Best Motel Table Podcasts (2025)

1
152: Documenting the Undocumented through Food with Jill Damatac 30:27

7d ago30:27

30:27

The idea of a pristine kitchen with clean countertops feels distinctively American, or an all-American idealist. However, the concept of the American ideal, or the American dream, desperately needs to be challenged. How better to do that than through food? My guest this week, author and filmmaker Jill Damatac, does just that in her new memoir, Dirt…

1
Tylers' on the Mike Ep.2 1:50:54

13d ago1:50:54

1:50:54

We're back baby! Episode 2 is live in the new studio. Let us hear the word of the crust (Hey Domino's we're looking for sponsors) and then shoot the shit with the two Tylers' and Mike. Crustians 6:9By Tylers’ on the Mike

1
151: What Can Local and Seasonal Food Networks Look Like? with Colin Fontaine 28:53

15d ago28:53

28:53

Perhaps now more than ever, there’s renewed appreciation for the intricacies of our food systems' deep dependence on a global supply chain. However, that also raises challenges around our relationships with producers and understanding of food value. My guest today, Colin Fontaine, is here to discuss how to reorient American concepts of food and cul…

1
150: Italian Pasta Nights with an American Accent with Renato Poliafito 31:27

21d ago31:27

31:27

Throughout this season, we’ve been exploring immigrant narratives around food: roles in food systems, labour, and diasporic food stories. Part of this is making sense of the “ish” elements to identities through food, which my guest this week, Renato Poliafito, does beautifully. Renato is a James Beard-nominated restaurateur, pastry chef, cookbook a…

1
Tylers’ on the Mike Ep. 1 1:24:16

25d ago1:24:16

1:24:16

The boys are back and ready to cast! Welcome to Tylers’ on the Mike where the two Tylers’ team up with the Mike to bring you unfiltered content straight from the gutter. Pizzalonians 3:16By Motel Table

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149: Unbottling the Problems of Bottled Water with Daniel Jaffee 57:41

29d ago57:41

57:41

A plastic bottle of water powerfully represents the state of our current environmental and health priorities. That water can become commodified while being an essential public service means that who gets access to water can be deeply challenged. How is water justice reached when plastic water privatization has become so embedded in our systems? My …

1
148: Masala, Maíz, and Movement - Ingredients for Decolonizing Plates with Norma Listman and Saqib Keval 38:16

1M ago38:16

38:16

On the show today are Norma Listman and Saqib Keval, looking at the solutions and communities that can be built when activism and ethical values are at the forefront of food creation. Norma and Saqib are the chefs and restauranteurs behind Masala y Maíz, which TIME Magazine named as one of the top destinations to visit worldwide, and its slightly m…

1
147: What Canada Ate - The Role of Cookbooks in Culinary History with Dr. Rebecca Beausaert 34:20

2M ago34:20

34:20

As most historians will tell you, the past can help make sense of a lot of the present, but maybe in unexpected or novel ways—like through cookbooks! We’re living in an intense period (I probably always say this, but it feels particularly challenging right now). With the new Trump presidency, shifts to Canada’s economic stability and food security …

1
146: Flavour's Role in Food System Fixes with Franco Fubini 36:39

2M ago36:39

36:39

The idea of industrial food systems is flat, heavy, and feels complex to access. It brings up connotations of very bland, hyper-processed foods made to reach a large number of people at a low cost. There are important consequences to these food systems choices, though some are louder ones than others. My guest today, Franco Fubini, tackles an often…

1
145: Exploring the Biodiversity of Climate-Smart Crops with Shreema Mehta 25:39

2M ago25:39

25:39

Industrial food systems tend to use mono-crop and unilinear approaches to supplying the Global North with food. But what happens when we consider more diverse crops? My guest today, Shreema Mehta, will discuss the traditional, climate-smart crops that are overlooked by the industrial food system. She started Climate Cookery selling tamarind hot sau…

1
144: The Rich History of Georgian Wines with Sarah May Grunwald 53:55

3M ago53:55

53:55

When it comes to wine, I have a tendency to retreat and panic: I don’t know anything, and I certainly don’t feel like I have the means to access the knowledge. I often wonder if that’s a common experience for people, based on the connotations that come with its consumption. My guest this week, Sarah May Grunwald, is someone I find quite admirable f…

