Meant To Be Eaten

Has the first mainstream wave of cultural appropriation activism achieved its goals? Andrea Wien talks to Soleil Ho, writer, chef and co-host of the podcast Racist Sandwich, and Kimberly Chou, co-director of Food Book Fair and co-host of the HRN show Recommended Reading with Food Book Fair, about where we're at in the conversation, what needs to happen to move these concerns forward and why this discussion seems so frequently to center around Asian food and activists.

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When Josh Grinker, chef and co-owner of Kings Co. Imperial started out, he first fell in love with the technique of cooking Chinese food, specifically working the wok. Only years later did the question of cultural appropriation start to arise. But for Josh and his business partner, chef Tracy Jane Young, their respect and passion for Chinese cuisine has never been about profit: it's always been about paying homage to Chinese philosophy and flavor. On this episode, we talk about how the discussion around appropriation has evolved, the difference between appropriation and multi-culturalism and what lessons Josh has learned outside of the kitchen.

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Author Sarah Lohman joins us today to talk about how America's culinary history is far from "white" and how the flavors we all know and love were brought here and evolved from places far, far away.

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Oft-quoted and well-loved by the MTBE team, Krishnendu Ray--NYU Food Studies Professor and author of two books on immigrant foods in America--joins us to talk about why searching out the most "authentic, ethnic" cuisines can be a problem, how social media has democratized food and why expensive Chinese is in our future food forecast.

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Trigg Brown and Joshua Ku of East Wililamsburg's Taiwanese-American joint, Win Son, talk about Taiwan's complicated history and how they're working to educate diners on Taiwanese food.

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Ben Van Leeuwen on the Van Leeuwen’s ice cream empire and his side project— the Balinese-inspired restaurant, Selamat Pagi, in Greenpoint. Ben talks about driving a Good Humor truck and why it prompted him to start his own shop, how he designs flavors and how ingredients know no cultural bounds.

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On this episode of Meant To Be Eaten, Fred Opie, professor of foodways and history at Babson College and author of the book, Hogs and Hominy joins Adedoyin Teriba, a professor of architectural history at Pratt, to discuss soul food and the spread of African-American culture and food across the globe. How do major historical events like the Civil Rights Movement influence food? And what feelings arise when you find a food from your homeland in an unfamiliar place?

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Tea culture spans thousands of years, from India and China to Japan and Britain. But what exactly is tea? And what do tea purists think of the rise of fast casual tea joints? Are these types of places watering down the meaning and significance of this historic brew? On this episode, Andrea Wien talks to Timothy Hsu, proprietor of the Mandarin Tea Room and Chinese tea master trainee and Zach Mangan, the founder of the Japanese tea shop Kettl in Williamsburg.

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At the end of a long work week, there’s nothing more we love than breaking bread with good company. But what if someone prefers a sourdough over a baguette? A paratha over a pita? Or, is gluten-free? Today we're talking with Dan Pashman, host of The Sporkful podcast, about his recent mini-series, "Your Mom's Food". Dan spoke with 4 families who had been divided over food; through tough conversations with 4 different families, he shows the simple question – “what’s for dinner?” – may not be so simple to answer after all.

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Today's episode of Meant to be Eaten follows a conversation between Coral and JT Vuong--head chef at Okonomi in East Williamsburg. Okonomi straddles the line between convention and craze: serving traditional Japanese breakfast by day and not-so-traditional ramen by night. Does Okonomi's stress on locally-sourced ingredients inherently limit its ability to remain wholly traditional? The majority of Okonomi's staff isn't Japanese--how do you learn the subtle nuances of another's culture? Who and what determine "authenticity?"

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