The Secret Ingredient

The Secret Ingredient > All Episodes

May 10, 2016

Nationalism: Arjun Appadurai (Ep. 14)

By: Rebecca McInroy

People are interesting animals. We look to many things to help us understand our place and identity in this world. We have maps, passports, languages, families, clothes, books and (among so much more) we also have food.

At first thought, we might not consider food as part of our identity. We might have toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, soup for dinner and go to bed not thinking much about how that relationship to food constructs, not only your psychical bodies, but also our national identities.

We might not think much of it, but anthropologist Arjun Appadurai does.

“It is the most artificial thing that humans have ever built,” says Appadurai of nationalism. “That seems the most natural.”

In this edition of The Secret Ingredient, Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy talk with Dr. Arjun Appadurai about food and nationalism – food trucks, Maggi noodles, cook books and much more.


Episodes

November 29, 2016

(Bush) Tea: Annalee Davis (Ep. 21)

“The history of slavery in the Caribbean is traumatic. It’s a difficult legacy and I don’t think that it’s been well processed. So the serving of tea becomes this way to sort of address that. To consider, how can we move forward? What does it look like to think about healing in a space like […]

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November 8, 2016

Spin: Anna Lappé (Ep. 20)

“There isn’t a single aspect of what we eat that is not touched by industry spin.” -Anna Lappé There are so many logistical barriers to healthy, fresh, ethically produced and farmed foods — from food deserts to our busy daily schedules — that managing to eat well is a challenge. But there is another layer […]

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November 3, 2016

TSI Extra – Hoover Alexander [Part Two]

Explore the past, present and future of food in Austin with local legend Hoover Alexander alongside the hosts of The Secret Ingredient (Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy). Hoover’s long career in cooking tracks incredible changes that have taken place in Austin— from The Night Hawk, to Good Eats, to Hoover’s—and his perspective can […]

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November 3, 2016

TSI Extra – Hoover Alexander [Part One]

Explore the past, present and future of food in Austin with local legend Hoover Alexander alongside the hosts of The Secret Ingredient (Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy). Hoover’s long career in cooking tracks incredible changes that have taken place in Austin— from The Night Hawk, to Good Eats, to Hoover’s—and his perspective can […]

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October 26, 2016

Sugar Op-Ed: James K. Galbraith

The story of sugar in the Western world is sordid and bitter, however this past gets quickly candy coated in our day-to-day lives as consumers. In this special op-ed from the eminent economist, writer and historian James K. Galbraith, we get a peak into the sickly underbelly of the sociopolitical and economic past of sugar.

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October 10, 2016

School Food: Alexa Delwiche (Ep. 19)

“As the food movement has gotten stronger and stronger, and people have been asking many more questions, not just about, where is my food coming from? But, how is it produced? Who’s being harmed along the way? Food service directors have been asking those same questions.” -Alexa Delwiche When you think about school food, certain […]

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September 13, 2016

TSI Live: Feeding Austin’s Hungry

In this special edition of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins the hosts of The Secret Ingredient, Raj Patel and Tom Philpott, as they talk with guests Edwin Marty, the Food Policy Manager for the City of Austin, and Erin Lentz, from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, to ask: Why are people starving in one of the […]

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September 6, 2016

Whiteness: Breeze Harper (Ep. 18)

“America was built on a white supremacist caste system which centers whiteness as the norm…”-Dr. A. Breeze Harper On this edition of the Secret Ingredient the secret ingredient is whiteness. Join Raj Patel, Tom Philpott, and Rebecca McInroy as they sit down with Dr. Amie Breeze Harper, author of Scars: A Black Lesbian Experience in […]

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