Disgust, often seen as a primal and universal emotion, can reveal a lot about our values, boundaries, and cultural norms. In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers are confronted with something that grosses them out.

Part 1: While on a school trip in Russia, Cassandra Hartblay’s vegetarian dietary restrictions keep getting tested.

Part 2: As a meat lover, Jenny Kleeman has high hopes for the world’s first lab-grown chicken nugget.

Dr. Cassandra Hartblay is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, where she works with graduate students in Anthropology, European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Disability Studies and Sexual Diversity Studies, as well as undergraduates in Health Humanities. She is author of the 2020 book "I Was Never Alone or Oporniki" (University of Toronto Press 2020) and numerous articles, a documentary play, and co-curator of the #CripRitual art exhibition. If you can't find her, she's probably our running or swimming with her dog, an Aussie-Retriever mix named Arlo.

Jenny Kleeman is a journalist, broadcaster and author. She writes for the Guardian, the Sunday Times and The New Statesman and makes radio and podcasts for the BBC and the Times. Her latest series for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds, The Gift, tells the story of the remarkable truths that emerge when people take at-home DNA tests. On television, Jenny has reported for BBC One's Panorama, Channel 4's Dispatches and VICE News Tonight on HBO, as well as making 13 films from across the globe for Channel 4's Unreported World. Her first book, Sex Robots & Vegan Meat, was published in 2020 and has been translated into ten languages. Her second book The Price of Life, was published in March 2024.

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