On today’s episode we’re talking about the morality of meat. What it means to consume it, to abstain from it and how, as always on matters of so called morality are murky, and impossible to detangle from the influence of culture, society, and privilege. 

We begin with writer Alicia Kennedy, one of the clearest and most compelling voices in food media today on, among other things, veganism, and more broadly the politics of eating. We then travel to India where Dr. Yamini Narayanan discusses the politicization of beef in India, and in particular, what happens when cow protection laws and diet regulations are coded as a means of marginalizing lower castes and Muslims. And finally, we go to the Dominican Republic with Ysanet Batista, activist and owner of Woke Foods who discusses her ongoing activism work through plant based recipes as a means of healing and restoration. The politics of meat, and diet, diet and identity... Today on Point of Origin, it’s the morality of meat.

Welcome back to Point of Origin. Today’s we are paying homage to coffee’s African origin and roots from Ethiopia to the East Bay. Artist turned coffee entrepreneur Keba Konte of Red Bay coffee discusses his journey to becoming pioneering African American coffee roaster, as Keba says, the largest Black owned coffee company in the world. In Burundi, Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian teaches us what makes Burundi an ideal coffee supplier. Finally, we chat with Doug Hewitt of 1951 Coffee in Oakland, California, a nonprofit organization providing job training for refugees. Today on Point of Origin, it’s Black Coffee.

On today’s episode we’re talking about wheat, grains and conversing with individuals changing the narrative about whole grains. And that introduction you just heard is Martina Julieta Castellanos Lopez and her daughter Carmen Reyes from Rincón de la grana bakery in Oaxaca, Mexico. What Martina reminds us is how essential, symbolic and ritualistic bread in some form or variety is in most cultures. Bread is the most widely consumed food in the world. We bond over bread, and in many ways it sustains us. But we’ve also become disconnected from wheat and grains in their purest form. Today we’re looking into the politics of bread, why the proliferation of white wheat came to be, and the agricultural and agrianian shift that ensued. We’re chatting with expert grain researcher and journalist Simon Thibault in Halifax Canada. Then to Italy with Leo Petruccelli in Pulgia where he’s reviving his grandparents farm using ancient grains he harvests. And finally we’re talking to baker and owner Jonathan Bethony of Seylou bakery in Washington DC who’s uses grains like millet and sorghum on his menu. 

Today’s guests are focusing on honoring and innovating wheat and ancient grains in their natural form, looking beyond the standard perfection we’ve been fed with packaged goods. Today on Point of Origin, we’re going Beyond the Wheat.

On episode 25 of Point of Origin, we discuss how milk is the perfect microcosm for the many maladies plaguing our corporate food system. Currently, in the US an estimated 2.7 million - 3.7 million gallons of US milk is dumped every day as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. We investigate why. Join us as we uncover the politics rife in the US food systems, the everlasting systemic problem of money shaping policy, and how the joint actions of industry and government led to the creation and perpetuation of health disparities. Helping us navigate this landscape is Andrea Freeman, author of The Unbearable Whiteness of Milk: Food Oppression and the USDA.

On today’s episode, we talk to Megan Frye about avocados, and how their sharp increase in demand has affected the Mexican farmers at the source, in both good, and bad ways. We also discuss the dark side of the avocado trade, and how organized crime has become involved in making money off of the “green gold” and government corruption has led to severe ecological impacts.

Wine has been produced on the volcanic Canary Islands for over 500 years, even being mentioned in some of Shakespeare’s plays. The geography and climate of the islands have created a unique environment for the vineyards, resulting in a wine distinctive to the Canary Islands. On today’s episode we talk to Mónica R. Goya about the Canary Islands and the new generation of winemakers emerging. One of these winemakers is Victoria Torres Pecis, a fifth generation winegrower located on the small island of La Palma.

On today’s episode we’re talking about Fulani foodways and cuisine with Chef Fatma Binta. The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe (fuhl-be) people are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region, and inhabiting many countries. They live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa but also in South Sudan, Sudan, and regions near the Red Sea coast. Chef Binta is an indelible ambassador of Fulani food. Born and raised in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to first generation Sierra Leonean Fulanis of Guinean descent, Binta describes herself as a modern nomadic chef, and as you’ll hear later in the episode, Binta’s just doing what her people have always done.

