Libsyn Directory

171: Breaking Down the Myth of a Singular Caribbean Foodway with Chef Leigh-Ann Martin

Release Date: 03/03/2026

185: Preserving and Canning Isn't Just for Doomsday Bunkers with Julia Skinner

AnthroDish

This week, Julia Skinner is back to talk about what shapes food security can take, beyond the academic metrics we're used to. Julia is a former librarian and Library Science PhD turned food historian and fermentation expert. She is the author of the award-winning book Our Fermented Lives: A History of How Fermented Foods Have Shapes Cultures & Communities. She also runs workshops, events, and a newsletter through Root, which was born from a deep love for community and a belief in the power of food to tell stories, connect us to place, and build a bridge to the past. She’s on the show...

184: How Ghanaian Plant-Based Cooking Resists Western Categorization with Afia Amoako

AnthroDish

When looking at a cookbook, how often do you stop to consider its structure, language, and cultural influences when thinking about how the narrative of recipes is presented? It’s easy to overlook how powerful the overarching Western perspectives are in shaping cookbook storytelling, thinking though sections focused on breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, and then dessert. But for many cultures, that’s not as relevant or applicable to their culinary heritages. My guest this week, Afia Amoako, unpacks some of these overlooked considerations in conversation today. Afia runs Eat with Afia...

183: How MAHA Testosterone Supplement Shilajit Plays into Masculine Wellness Myths with Adam Popescu

AnthroDish

Wellness as both a culture and industry tend to visually skew more feminine—or at least the critiques and cultural assessments of it do. In some ways, this also leads to a superficial exploration of why people feel compelled to choose wellness alternatives, be it supplements or injections or beauty products. But there’s more nuance needed, especially given how wellness influencers and media advocating for masculinity through magical, mystical, foreign products. What exactly goes into these cure-alls, and what consequences does it have globally? My guest today, Adam Popescu, explores these...

182: Depression Cooking Under Capitalism with Sonali Menezes

AnthroDish

Scroll through social media these days, and you can easily get hit with a wave of overwhelming expectations around what you should be eating, how much you should be eating, how meals should be plated and styled perfectly for internet audiences, all while trying to make a living and stay afloat. But what happens if we pause from these narratives, and reframe our cooking experiences? Today’s guest, Sonali Menezes, explores just that with me today. Sonali is an artist, zinester, and writer. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario with her husband, cat, and houseplants. She loves food, and eats it every...

181: What Can Vegetables Teach Us About the Future? with Ali Francis

AnthroDish

Industrialization has undoubtedly and profoundly shifted our relationship with food globally, and it can be hard to remember the work being done outside of commercialized growing to remain connected to the land through vegetables. What stories are held in the diversity of vegetable species across the globe? Today’s guest, Ali Francis, is here to explore their fascinating and curious lives! Ali is an Australian-born journalist and former Bon Appétit reporter living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Cut, BBC, The Guardian, TASTE, and other publications....

180: Season 11 Launch [Solo Episode]

AnthroDish

As we start up season 11 of the podcast, I wanted to share some life and technological updates, as well as what you can expect of this season. We're in a landscape where the steakhouse is back, big meat, wellness, and Ozempic are in, there’s recalls abounding across America that are spiralling into Canada for lettuce and berries and jalapenos and eggs. I'm frustrated about the state of global food systems, and the imperialist and fascist leadership that is swiftly impacting everyday lives. My focus this season is to look at what’s going wrong, how it’s impacting everyday people, and also...

179: Looking at How We Eat to Understand Power & Social Movements with Amber Husain

AnthroDish

When it comes to talking about food, we often to choose to look at what people are eating rather than how. And it’s this distinction that today’s guest, Amber Husain, explores more fully in her new book, . Amber is a writer based in South London, UK. In addition to Tell Me How You Eat, she has also written Meat Love and Replace Me. Her essays on politics, literature, and art have been published in Granta, The New York Times, Baffler, and more. She has a PhD from UCL in the history of art and mind-body medicine in the late 20th-century Britain. She teaches history of art, creative writing,...

178: What Makes for “Good Food” for Immigrant Women in British Columbia? with Isabela Bonnevera

AnthroDish

Sustainability is a word you hear a lot, but it tends to go uncritically examined in application. So what can it encompass when it comes to food experiences, particularly for immigrants and newcomers to Canada? My guest this week, Isabela Bonnevera, is here to unpack this further. Isabela is currently 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 impact food justice outcomes for immigrant communities. She’s the co-founder of Feminist...

177: How Can Appetites Be Shaped for the Future? with Alicia Kennedy

AnthroDish

When it comes to thinking about the future of food, is it possible to re-imagine our individual and collective appetites around what we want it to be? Taste is subjective, sure, but it’s also deeply embedded in the land, histories, politics, and sociocultural dynamics we navigate throughout our lives. And as my guest this week, Alicia Kennedy, writes, our tastes are also shaped by how we value (or don’t value) ingredients and their own histories. Alicia is a writer from Long Island. She is the author of No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating,...

176: The Forgotten History of Wheat in North Texas with Rebecca Sharpless

AnthroDish

When thinking about the food and agricultural landscape of Texas, the mind immediately goes to cattle, corn, and cotton—certainly not wheat. But as my guest this week, Dr. Rebecca Sharpless, shares, the region of North Texas had a robust wheat culture from the 1840s until the post-World War Two period. So what made North Texas a great place for wheat? And what are the implications of wheat as culture and cultivator? Rebecca is here today to talk about her new book, People of the Wheat: Culture and Cultivation in North Texas, out now through Univeristy of Texas Press. She is a professor...

More Episodes

When it comes to Caribbean food, there tends to be a viewpoint that it can be a monolithic culinary experience. And particularly as those living in countries like Jamaica, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, or other Caribbean countries move in the diaspora, it necessitates a nuanced look at how culinary traditions and knowledges are shared, shifted, and expanded with new generations.

My guest today, chef Leigh-Ann Martin, reminds us that there is such a rich regional diversity and abundance that needs to be explored more fully. Leigh-Ann is a trained chef, thought leader, and senior administrative professional based in the New York City area. She has worked at top finance and accounting firms, and continues her corporate career while consulting on the coursework for the No Words Project, or being featured in food media such as The New York Times, Eater, Washington Post, Food Insider, Vittles, and A Hungry Society podcast. Leigh-Ann has contributed meaningful words that echo Caribbean abundance and delicious recipes for While Entertaining, Ark Republic, Cooking Sense, and Tenderly Magazine. She worked as a line cook at Butter Restaurant and the Darby Supper Club upon her graduation from culinary school, and launched A Table For Four in 2018. This pop-up is an intimate dinner series that merges her Trini upbringing with her culinary training. Most recently, Leigh-Ann was invited to lead a workshop at the World of Flavors International Conference and Festival hosted by the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, CA. and has served on the board of Kind Kitchen Group, which aims to drive social change through food, education, and community empowerment.

In today’s conversation, we explore her upbringing in Trinidad and its lasting influences on how she thinks about ingredient sourcing and culinary experiences, the navigation of personal and collective histories in creating tasting menus, and breaking down the myth of a singular Caribbean culinary foodway. I’ve long admired the work Leigh-Ann is doing, so I am particularly thrilled to have her on the podcast this week!

Resources:

Website: https://leighannmartin.com/
Instagram: @chefleighann

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