1
143: Unpacking the Absent Food Citizen in Policy with Isabela Bonnevera 39:21

3M ago39:21

39:21

This week, we’re exploring the idea of the food citizen, or perhaps more accurately, the absent food citizen, with Isabela Bonnevera. Isabela is a doctoral researcher at ICTA-UAB, and engages with participatory methods to explore how immigrants are shaping sustainable food transitions in cities. She also examines how sustainable food policies impac…

1
142: What Role Does Food Play in Fiction Writing? with Margaux Vialleron 32:23

6M ago32:23

32:23

One of the most frustrating parts of watching Gossip Girl growing up was witnessing the elaborate breakfast spreads that the families had each morning, only for the main characters to grab a piece of toast and run away with anguish. When we think about fiction, food isn’t always central to how a story is told. But what happens when it is? My guest …

1
141: Uncovering Medieval Pictish Foodways through Paleobotany with Dr. Shalen Prado 33:10

6M ago33:10

33:10

Oftentimes, when we think about plant-human relationships, we’re thinking about our contemporary lives and how plants factor into it – be it North American plant-based diets or what we’re growing in our apartments. But our relationship with plants goes back for millennia, and accessing this historical and prehistoric knowledge is a glimpse into wha…

1
140: Recovering from Restrictive Online Diet Myths with Dr. Sarah Ballantyne 42:29

6M ago42:29

42:29

Diet culture on the internet is excellent at sensationalizing our food to the point of panic. I’m sure many of you have seen the videos across TikTok and Instagram where someone positions themselves as an expert and demonizes strawberries, bread, or my beloved potatoes. But what happens when we take a more proactive and less restrictive approach to…

1
139: What Makes for Good Food Policy? with Chef Joshna Maharaj 48:32

6M ago48:32

48:32

One downside I find when I spend too much time on the internet is that there’s an overwhelming viewpoint that the system is broken and there’s not much we can do to change that – or that food, in general, is disconnected from all other components of our lives. But I think these attitudes forget that a lot of empowerment comes through advocating for…

1
138: Fish, Wine, and Letting Go of Ego in Southern France with Steve Hoffman 44:17

7M ago44:17

44:17

In the daily grind of work under capitalism, I’m sure I’m not alone for dreaming of something more to life. Usually, this takes the shape of going somewhere new in the world on vacation or picking up a new language and imagining what life would look like if you lived in that country and spoke that language with ease. For my guest today, this dream …

1
137: Transformations through Fermentation and Oracle Decks with Julia Skinner 35:23

7M ago35:23

35:23

As far as public conversations around fermenting, we’ve come a long way as a society in our understanding of what that is in 2024. So with that, deeper explorations into the practice of fermentation and its role in building communities get a lot more interesting. Dr. Julia Skinner is returning to AnthroDish today to discuss the magic and art of fer…

1
136: Beer (and Everyone) Still Has a Diversity Problem with Ren Navarro 40:17

7M ago40:17

40:17

If you’ve listened to AnthroDish regularly over the last few years, you’ll know that Ren Navarro is a champion of diversity and inclusion within the beer industry and beyond. When I first interviewed Ren back in 2020, we looked at her Canadian consulting services through B.Diversity, and the diversity problem within craft beer in Ontario. We’ve liv…

1
135: Growing Olive Trees in Texan Heat with Dr. Vikram Baliga 36:29

7M ago36:29

36:29

Climate change is a daunting reality for many of us – there’s a lot of anxiety around understanding what’s happening and how it affects our communities and the foods we grow. While there’s no magic bullet, there is a lot of great scientific researchers working hard to share what they know about this. For example – you may not immediately think of T…

1
134: The Art of the Plant-Based Table with Chloé Crane-Leroux and Trudy Crane 32:41

7M ago32:41

32:41

Eating is so central to our ways of connecting as people and communities, but how we show up and make space around food is a practice of care and art. My guests today, Trudy Crane and Chloé Crane-Leroux are a mother-daughter duo best known for their individual foods, fashion, and lifestyle content. Montreal natives, these two are bursting with crea…

