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by Marshall Poe
This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field.Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.comSubscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetworkSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/food
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Water, malt, yeast, and hops: these are essential ingredients of beer. Hops, specifically, play an outsized role in determining its flavor and aroma. In Beer Ghosts: In Search of Lost Hops and the Women Who Grew Them (U Chicago Press, 2026), Dr. Jennifer Jordan takes us back to a brief but pivotal moment in the nineteenth century when Wisconsin produced much of the hops grown in the United States. Yet those long-ago hops are not the only ghosts in Jordan’s story. Haunting the pages of this book are the young women whose work at harvest time was key to the rise of the American beer industry.Until the early twentieth century, the work of picking hops was a time-consuming process that could only be done by hand, one cone at a time. In nineteenth-century Wisconsin, that work was performed almost exclusively by women and girls, who traveled to hop farms in droves as summer came to a close and the harvest began. At the height of the hop boom in the 1860s, farmers and their families laid out beds and prepared food for tens of thousands of seasonal laborers, and hosted parties and dances well into the night. Despite the scale of Wisconsin’s hop boom (and subsequent crash), the industry left behind little trace aside from local records and archives. And it is that barely discernible trace that lures Jordan to dig deeper. Dr. Jordan’s vivid prose takes us back to this era by drawing on a rich trove of archival sources, from the thousands of hop farmers in the agricultural census to the extraordinary diary of a single hop picker, a young woman named Ella. The history of beer is incomplete without the history of Ella and the others who labored in the hop fields and in the houses that hosted them. In this book, Dr. Jordan gives life and voice to these beer ghosts who call to us from the past, showing the rich connections between a nation’s beer and the lives that made it possible.This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Photographer Peter Aaron and acclaimed wine writer Jane Anson join the New Books Network to discuss Bordeaux Chronicle (Vendome Press, 2026), a visual and historical portrait of one of the world's most celebrated wine regions, told through photographs taken 55 years apart.In 1969, at just 23, Aaron traveled through Bordeaux on a Vespa with his Nikon camera, commissioned by legendary wine merchant Alexis Lichine to photograph 64 wine estates for an encyclopedia that was never published. His photographs, largely unseen for decades, captured a Bordeaux far removed from today's glamorous châteaux and state-of-the-art wineries: modest cellars, vineyard laborers, family-run estates, and centuries-old traditions. In 2024, Aaron returned to photograph many of those same properties, offering a fascinating then-and-now portrait of the region.Aaron recalls his introduction to wine through his father, Sam Aaron of New York's famed Sherry-Lehmann, his teenage experience working at Château Haut-Brion, and the encounters that shaped his original journey. He also reflects on returning half a century later and reconnecting with people and places he first photographed as a young man.Anson, who has lived in Bordeaux since 2003, brings her deep knowledge of the region's wines, history, and families to the conversation. Together, they trace Bordeaux's rise as a global center of fine wine, luxury, and architectural ambition, touching on advances in winemaking, evolving ownership, environmental practices, and opportunities for women, while considering what has been gained - and lost - along the way.The interview also delves into the collaboration behind Bordeaux Chronicle, which pairs Aaron's photographic archive with Anson's historical perspective. More than a wine book, it offers a compelling look at the people, places, and traditions that have shaped Bordeaux across generations, and the enduring character of a region where past and present remain closely intertwined.Interview by Laura Goldberg, longtime food blogger here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In this episode, James Farrer of Gastronomica’s Editorial Collective and Alejandra Dorado-Vinay talk about their introduction to the new special section on migrant foodways and culinary mobilities in Japan. Taking listeners into the neighborhoods of superdiverse Tokyo through everyday experiences of markets, restaurants, and eating out in the street, they discuss how histories of power shape migrant foodways, and how migrants in Japan shape its local culture. Their conversation connects taste, fashion, and power in Japan’s vibrant migrant food scene, shedding light on the culinary imports of curry and ramen, the experience of Peruvian migration, and a cosmopolitan landscape of Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Brazilian, and East African and West African restaurants in a place where migrant foodways can often be largely invisible. The two-part special section in the Fall and Winter 2026 issues of Gastronomica brings together 10 articles on the movement of people, food, and ideas across borders with research on eateries, markets, community gardens, social media, school meals, and holiday rituals in Japan.Listeners can find "Introduction to Migrant Foodways and Culinary Mobilities in Japan" by