The Feminist Restaurant Project : Podcast

Welcome to a new podcast on food, feminist, LGBTQ, and restaurant histories! The podcast is called: Feminist Ingredients for Revolution: A Food and Queer History Podcast! It’s hosted by me, Dr. Alex Ketchum. I’m a scholar of food, gender, feminist, and tech history and the author of the book Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses.

On this podcast, we will be digging into feminist food history, especially the history of feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses, many of which were run by lesbians and queer women. These histories will be accompanied by interviews with other scholars of feminist and LGBTQ+ food studies and artists, activists, and feminist food practitioners.

You’ll hear interviews with:

Dr. Emily Contois
Fozia Ismail
Dr. Jen Jack Gieseking
Kiersten Beszterda van Vliet
Dr. Greggor Mattson
indee mitchell
Dr. Jessica Kenyatta Walker
Dr. Anna Zeide
Elis Lee Ing
Annie Laurie Medonis
Dr. Annelise Heinz
Dr. Cameron Blevins
Anna Sigrithur
and more!

The goal of the podcast is to make food, feminist history, and LGBTQIA2S+ history scholarship more accessible.

Every episode will have free transcripts released the same day as episodes. These will be available on thefeministrestaurantproject.com .

New episodes will drop in Fall 2022.

This podcast is available through most podcast apps including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Google Podcasts, Amazon music/Audible, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, PlayerFM, ListenNotes, Samsung, and Podchaser.

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The Trailer Episode

Here is the link to the transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J25sqCxIfPCruskrVvBm0AyTnEpUOh8eRcvwabyJd5I/edit?usp=sharing

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Episode 1: Introduction: What Are Feminist Restaurants?

Here is the link to the transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fRmRkNVBgixBNi4jCLr2cadX6C_Dw1gdiHcdvNJskjc/edit?usp=sharing

I wanted to tell you a little bit about what to expect from the podcast and go over some key concepts and terms that will recur throughout the podcast… such as what even is a feminist restaurant?

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Episode 2: What is Feminist Food?

Here is the link to the transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14O1r5t3y-i4oJtO0eW-Mu8NL6kRubUK4L6VG3ivQoCs/edit?usp=sharing

In the last episode we talked about what a feminist restaurant is. Today we will be talking about feminist food and the big question of what makes food feminist. I’ll be joined by two guests today. The first is Dr. Emily Contois. She is the Assistant Professor of Media Studies at The University of Tulsa and the author of Diners, Dudes and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture from UNC Press (2020). Dr. Contois is the co-editor of Food Instagram: Identity, Influence, and Negotiation (University of Illinois Press, 2022) with Zenia Kish. Our second guest is Fozia Ismail. Fozia has run Arawelo Eats, a Somali supper club and research project in Bristol, England. She is also part of dhaqan collective, a Somali feminist art collective in Bristol. Fozia’s work brings together art, food, feminism, labour, refugee and immigrant rights, and so much more.

Learn more about our guest Dr. Emily Contois at: emilycontois.com

https://www.instagram.com/emilycontois/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/EmilyContois

Diners, Dudes and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture

Food Instagram: Identity, Influence, and Negotiation

Learn more about our guest Fozia Ismail at: https://www.araweloeats.com/about

https://twitter.com/AraweloEats

https://twitter.com/DhaqanC

Feminist Ingredients for Revolution: A Food and Queer History Podcast will explore all of this and more over the course of the following episodes. Please follow the podcast to be notified of new updates. All transcripts are available at: thefeministrestaurantproject.com

My book Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses is coming out Fall 2022 from Concordia University Press. You can receive 20% off pre-orders with the discount code KETCHUM20. I’ve included the link in the shownotes and the transcript (https://www.concordia.ca/press/ingredients.html#read). An open access version will be released a bit later.

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Episode 3: Feminist Nexus

Here is the link to the transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13ItMgPlXvYTIlOWNiUkjEJ7psjJwLorrYLjsN8R7RpQ/edit?usp=sharing

In the first episode we talked about the history of American and Canadian feminist restaurants and in the last episode we talked about what feminist food is. Today we will be talking about what I like to call “the feminist nexus”. We will be joined by Dr. Jen Jack Gieseking, the author of A Queer New York: Geographies of Lesbians, Dykes, and Queerspublished by NYU Press in 2020. We will also be joined by PhD candidate Kiersten Beszterda van Vliet to talk about lesbian and queer music networks.

For more about Dr. Jen Jack Gieseking:

A Queer New York: Geographies of Lesbians: https://nyupress.org/9781479835737/a-queer-new-york/

http://jgieseking.org

https://twitter.com/jgieseking

http://jgieseking.org/lesbian-queer-organizations-a-history-in-openings-closings/

For more about Kiersten Beszterda van Vliet:

http://www.kierstenvanvliet.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kiersten_jane

There are so many ways to connect the topics of the feminist nexus. If you want more info on Gaia’s Guides, I have an article called "Say Hi From Gaia": 10.1080/14680777.2019.1665569 .