1
133: How to Break Down Diet Culture and Live Nourished with Shana Minei Spence 32:08

8M ago32:08

32:08

Spend too much time on the internet these days and you can walk away with a lingering sense of body shame, dietary uncertainty, and overall not-great-vibes. To me, this means it’s all the more important to reflect on our relationships with food and re-assess how we think about them. My guest today, Shana Spence, is one of the central people that I …

1
132: What Makes Food Hearty? with andrea bennett 42:19

8M ago42:19

42:19

Our relationship with food in North America is such a deeply fascinating, contrasting, nuanced and complicated one. There’s so much to consider – both in the sheer population size and geographic scale of our food systems, but also in how we make sense of the foods we do and do not have access to. My guest this week, andrea bennett, tackles these bi…

1
131: Season 9 Launch [Solo Episode] 7:32

8M ago7:32

7:32

As we start up season 9 of the podcast, I wanted to share some life and technological updates, as well as what you can expect of this season. Food feels very different from when I started this show in 2018, the "foodie" culture isn't proliferating, which isn't a shock given the challenges of food and living costs in North America. This season we're…

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130: Invisible Labour Behind Chicken Nuggets: The Immigrants Taking on America's Largest Meatpacking Industry with Alice Driver 30:20

8M ago30:20

30:20

We’ve heard stories about how chicken nuggets are riddled with questionable ingredients, but what gets missed when looking at industrial meat production is those who process a nation’s worth of meat and poultry, the immigrants working at Tyson meatpacking companies throughout Arkansas. My guest today is Alice Driver, who has written a haunting expo…

1
129: Third Culture Cooking, TikTok Foods, and Kung Food Cookbook with Jon Kung 34:49

12M ago34:49

34:49

For our last episode this season, we’re exploring what it means to cook from a third culture kitchen. There’s been growing discussions online of what it means to be a third culture kid or a third culture individual. My guest today, Jon Kung, is one of the best people to speak to how third culture experiences can play out through food, cooking, and …

1
128: Heydays at the June Motel - Translating a Lakeside Summer Cuisine into a Cookbook with Katie Laliberté 36:05

12M ago36:05

36:05

Here in Ontario, we’re just hitting the warmer spring weather after a grey and cloudy winter, and anyone living up north can attest to the amount of daydreaming we do about our future and past summer plans. During that daydreaming, memory and nostalgia can play a significant role in establishing an ideal summer, with tastes, scents and flavour play…

1
127: How Local Journalism Explores the Foods of the American South with Hanna Raskin of The Food Section 27:27

1y ago27:27

27:27

News media at large is in a challenging position this year: we’ve seen mass layoffs across digital media, local news, TV, print, even podcasts and documentaries. There’s shifts in audiences, loss of journalist jobs, and shaky foundations of social media platforms like Twitter and Substack that make even the strongest bylines at risk of being swallo…

1
126: The Ikaria Way: How Mostly Plant-Based Foods Maintain a Greek Island's Longevity with Diane Kochilas 38:17

1y ago38:17

38:17

You may be familiar with the Greek island of Ikaria through the popularity of “Blue Zones” and the idea that these regions of the world can provide insights into living longer, healthier lives. Yet as with most trends around diet and health, there is so much unspoken about the nuances of what an Ikarian lifestyle and diet entails, and the cultural …

1
125: Sesame, Soy, Spice: Using Plant-Based Recipes to Honour Heritage and Healing with Remy Morimoto Park 36:05

1y ago36:05

36:05

Thinking about “typical” types of veganism can reveal a lot of fascinating Western stereotypes or biases around what it does and doesn’t entail. And yet so many cultural cuisines from around the world are rooted in plant-based meals that have been passed down through generations to shape contemporary ethnic cuisines. So what happens when someone ad…

1
124: How Microgreens Weave Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science for Food Futures with Natalie Paterson 47:20

1y ago47:20

47:20

One of the pitfalls in sustainability movements is this assumption that we’re all working from an equal playing field, when the reality is that oftentimes we don’t have the home space or the time to grow our own food. What we don’t always ask is whether we can make the comproimses that allow us to meet those desires to grow our own food without the…