We begin the season with a trip to Palestine to discover the history behind the lesser known spirit Arak. Whetstone contributing journalist Lyric Lewin brings us to Muaddi distillery where Nader Muaddi is making arak in his home based distillery.

On today’s episode of Point of Origin, we talk about Indigenous Food, and the way it has been ostracized in America. The guests talk about overcoming the colonization that has almost erased the food culture of Native Americans, and working to create greater access and awareness for their people and the public as a whole.

The goal for these Indigenous Chefs is to control their own food in order to control their futures and their culture. They’re working to reintroduce the traditional food into communities where food access, especially healthy food access, has become a major problem.

While the “New” Nordic, is no longer new, the movement continues to send ripples across the restaurant industry, evolving and adapting to the global recognition it has received. The question now is, what do we call the movement that has spawned from the Nordic food movement?

On today’s episode we’ll talk about this question with current and former Noma chefs, David Zilber and Matt Orland, as well as with Chef Jeremy Charles of Raymonds Restaurant and Chef Bo Bech of Copenhagen’s Geist.

In todays episode, we’re going to meet two unique yet ubiquitous fruits that have been staples to diets around the world. We first meet what might be considered the world’s only sea-faring fruit, then we travel to India to learn about its nomadic origins and what its growing global popularity means for local farmers in the South East. Next stop, we meet Whetstone co-founder, and my business partner, Melissa Shi in Spain. Here we are reintroduced to another familiar fruit that is used to produce one of worlds’ most ancient, natural cooking oils.

Diasporic foodways examines how food has traveled from origin to adopted home, and in doing so, taken on new meaning while steadfastly keeping communities connected to their heritage. In many instances, in the grappling is the creation of a third culture. Cultures that are an amalgamation of parents’ birth homes and adopted homes. On today’s episode of Point of Origin, we’re exploring what the diaspora means and how it informs and enriches our food.

On today’s episode, we interview is with Palestinian and Syrian chef, and restaurant owner, Reem Assil. We had a chance to talk about her forthcoming restaurant, located in the Mission District of San Francisco. Reem’s bakery was closed down just two days after opening and is now closed indefinitely as we all collectively await the fate of restaurants all over the country and over the world.

Oh natural wine. Not so long ago, wine was just…wine. But over the last decade, this new, natural qualifier has been a source of inspiration, and in some cases, oddly, ire. A comparable parallel example the organic food movement.

In this two part series, we talk to Alex Schulkin and Galit Shachaf of The Other Right and Jared Brandt of Donkey and Goat, and New York-based Wine Director, Amanda Smeltz. They discuss the benefits, and positive trends that have arisen from the natural wine movement, but also the issues with the label, and how it fits into the global market of winemaking.

Oh natural wine. Not so long ago, wine was just…wine. But over the last decade, this new, natural qualifier has been a source of inspiration, and in some cases, oddly, ire. A comparable parallel example the organic food movement.

In this two part series, we talk to Alex Schulkin and Galit Shachaf of The Other Right and Jared Brandt of Donkey and Goat, and New York-based Wine Director, Amanda Smeltz. They discuss the benefits, and positive trends that have arisen from the natural wine movement, but also the issues with the label, and how it fits into the global market of winemaking.

Through the stories of Sonja Swanson, Seoyung Chung and Ji Hye Kim, this episode explores the ancient recipes of Korea and how they are taking on modern adaptions. Swanson came to Korea to learn about her cultural heritage, a one-year stay became a seven-year journey. Together, Swanson and Seoyung are using food to tell a story about the culinary history of Korean, through adaption of ancient recipes.

Travel with us to the rolling hills of Sri Lanka and the high mountains of Taiwan to sample teas and learn about their origins. We explore how decisions like harvesting, processing and fermentation impart flavor, and how its consumption is deeply ingrained in Asian cultures.

“Nigerian food is a misnomer, an unfortunate if helpful characterization of a melange of cuisines. Nigeria, a colonial construct only five decades removed from pale faced administration, has managed a national identity despite holding 500 smaller nation states-- a warmly contested womb with a half century children, each kicking mostly in chorus. Our food rejects colonial imposition, stubbornly refusing taxonomy while also nodding in the direction of nationhood.”