads to the same conclusion: our food systems are in serious peril. The pandemic has spotlighted the crisis further, as weather disasters and food insecurity continue to rise at alarming rates around the world. In our eleventh podcast episode, host Neema Syovata talks with Erik Oberhotlzer, Co-Founder of Tender Greens Los Angeles, and an advocate for agro-biodiversity worldwide with the Food Forever Initiative run by The Crop Trust. Together they discuss how home cooks, chefs, and restaurateurs can combat climate change, starting from the kitchen.

Erik Oberholtzer, Crop Trust: Food Forever Initiative

Erik Oberhotlzer is a social entrepreneur and food activist. He is a co-founder of Tender Greens, a restaurant chain that focuses on organic and sustainable ingredients, with nearly 30 locations in California and New York. Oberholtzer is a board member of the Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania, working to improve the health of people and the planet through regenerative organic agriculture. Also, he speaks internationally of topics of food justice and he is an advocate for agro-biodiversity worldwide with the Food Forever Initiative run by the Crop Trust. Prior to Tender Greens, Oberholtzer spent over a decade working as a chef in many landmark restaurants, including Bradley Ogden’s The Lark Creek Inn, Michael Mina’s Aqua, and Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse.

Listen to Episode 10 here:

Mental Health Awareness & Suicide Prevention

In our tenth podcast episode, host Neema Syovata talks with Patrick Mulvaney, a leader in the food community in Sacramento, Calif., and co-founder of I Got Your Back, a mental health initiative aimed to support hospitality workers. They discuss the impact of Anthony Bourdain’s death, that is still felt years later within the restaurant industry, and the significant role communication has in identifying signs of mental distress in the kitchen workplace.   

We want to remind listeners that Student Health Services at Boston University provides mental health resources. If you or someone you know is experiencing mental distress, contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. CALL 1-800-273-8255 or TEXT 741741, HELP or HOPE

Patrick Mulvaney, I Got Your Back

As Chef and Proprietor of Mulvaney’s B & L in Sacramento, Patrick and his partner started I Got Your Back in response to the spike in people suffering with a mental health crisis within their community, and wanted to provide the necessary mental health resources for hospitality workers to get the help they need. In addition to sourcing local ingredients for his restaurant in the ‘farm-to-fork’ capital, Patrick sits on the Advisory Board of American Farmland Trust, Foundation of California Community Colleges, American River Culinary Arts Program, Roots of Change, and the Chef Action Network.

Listen to Episode 9 here:

LGBTQIA+ Pride 

In our ninth podcast episode, host Elizabeth Weiler talks with food writer, food stylist, and BU Gastronomy alumnus Carlos C. Olaechea. They discuss how queer food culture is being defined and developed by chefs and food writers, and how we can create queer spaces within the restaurant industry and food studies to freely express identity with innovative and unique queer food.  

Carlos C. Olaechea, Chef & Food Scholar

Carlos C. Olaechea is a graduate of the BU MET Gastronomy program (2016) and also holds a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University in sociology and anthropology. He has been a food writer since the age of 11, writing food and dining stories for his middle school newspaper. He has since written for various publications and books, including The Boston Globe, Food52, Saveur, and Food Network. He is also a cooking instructor and cultural presenter specializing in Peruvian and American foodways and regularly organizes and leads immersive experiences involving food, including themed dinners and food tours. Most recently, he started a cottage business making Peruvian baked goods during the pandemic in 2020, which garnered him national TV recognition. He is currently based in Greater Miami, Florida, the gateway to Latin America.

Listen to Episode 8 here:

Celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander Month

In our eighth podcast episode, hosts Anna Cayco and Elizabeth Weiler discuss food with award-winning author Grace Talusan, writer of The Body Papers. They discuss the way food can be used as a rich literary device, the diversity of foods in the Philippines, and the complex ways diasporic food can be connected to both shame and nostalgia, Additionally, they address the need for community building in the context of the #StopAsianHate movement.

Grace Talusan, The Body Papers

Grace Talusan is the author of the memoir, The Body Papers, a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection and the winner in nonfiction for the Massachusetts Book Awards. She has taught writing at GrubStreet, Tufts University, and currently, Brandeis University. She was born in the Philippines and raised in New England.

Gastronomy Program Recommended Readings

For more information about issues relating to AAPI food culture and foodways, Kenrick Mercado, Food &…Podcast Series Producer, suggests reading Eating Asian America: A Food Studies Reader, edited by Robert Ji-Song Ku, Martin F. Manalansan IV, and Anita Mannur, available through NYU Press. 