The Vanessa Blais-Tremblay project mentioned in the episode is available at: https://www.digmusiquequebec.ca/

Lucie Blue Tremblay of Quebec and Alix Dobkin played a show together in Montreal in February of 1986– Laure Neuville of the Archives Lesbiennes du Québec shared a poster of that show with me: https://twitter.com/feministandacc1/status/1509897910871339033

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Episode 4: Thirst Space

Here is the link to the transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SoaYa84SGJsw7QIYNWWxZgmMVS6R3d6bXwxNu_tjK0k/edit?usp=sharing

In our first episode we talked about what feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses were and are. In the second, we talked about what feminist food is and the connections between food in gender. In the third, we talked about the ways that feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses were part of the feminist nexus and other ideas of networks. The episode included some discussion of lesbian bars, but it wasn’t the focus of the episode. This episode will talk about lesbian, queer, and gay bars and the concept of “thirst space.” We will be joined by sociologist Dr. Greggor Mattson and indee mitchell of Last Call New Orleans.

Learn more about Dr. Greggor Mattson at:

https://greggormattson.com/gay-bars/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/greggormattson

Learn more about indee mitchell at:

https://alternateroots.org/indee/

For more on Last Call:

http://www.lastcallnola.org/who-we-are

The link to the journal article “The Place We've Always Wanted to Go But Never Could Find”: Finding Woman Space in Feminist Restaurants and Cafés in Ontario 1974–1982," is at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15767/feministstudies.44.1.0126 and an OA version is available at: https://www.alexketchum.ca/p/publication-links.html

Feminist Ingredients for Revolution: A Food and Queer History Podcast will explore all of this and more over the course of the following episodes. Please follow the podcast to be notified of new updates. All transcripts are available at: thefeministrestaurantproject.com

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Episode 5: Culture and Cookbooks

Here is the link to the transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1le0gh0dIruXi4Y8AVkr1hvfRC53YSvvEA7YdEzJA74A/edit?usp=sharing

In previous episodes, we have talked about how feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffehouses in the United States and Canada in the 1970s and 1980s were connected to feminist bookstores, lesbian bars, women’s rights organizations– not to mention the broader network of Civil Rights, LGBTQ rights, and anti-racist organizations. Today we’ll be talking about the cultural outputs of feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses – and we will be focusing primarily on cookbooks.

We will be joined by Dr. Jessica Kenyatta Walker and Dr. Anna Zeide. We will also be joined by archivist Elis Ing.

For more information about Dr. Jessica Kenyatta Walker:

https://mobile.twitter.com/nervouskitchens

https://lsa.umich.edu/ac/people/faculty/walkerjk.html

For more information on Dr. Anna Zeide:

https://mobile.twitter.com/aezeide

Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520322769/canned

Acquired Tastes: Stories about the Origins of Modern Food: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262542913/acquired-tastes/

US History in 15 Foods: https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/us-history-in-15-foods-9781350211971/

For more information on Elis Ing:

https://mobile.twitter.com/ElisLeeIng

I’ve included the link in the shownotes and the transcript (https://www.concordia.ca/press/ingredients.html#read). An open access version will be released a bit later.

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Episode 6: Generational Differences

Here is the link to the transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/146l8DcPRuQ6vrCxVSMsns61QpuWPENUvbZV7k92w6EY/edit?usp=sharing

Our previous episodes have emphasized the histories of feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses in the 1970s and 1980s in the USA and Canada a bit more than the current existing ones. In today’s episode, I am going to touch on some of the differences between these spaces over time.

We will also be talking with filmmaker Annie Laurie Medonis who is making a film about the feminist restaurant Bloodroot Feminist Vegetarian Restuarant of Bridgeport, Connecticut and historian Dr. Annelise Heinz and digital humanities scholar Dr. Cameron Blevins.

For more information on Dr. Annelise Heinz and links to her book:

https://www.amheinz.org/

https://twitter.com/AnneliseHeinz

For more information on Dr. Cameron Blevins and links to his book:

http://www.cameronblevins.org/

https://twitter.com/historying

For more information on Annie Laurie Medonis:

https://www.annielauriemedonis.com/

I’ve included the link in the shownotes and the transcript (https://www.concordia.ca/press/ingredients.html#read). An open access version will be released a bit later.

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Episode 7: Feminist Food Futures

Here is the link to the transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VZcavCcqSEIBMaRYwmHe8fhT68yy355XLtZSMHXBL4k/edit?usp=sharing

In the past six episodes we have been talking a lot about feminist and queer food history and what is going on in the present. Today we are going to shift our framing somewhat. I begin by talking about how the framing of our food futures sometimes falls in a kind of retro-futurism that perpetuates racism and sexism. We then chat with filmmaker, writer, and podcaster Anna Sigrithur about feminism, fermentation, and rot.

This is our final episode for the podcast.

To learn more about Anna Sigrithur: https://twitter.com/sigrithur

To learn more about her award-winning film Wrought: https://www.wroughtfilm.ca/about-us

I also discuss quite a few other projects in this episode. Here are the links:

https://www.wildfermentation.com/who-is-sandorkraut/

http://www.foodfeminismfermentation.com

https://www.leighjoseph.com/about

https://www.landfood.ubc.ca/tabitha-robin-martens/

https://medium.com/permaculturewomen/on-seeds-decolonization-and-the-feminine-side-of-things-a-conversation-with-rowen-white-4114aa19a8b8

https://sierraseeds.org/rowens-story/

The Atlas Obscura/ Gastro Obscura piece is available at: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/kitchen-computers

I’ve included the link in the shownotes and the transcript (https://www.concordia.ca/press/ingredients.html#read). An open access version will be released a bit later.

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