James Farrer and Alejandra Dorado-Vinay, and their co-written follow-up piece, “Culinary Regimes: The Political Economy of Foreign Food in Tokyo” in Gastronomica (issues 26.3 and 26.4).James Farrer is a professor of Sociology at Sophia University in Tokyo and a member of the Editorial Collective at Gastronomica. He has published numerous books and articles on urban life, globalization, and cuisine and is currently at work on a comparative study of migrant-run restaurants in Japan and Germany.Alejandra Dorado-Vinay is completing a PhD in Global Studies at Sophia University in Tokyo, where her work focuses on Mexican and Peruvian food in Japan. Previously, as a student at El Colegio de México, she conducted research on the history of Japanese restaurants in Mexico City. Beyond her academic work, she also has experience in food and beverage consulting in Japan.Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies is published by the University of California Press. Quarterly issues are available in print and online.Listeners can now find the Gastronomica podcast on the New Books Network. Subscribe to Gastronomica’s podcast feed to stay updated on the latest episodes. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Elizabeth Roberts has experienced the suffering wrought by addiction: her sister’s destructive alcoholism and dependency on prescription drugs, her mother’s hoarding, and her own struggles with binge eating. As for so many of us, addiction brought about self-loathing, reflecting her individual failure to exercise self-control, to keep it together. But during her fieldwork studying chemical exposure in Mexico City, her sense of addiction got turned upside down. She witnessed her neighbors, both young and old, defiantly celebrate their compulsive dependencies on alcohol, drugs, and junk food instead of hiding them in shame. Roberts began to wonder if everything she thought she knew about addiction was wrong.In Praise of Addiction: Or How We Can Learn to Love Dependency in a Damaged World (Princeton UP, 2026) shares the unexpected journey that led Dr. Roberts to a new understanding of addiction. Taking lessons from her years in Mexico City as well as from addiction researchers, harm reduction activists, and scholars of religion, philosophy, and anthropology, Roberts pays close attention to the external forces that so often fuel the damage of addiction. As her neighbors in Mexico City suggest, the adverse health effects brought on by their dependencies on Coca-Cola, processed foods, drugs, and alcohol have more to do with the ongoing effects of the drug war and NAFTA than any personal failings. Taking up this ecological framework, Dr. Roberts draws a line between vice that isolates and addiction that connects, a distinction she movingly integrates into her own life and family, making a case for sharing in the pleasures—and suffering—of dependency.Provocative and deeply humane, In Praise of Addiction invites readers to cast aside the shame, self-hatred, and judgment associated with addiction and discover how dependency can serve as a binding force worthy of our most profound devotion.\This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Madhushree Ghosh about her memoir Safar: Finding Home, History, and Culture through Punjabi Food in the American West (Bloomsbury, 2026).Blends memoir and history to explore the role of Punjabi food in fostering community and identity among South Asian refugees and immigrants. Safar: Finding Home, History, and Culture through Punjabi Food in the American West follows the journey of South Asian refugees, immigrants, and their children-in particular, Sikhs, Jats, and Muslims-who moved to the southwestern states of America over centuries as farmers, truck drivers, restaurant owners, and dhaba/diner stall cooks. An expedition in search of the asli-or real Punjabi food-Madhushree Ghosh explores how their food traveled from pre-partition British India to now, while weaving in her own immigrant journey as a graduate student to America in 1993, her quest to find home through the food of her Bengali refugee parents, and the physical journey she embarked on to visit the Punjabi communities in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Focusing on four Punjabi women, each a part of a different immigration wave of South Asia to the American West, Ghosh highlights the food and recipes they brought with them that connect them to their pasts. Safar shares stories of displacement, discrimination, community, and hope, while shedding light on immigrant journeys and the true meaning of home, comfort food, and what constitutes a "true Punjabi" meal. Featuring essential recipes, this is a poignant reflection on what it means to find home and identity through food and culture as an immigrant to the United States.Madhushree Ghosh, the author of the award-winning KHABAAR, has been published in 2023 Best American Essays in Food Writing and Pushcart-nominated with work in The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, LitHub, and more. She gave a TEDx talk highlighting East African women refugee farmers of San Diego. A Southern California resident, Madhushree can be reached at @writemadhushree.Hollay Ghadery is an award-winning Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024 and was longlisted for the Toronto Book Award. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, was released with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children’s book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is a host on The New Books Network, as well as a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Founder of River Street, and the co-chair of the League of Canadian Poets BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. She is also a member of The National Book Critics Circle, The Creative Nonfiction Collective, and The Writers Union of Canada. Hollay was also featured on the cover of issue 10 of The Ampersand Review. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