1
123: The Power of Showcasing Immigrant Restaurant Stories with Maggie Leandre of CharisMaggieTV 37:37

1y ago37:37

37:37

If you’ve been a regular listener to this podcast, you know that food is central to all of our discussions around identity, culture, belonging, and sense of place. My guest today is someone who excels at bringing these relationships to life through her YouTube channel, and speaks to the layers of personal experience she has had growing up and livin…

1
122: Celebrating the Diversity of Torontonian Food through The Depanneur Cookbook with Len Senater 43:47

1y ago43:47

43:47

When I think of a quintessentially Torontonian food experience, I tend to think of The Depanneur. Founded in 2011, The Depanneur was a tiny old corner store that transformed into a place where interesting food things happen, featuring hundreds of talented cooks and home chefs serving thousands of eclectic meals through unique Drop-In Dinners, cooki…

1
121: Exploring the Relationship between Fish Hacks, Porgy, and Black Maritime Culture with Dr. Jayson M. Porter 32:24

1y ago32:24

32:24

Anytime I get to talk about water and seafood on this show feels like a really special week for me, as I have spent most of my life thinking about how we connect with or form relationships around water. My guest, Dr. Jayson M. Porter, this week takes a really nuanced approach to this through a recent article he wrote called Fish Hacks for Distillat…

1
120: Making Sense of Misunderstood Vegetables through Humour and Celebration with Becky Selengut 40:01

1y ago40:01

40:01

Often when we make our grocery runs, time and money are on our mind – which can quickly lead to following a stringent list of household classics and crowd pleasers. But sometimes, in the corner of your eye, you might catch a new to you vegetable and wonder what the heck it is, or how it works. My guest today, Becky Selengut, is here to provide know…

1
119: Destigmatizing Harm Reduction, Mental Health, and Drug Use in Alberta with Danielle English 54:08

1y ago54:08

54:08

We’ve spoken a bit this season about the drug poisoning crisis and how breweries can work to support their neighbours using substances, but with this affecting so many across Canada, but I wanted to come back to this topic with some more dimensions as well. My guest this week is Danielle English, who’s on to share more about harm reduction strategi…

1
118: Pink Gold - Women, Shrimp, and Work in Mexico with Dr. María L. Cruz Torres 44:20

1+ y ago44:20

44:20

The idea of fish industry tends to feel big, vague, and hyper-masculine – it’s easy to think of tales of fisherman and ideals of masculinity. But as my guest this week shares, there are so many complexities to how gender, fishing, and identities intersect. My guest this week is Dr. María L. Cruz Torres. She is an Associate Professor in the School o…

1
117: Unpacking Anti-Fatness in Health and Nutrition for Body Liberation with Patrilie Hernandez of Embody Lib 40:32

1+ y ago40:32

40:32

Health, nutrition, and food are spaces that can be fraught with harmful and perpetual misconceptions of the body, to the point where many people of the global majority may not always feel safe or heard. My guest this week, Patrilie Hernandez, is someone who works to create more weight-inclusive and nutritionally holistic practices at the forefront …

1
116: How Ozempic and Stomach Paralysis Impact Relationships with Food with Emily Wright 33:20

1+ y ago33:20

33:20

Across social media and TV advertisements, drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have risen in recent years and are quickly associated with weight loss and celebrity lifestyles. Yet semaglutide drugs (which includes Ozempic and Wegovy) are intended originally as a drug for use by adults with type 2 diabetes, to manage blood sugar levels along with diet and…

1
115: Unboxing the History of TV Dinners with Jeff Swystun 39:18

1+ y ago39:18

39:18

When you think about the concept of a TV dinner, there is a wash of nostalgia that can takeover how you remember the tastes and functions of the dinner itself. But the story of how these TV dinners came to our North American freezers is a fascinating and fun exploration into a lot of the social and technological progress of the 20th century. My gue…

1
114: Honouring Maternal Ancestries through Cooking and Restaurant Development with Ruben Rodriguez of Nai Restaurant Groups 41:43