Listen to Episode 7 here:

Exploring the Foodways of Cannabis Chefs

In our seventh podcast episode, host Elizabeth Weiler, chats with Stephany Gocobachi, CEO/Founder of Flour Child, and David Yusefzadeh, BU Gastronomy alumnus and CEO/Founder of Cloud Creamery. From these two unique perspectives and approaches in their respective crafts, we created a hybrid discussion about their culinary journeys, views on the cannabis food industry, challenges within an over-regulated marketplace, and their shared outlooks on how to move cannabis gastronomy forward.

David Yusefzadeh, Cloud Creamery

David Yusefzadeh is a chef and food designer based in Boston, Massachusetts.  He spent the majority of his career working in fine dining restaurants and hotels around the world. Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Mario Batali and Richard Ekkebus are just a few of the chefs that David has spent time with professionally. He is currently CEO/Founder of Cloud Creamery, a cannabis edible company based in Boston. David was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in 2011 and has been using Cannabis to allow him to function in his everyday life.

Stephany Gocobachi, Flour Child Collective

Born and raised in San Francisco, Stephany Gocobachi began to explore the intersection of farm-to-tableand cannabis culture early on. Inspired by what was around her but seemed to lack any connection, she began experimenting with edibles and testing the possibilities beyond what was popular at the time. Fueled by the desire for a different approach, she sculpted her major at NYU to reflect this cross-section of Food, Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship. In 2014, she founded Flour Child along with her partner Akhil Khadse, and left a mark on the industry before having to pause production after Prop. 64 made it difficult for small businesses to continue. She has since worked as a freelance consultant guiding other companies in formulation and product development as Flour Child searches for the right partners and home. Stephany is passionate about making cannabis more approachable, accessible, and using her years of experience to educate others on how to use this plant effectively. She is currently working on a few new product lines and very slowly working on a cookbook to share the knowledge she’s gathered over the years. 

Gastronomy Program Faculty Recommended Readings

For more information about issues relating to cannabis economy and food culture, Corrine Dacosta, Adjunct Professor for Culture and Cuisine of the African Diaspora, suggests reading How to Succeed in the Cannabis Industry, by Dasheeda Dawson, available through The Weed Head, LLC.

Listen to Episode 6 here:

Celebrating All Women in Food

In our sixth podcast episode, host Elizabeth Weiler, talks with Joanna James, filmmaker of the acclaimed PBS documentary, A Fine Line. In honor of International Women’s Day during Women’s History Month, they discuss the empowerment and resilience of the remarkable women featured in her film, the systemic challenges many female cooks face and must overcome in commercial kitchens, and the significant roles female restauranteurs and chefs have in the recovery of the food and hospitality industry from this global pandemic.

Watch the trailer for A Fine Line here:

Joanna James, Zoel Productions

MAPP creator, filmmaker, director and producer, Joanna James is on a mission to ensure all womxn are provided the tools and vision to reach their full potential and become leaders in their fields. This is personal for Joanna as she saw and later documented in A Fine Line the unfair obstacles her mother, Chef Val James, endured as she rose the ranks to become a restaurant owner.

Like many womxn navigating motherhood and career, Val had to make significant sacrifices to overcome systematic gender inequities. Knowing that womxn continue to face such barriers and now being a mother to 3 little girls, Joanna’s infinite energy and drive to help create a more level playing field is a passion and profession. Join the MAPP movement! MAPPimpact.com

Gastronomy Program Faculty Recommended Readings

For more information about issues relating to women in food and business, Adjunct Instructor for Food Marketing, Alana Buckbee suggests reading Women on Food, by Charlotte Druckman, available through Abrams Press.

Listen to Episode 5 here:

Roundtable Preview of The Curse of the Connoisseurship 

The world of beverage studies is as unique as it is complicated, which makes for rich — and necessary — discussions on the topic. Engaging with these issues and hearing various perspectives is essential in changing the beverage industry so it reflects more of what the world looks like, not just what wine and spirits have traditionally represented.

In our fifth podcast episode, Amy Johnson chats with Altamash Gaziyani and Marie-Louise Friedland for a preview of discussions for the BU Learn More Series, “The Curse of Connoisseurship: Discussions of the Boston Beverage Scene,” hosted by the Diversity & Inclusion Office in conjunction with the students and alum of the Gastronomy Department.