There is no humbler food than bread, none easier to take for granted. So ancient that it shows up in prehistoric sites, bread is still full of surprises. Heirloom grains and artisan loaves fetch top dollar, while home bakers pour their passion into naan and challah, anadama and pistolet.In American Bread: A History (U California Press, 2026), award-winning author Andrew Coe provides the definitive history of American bread, from European settlers' introduction to corn through the COVID-era sourdough craze. Each chapter follows an emblematic loaf that connects flour, water, salt, and yeast to the evolving story of American agriculture, industry, immigration, and ideas about health.Why did supermarket white become America's dominant bread, and how did rustic old-world bagels, ryes, and rolls find their way into our kitchens? Who was the early nineteenth-century dietary reformer who started the whole-grain revolution? Why not knead? An enriching and enlightening cultural chronicle, American Bread answers these questions and more and offers carefully sourced historical recipes to inspire the home baker.This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Rosi Song of Gastronomica’s Editorial Collective hosts authors Eve Z. Bratman and Anna Purchase in a discussion of their newly published research article on lanternfly honey. Eve and Anna bring a social science perspective to their study of the spotted lanternfly. Noting the spotted lanternfly’s arrival to Pennsylvania a little over a decade ago and its spread in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, they highlight the complexity of insect invasivity, its impacts on local economies and ecologies, and the range of responses. Drawing from their research on bees and beekeeping, they share how a novel food product, honeydew honey from the spotted lanternfly, provided insight into the changing relationships between different species. The conversation details the qualities of lanternfly honey and the context that led to its commercial production, and concludes on a hopeful note for human-nature relations amidst uncertainty. “A Mellified Redemption? Learning to Live with a Pest Through Spotted Lanternfly Honey,” by Eve Z. Bratman and Anna Purchase, appears in the latest issue of Gastronomica (26.3). Read the article here.Eve Z. Bratman is an associate professor of Environmental Studies at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and author of the award-winning book Governing the Rainforest: Sustainable Development Politics in the Brazilian Amazon (Oxford University Press, 2019). She is currently writing a book on the politics of saving the bees.Anna Purchase studied Government and Environmental Studies at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and is now completing a Master’s degree in Environmental Management at the National University of Singapore.H. Rosi Song is a professor of Hispanic Studies at Durham University in the U.K., co-author of A Taste of Barcelona: The History of Catalan Cooking and Eating (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), and a member of the Editorial Collective at Gastronomica. She leads a Horizon Europe project on food, culture, and recipes titled RELISH (Reframing European Gastronomy Legacy through Innovation, Sustainability, and Heritage).Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies is published by the University of California Press. Quarterly issues are available in print and online.Listeners can now find the Gastronomica podcast on the New Books Network. Subscribe to Gastronomica’s podcast feed to stay updated on the newest episodes. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In Sugar Coated: Unboxing the Hidden Forces Shaping America's Favorite Breakfast Food (U California Press, 2026), world-renowned food politics expert Marion Nestle joins forces with former cereal executive Lisa Sutherland to examine what cereal boxes reveal about American culture and food politics. If you want to understand how the food business works, just have a look at a box of breakfast cereal. Hardly anything on supermarket shelves is bigger, bolder, or more deliberately designed. The fiercely competitive industry that brings us Cheerios, Froot Loops, and Trix sells a distinctly American dream: indulgence and health in one convenient package. Cereal boxes chronicle our shifting national obsessions with health, ingredients, dietary advice, and American culture. They show us what sells food: cartoons for kids, athletes for men, weight loss for women. And hidden in the history of cereal package designs, we find clues to the corporate lobbying that shapes agricultural policy, health claims, and labeling regulations. Sugar Coated unboxes the influence of cereal companies on food policy and the power of marketing, revealing, in the process, why Big Food is so good at selling profitable products regardless of their effects on health. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field.Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.comSubscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetworkSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/food
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