Ethical Tea

In this episode Kyla and Kristen spill the tea on tea production. Kristen tries to make chai and vows to leave future attempts to the experts. Kyla disses George Orwell’s formula for the perfect cup of tea. Topics: what is tea; how tea is produced; the tea supply chain; tea and the environment; tea and human rights; what to do about it.

Read More

Seafood Part Two

In part two of this two-part seafood series, Kyla and Kristen explore questions about animal welfare and human rights in fishing and fish farming. Kristen talks about her seafood-alternative kitchen disaster. Kyla considers getting a monkfish as a pet. Topics: animal welfare and wild-caught versus farmed fish; human trafficking and the fishing industry; seafood sustainability labels; what to think about when choosing ethical seafood.

Read More

Seafood Part One

In part one of this two-part seafood series, Kristen explains how fishing works and the problems behind the overfishing crisis. Kyla discovers what a monkfish looks like. Topics: overfishing; illegal, irregular, and unreported fishing; seafood fraud; different fishing methods; and the environmental impacts of fishing and aquaculture.

Read More

Kristen and Kyla React to COVID-19

Social distancing! In this bonus episode, Kyla and Kristen each shout out three problems and three champions as the COVID-19 pandemic asserts itself in Canada. Kyla notices how pandemics change our lives and routines in unexpected ways. Kristen realizes she had no idea what a week’s worth of groceries looks like.

Read More

Bonus: Food History

“I need to be able to fit my cellphone in my pants; this is a feminist crisis!” In this bonus episode, listen to more of Kristen and Kyla’s discussion with food, migration, and labour historian Alexandra (Lex) Sundarsingh. Topics: Lex misses stationary street food; Toronto’s racist health panic (the one about food trucks, not 2019-nCoV); Pad Thai robots!!; France’s kitchen brigade system; Canada is terrible at food diplomacy; sea lice is a thing, apparently; Lex’s new project on complaints filed by female Indian indentured labourers on British colonial sugar plantations.

Read More

Vegetarianism Part 2

“Convert it into a wetland! — that should be the new ‘burn it down’.” In the second part of our two-parter on vegetarianism, Kyla and Kristen look at the environmental impact of animal- versus plant-based protein. They also discuss their challenges. Topics: the new Canada food guide; environmental gains from eating less meat (emissions, land use, water use, air pollution, ocean dead zones); Kristen’s excellent vegan wine adventure; Kyla just wants a cheeseburger.

Read More