1+ y ago41:43

41:43

Alright everyone, this is the first episode back after the holiday break, so I hope that this finds you rested, stuffed, and balancing all the new year expectations as well as you can be! For today’s show, I am chatting with chef Ruben Rodriguez, who is a Galcian-born chef and restauranteur of Nai Restaurant Group. Ruben immigrated to New Jersey wi…

1
113: How UN Organizations Shape the Rules of World Trade for Food Security with Dr. Matias Margulis 40:17

1+ y ago40:17

40:17

Before we jump into today’s show, I wanted to give listeners a heads up that today is the last AnthroDish episode for 2023, but we will be returning with more episodes this season on Tuesday, January 9th so be sure to tune back in this new year! Today we’re exploring a topic that I personally find sometimes quite challenging to access and fully und…

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112: Dinner on Mars - How Technologies that Could Feed the Red Planet Can Transform Agriculture on Earth 28:55

1+ y ago28:55

28:55

What happens when two food scientists get bored in a pandemic? It turns out, they start to brainstorm how they would feed a colony of humans on Mars. What might seem like a trivial question is actually a more nuanced exploration of how we can sustain ourselves on Mars, and what we can learn from this thought experiment back on Earth, too. My guests…

1
111: Reframing Cookbooks, and Salad as Comfort Food with Nat and Bec Davey of Reframeables 56:14

1+ y ago56:14

56:14

When you think about comfort food, what types of meals or dishes come to mind – is it mashed potatoes and gravy, the best of your grandmother’s kitchens, or a chickpea curry? Often we have this idea around “comforting” foods that is rooted so deeply in our family ties and meaty or hearty cultural dishes. Yet sometimes, comfort food can be a bit mor…

1
110: Creating Safer Community for Breweries and Vulnerable Neighbours with Ren Navarro of B.Diversity 37:08

1+ y ago37:08

37:08

Alcohol has been navigating a new social landscape in America and Canada since COVID hit. While there were signs that alcohol consumption was rising with lockdowns, there’s also been more spaces for conversation around the use of alcohol as a drug, or trickier relationships with drinking and binge drinking, amidst a backdrop of the drug use crisis …

1
109: Campus Food System Alternatives as Organizing Tools with Dr. Michael Classens 32:13

1+ y ago32:13

32:13

When we think about food security and food systems, it can easily be imagined as a large national or state or provincial level experience. Yet many young adults increasingly are experiencing the unique dynamics of food systems on campus landscapes, which offers a concentrated and specific food environment that can feel limited as food prices increa…

1
108: Understanding Community through Fermentation with Dr. Julia Skinner 41:21

1+ y ago41:21

41:21

In 2023, we’re facing increased food prices, tech-heavy innovations around lab grown foods for climate change, and heavily industrialized and packaged foods. Amidst that, though, there’s still interest in the world of fermented foods and returning to working with microbes to create a multitude of communities. My guest today is Dr. Julia Skinner, wh…

1
107: Unpacking Wellness through Personalized Nutrition & Genetic Diets with Dr. Tina Sikka 37:51

1+ y ago37:51

37:51

With increasingly wearable and seamless tech experiences, there is a growing ability for us to monitor almost every phase of our day: what we eat, how much we eat, how we exercise, and how it all aligns with our bodies in a personalized level. These all can come together to create a perspective of what health “should” be, rather than what it could …

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106: Rethinking Cowboy Food through the Unofficial Yellowstone Cookbook with Jackie Alpers 43:34

1+ y ago43:34

43:34

Food on popular television shows can be a storytelling mechanism, particularly in terms of building a sense of place and history. While the television show can tell a specific story, there can be a whole world to explore extending beyond this, which is rife for creative exploration for cookbook writers and recipe developers. My guest this week, Jac…

1
105: Weaving Ancient Korean Cookbooks with Seasonal Local Food with Ji Hye Kim 43:26

1+ y ago43:26

43:26

When we think about “authentic” food experiences – what are we really explicitly looking for? Oftentimes the idea of authenticity can be exoticized to represent a particular type of ethnic cuisine at a specific time – or someone’s version of it. But in a diasporic world, there are ways to create a menu and recipes that reflect both local and season…

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Motel Table Podcasts

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