Amy Johnson, Producer & Moderator

Amy moved to Boston five years ago from a land-locked state and fell madly in love with the fact that seafood here is cheaper than the price of gas. Exploring the city one cup of chowdah at a time, she gravitated towards BU’s Gastronomy department, beginning her studies in the Fall of 2019. Now in her fourth semester, her main focus is on wine studies, particularly as it relates to social injustice, climate change, and gender inequality. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a double major in Journalism and Anthropology.

Altamash Gaziyani, Panelist

Altamash took the scenic route to specializing in beverage studies in Boston, but has never doubted that the hospitality industry is where he belongs. After spending nearly a decade as a line cook, he bit the bullet and threw himself into bartending following his gut and never looked back. Still in awe at how much he has to learn, he currently spins drinks at Craigie on Main while pursuing academic and professional opportunities that tug at and explore liquor consumption and lore. He holds an MLA in Gastronomy from BU and a BPS in Culinary Science from the Culinary Institute of America.

Marie-Louise Friedland, Panelist

As a recent Boston transplant from Texas, Marie-Louise found herself wanting more out of the food and beverage industry in terms of education. After Covid-19 caused a major shift in her day to day job as a restaurant manager and sommelier, she decided to finally take the jump into graduate school and entered the Boston University Gastronomy Department as a Master’s Degree candidate. What gets her really fired up is the consumption culture surrounding alcoholic beverages (specifically wine) and how that culture both past and present can enlighten a path to a more inclusive and diverse future. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor’s of Science in Advertising.

Gastronomy Program Recommended Readings

In this episode, panelists discuss sexual harassment and assault within the beverage industry, in which they reference reading She Said by Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey, available through Penguin Random House.

Also, they recommend reading these articles by Julia Moskin from the New York Times; “A Celebrity Sommelier Is Accused of Sexual Assault” and “The Wine World’s Most Elite Circle Has a Sexual Harassment Problem.”

Listen to Episode 4 here:

Honoring Black History Month

In our fourth podcast episode, host Elizabeth Weiler, chats with Corrine DaCosta, adjunct professor of Culture and Cuisine of the African Diaspora in the Gastronomy graduate program at Boston University Metropolitan College. They discuss recent representations of African cuisine in media, integrating Black food history and culture in food studies programs, and hosting an ideal dinner party with Georgia Gilmore, Leah Chase, Edna Lewis, and Mashama Bailey to celebrate Black History Month.

Corrine DaCosta, Coffee Colored Concepts

Corrine DaCosta is a classically trained chef from the Culinary Institute of America with a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Culinary Arts Management. After an introduction to gastronomy through a course at the CIA, Corrine became enthralled with all facets of food studies. This led her to obtain a Master of Liberal Arts degree in Gastronomy from Boston University, where her aim was to take complex culinary and gastronomic concepts and create pragmatic analogies for BIPOC communities. Currently, she is an adjunct professor teaching gastronomy at her alma mater, and also works on projects with Coffee Colored Concepts, her culinary mindfulness brand.

In this episode, Corrine suggests reading Black Food Matters, edited by Hanna Garth and Ashanté M. Reese, available through University of Minnesota Press.

Follow Corrine and more digital content creators influencing Black history, culture, and food, like: @blackfoodie and @blackforager

In this episode, Elizabeth references reading Black Food Geographies, by Ashanté M. Reese, available through University of North Carolina Press.

Gastronomy Program Faculty Recommended Readings

For more information about African American food history, Associate Professor and Gastronomy Program Director, Dr. Megan J. Elias suggests reading Recipes for Respect, by Dr. Rafia Zafar, available through University of Georgia Press.

Listen to episode 3 here:

Kosher Wines and Winemaking

In our third podcast episode, host Elizabeth Weiler, talks to Jeff Morgan, vintner and founder of Covenant Wines. They discuss the rise in popularity of kosher wines, and some of the differences between conventional winemaking and kosher winemaking.

Jeff Morgan, Covenant Winery in Berkeley, CA & Tel Aviv, Israel

Jeff Morgan is the only winemaker who has also been a critic for the prestigious Wine Spectator magazine, where he worked as West Coast Editor from 1992 to 2000. He has also written for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, Elle Magazine and—with his wife, Jodie—has penned 10 books on food and wine. Before becoming a writer, Jeff made wine on New York’s Long Island. In 2000, he started America’s first winery dedicated solely to rosé—SoloRosa—which he ran until 2008. Concurrently, in 2003, he founded Covenant Winery in California’s Napa Valley, where he and his late business partner, Leslie Rudd, created a new quality paradigm for kosher wine.

Jeff began making wine in Israel in 2013. Today, Covenant is the only winery that makes wine in both the U.S. and Israel. Covenant wines are now sold worldwide, from the U.S. to Israel, Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico and South America. Prior to his wine-related activities, Jeff was the court musician and bandleader for Prince Rainier of Monaco in the 1980s. Eventually he decided he was more interested in what he was drinking than what he was playing.

 Jeff is an experienced lecturer and teacher who travels worldwide spreading his message of fine food and wine—while weaving them into the history and heritage of the Jewish people.

Listen to episode 2 here:

Native American Heritage Month

In our second podcast episode, host Amanda Balagur, talks to Elena Terry, from the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance. They discuss some of the challenges facing indigenous foodways, the roles of Native youth in preserving food traditions, and how consumers can support Native chefs and farmers.

Elena Terry, Food & Culinary Program Coordinator at NAFSA

Elena Terry is the Founder and Executive Chef of Wild Bearies, a non-profit catering company that focuses on community outreach, education, responsible gardening practices and utilizing traditional ingredients in the daily lives of the participants. She has partnerships with Intertribal Agriculture Council, UW Madison and various tribal farms and producers where she promotes and supports their work by showcasing the ingredients in a way that builds connections. Elena also helps with Mobile Farmers Market in Dane County, sharing indigenous ingredients with the community. She is a member of the Hocak Nation in Wisconsin and considers herself a lifelong learner of their traditional ways and food sources of the woodland area.

Amanda Balagur, Host & Food Journalist

Amanda Balagur is a Boston-based freelance copywriter and food journalist who has written for The Huffington Post, Chowhound and Alma, among others. She is an alumna of the BU gastronomy program, where her research focused on food history and cultural exchange through food, and is also the managing assistant editor of Food, Culture & Society. She has been doing voice overs for TV, radio and the web, in addition to radio announcing and reporting, for over a decade. Her professional background includes stints in higher education, fine dining, indie music, financial services and as a professional baker. In her spare time, she enjoys foraging outdoors, cooking at home, collecting vinyl and learning to box and embroider. Find her online at amandabalagur.com.

Gastronomy Program Faculty Recommended Readings

For more information about indigenous foodways, Professor of Food Policy and Food Systems, Dr. Ellen Messer suggests reading Indigenous Food Systems: Concepts, Cases, and Conversations, edited by Priscilla Settee and Shailesh Shukla, available through Canadian Scholars’ Press.

Prof. Messer also recommends watching Gather, released in 2020 from director, Sanjay Rawal. This critically acclaimed documentary film is about the growing movement for Native American food sovereignty.

Listen to episode 1 here:

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

In our first podcast episode, host Amanda Balagur, talks to Chef Krysia Villon about her culinary roots, food studies in native Peruvian foods, and the impact of the coronavirus upon the foodways of the Latinx community.

Krysia Villon, Chef & Food Historian

Krysia Villon is a born-and-bred Bostonian, Peruvian American chef, instructor, food historian, and recent graduate of BU. While her personal chef business, Chiqui’s Kitchen, caters mostly to families and working professionals, her other passion includes exploring, playing with, and teaching others about indigenous products of the Americas. She received her BA from Mount Holyoke College, her AS in Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University at Providence, and most recently her MLA in Gastronomy from BU, focusing on quinoa’s role in the expression of Indigeneity on the Peruvian table. Two years ago she started documenting her food journey, thoughts, and recipes on a food blog, Kahlo’s Eyes, named for her daughter so that her chiquitina would always have access to family recipes but also of family and general history as it relates to food. 

Amanda Balagur, Host & Food Journalist

Amanda Balagur is a Boston-based freelance copywriter and food journalist who has written for The Huffington Post, Chowhound and Alma, among others. She is an alumna of the BU gastronomy program, where her research focused on food history and cultural exchange through food, and is also the managing assistant editor of Food, Culture & Society. She has been doing voice overs for TV, radio and the web, in addition to radio announcing and reporting, for over a decade. Her professional background includes stints in higher education, fine dining, indie music, financial services and as a professional baker. In her spare time, she enjoys foraging outdoors, cooking at home, collecting vinyl and learning to box and embroider. Find her online at amandabalagur.com.

Gastronomy Program Faculty Recommended Readings

For more information about Hispanic and Latin American foodways, Associate Professor and Gastronomy Program Director, Dr. Megan J. Elias suggests reading Food Across Borders, Edited by Matt Garcia, E. Melanie DuPuis, and Don Mitchell, available through Rutgers University Press.