PODCAST

Esculent

Elizabeth McQueen

A food podcast that explores how humans have defined what is, and isn’t, edible.

arts food

All Episodes

40:59

A podcast on our podcast, or esculent’s esculence

Esculent ·

2025/11/17

Esculent is an idea - and one that can be applied, theorized, even rehearsed. This week we self-reflect on the aims of the podcast with host Dr. Elizabeth McQueen and editor Stacey Baran. Tasting: Strength tea from Harbor Herbalist Viewing: Esculent outtakes Host: Dr. Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Bitekoff and the Darrel Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at

46:08

Multisensory worlds in the work of Candice Lin, with...

Esculent ·

2025/11/10

What happens when art invites us to taste through touch, smell, or atmosphere? Professors Hsuan Hsu and Sal Nicolazzo join the podcast to discuss the interdisciplinary work of artist Candice Lin, whose material and multisensory practice challenges colonial ideas of consumption, and esculence in the present. Together, they consider how smell, tactility, and duration expand the sensory boundaries of art and literature, through smelly close-reading.Tasting: An iteration of Alison Knowles “Make a

39:57

*Live* Black Food Futurisms with Nia Lee

Esculent ·

2025/11/03

Our second live episode, culinary artist Nia Lee joins Esculent following the debut of her performance installation, THE ARCHIVE IS THE BIRTHSEED OF OUR DREAMS at the Manetti Shrem Museum. We discuss a tasting of a miracle berry, or Synsepalum dulcificum with audience reflections on sweetness as a means to understand Lee’s concept of Black Food Futurism.Host: Dr. Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann Esculent is brought to you by

34:40

Sounding Culinary Time with Heidi Ross

Esculent ·

2025/10/27

If culinary art is already an “art,” then what does it mean to have an art practice that uses food? Culinary artist Heidi Ross joins us to begin our season on Artists to share more about her somatic practice, relationship to the culinary world, and sonic explorations. Tasting: An iteration of Alison Knowles “Make a Salad” (1962-) by Elizabeth McQueen Reading of: The Futurist Cookbook by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1932) Host: Dr. Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio

1:36

Season 5: Artists

Esculent ·

2025/10/27

Season 5, Artists is finally here. We launch into conversations with artists whose medium is food, matter, and other things esculent. Host: Dr. Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann Esculent is brought to you by Professor Charlotte Bitekoff and the Darrel Corti Endowed Professorship in Food, Wine and Culture at University of California, Davis.

37:55

Building an Archive: 3500 Episodes with Chef Martin Yan

Esculent ·

2025/06/11

Thousands of television episodes leave a mark – not only on digital archives of our food media-saturated world – but on the host, the performer, as well. In the final episode of our second season with chefs, we speak with Chef Martin Yan, the host of Yan Can Cook. We discuss Chef Yan’s decades of work wth PBS, the importance of culinary education, not only entertainment, and the development of his archive with UC Davis Library. We are joined by Food & Wine Curator Audrey Russek, and just barely

30:40

A 15th-Century Chef and a Recipe for Menjar Blanc de...

Esculent ·

2025/06/04

Can we tell the story of a chef from 1490? Join podcast regular Professor Daniela Gutiérrez Flores as we attempt to recreate a recipe from Mestre Robert, a 15th-century chef and the author of Libre del Coch, the first printed cookbook. Join our reenactment where we speculate salt use, concern over squash cooking, and a huge sensory disagreement over rose water.Tasting & Viewing: Menjar Blanc de Carabasses by Mestre Robert in Libre del Coch Host: Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by

27:28

The Poetry of the Thinnest Slice of Bread in...

Esculent ·

2025/05/27

Well-baked bread is an art in and of itself, but in this episode, we look at a few representational mediums of yeasty dough: poetry, photography, and animation, as forms that give new light to a thousand-year-old practice. Baker Jim Franks discusses his new book of poetry, Existential Bread (Drag City, 2025), and one of my favorite animations of food ever, evoking faint memories for both of us, just like a whiff of a good loaf.Jim Franks’ book is out now, with a cover designed by podcast favourite

28:33

A Sensory Education through Nixtamalization with Chef...

Esculent ·

2025/05/20

I first smelled the freshly nixtamalized masa from Emmanuel Galvan of Bolita at the Gilman Wine Block, where the tender, vegetal umami scent carried above the crowds right into my nose. This episode, we focus on technological and labor challenges of nixtamalization in the present, specifically right in Berkeley – complicating the many ways nixtamalization makes corn esculent.Tasting: Tessier Wine’s Pinot Noir Viewing: “Memory,” the dish with tortillas from The Menu (2022) Host: Elizabeth

24:09

Restaurant Doors and Roasting Ducks with Chef Brandon...

Esculent ·

2025/05/13

We are back with a dive into the archive featuring Chef Brandon Jew of Mister Jiu’s restaurant in San Francisco - featuring historic menus and historic buildings, and how this influences canonical Chinese American recipes like Peking Duck. We kick off Season 4: Chefs Pt. 2 with our literary inquiries into the work of Chefs, and how words, archives, and texts make the esculent.Tasting: A whiff of UC Davis Special Collections Viewing: Yan Can Cook: Winter Melon, Steamed Sea Bass, and Black Bean

02:20

Season 4: Chefs, Part 2

Esculent ·

2025/05/12

Season 4, Chefs is here: we revisit the dynamic role of the chef in popular culture through culinary literatures, from 15th-century cookbooks to PBS television series. Tasting: A Russell Stover head of an Easter Bunny (context provided, sort of). Stay up to date with Esculent on our Instagram Host: Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann This podcast is supported by the UC Davis Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar, Thinking Food at the

34:57

The Idea of Solutions with Professor Julie Guthman

Esculent ·

2025/04/08

Can baking brownies save the planet? I’m a little embarrassed I even wrote this question out, but this rhetoric exemplifies the argument of our esteemed guest’s new book: The Problem with Solutions: Why Silicon Valley Can't Hack the Future of Food (UC Press, 2024). For our final episode of this season, we are joined by Julie Guthman, Distinguished Professor of Community Studies Emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz. We discuss my favorite food film, shifts in university pedagogy, and

33:37

Imagining Authenticity with Professor Ignacio M....

Esculent ·

2025/04/01

Authenticity. An idea that has plagued many conversations on food. This week, we are joined by Professor Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado, the Jarvis Thurston and Mona van Duyn Professor in Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis. We interrogate the role of authenticity in constructing Mexican national identity through another culinary idea: that of the taco. We discuss the taco’s malleable history across regions, including Taco Bell. Stay tuned for Professor Sánchez Prado’s upcoming book on the

36:08

The Idea of Real Food with Professor Charlotte Biltekoff

Esculent ·

2025/03/25

How are processed and natural contested categories - rather than objective definitions- of food? These questions are at the center of Professor Charlotte Biltekoff’s new book, Real Food, Real Facts: Processed Food and the Politics of Knowledge. Joined by a special guest, Dan Polsby of Best Friends Wine, to introduce our tasting and complicate “real” wine, we discuss food science, industry, and the Food Inc. documentaries.Tasting: Sfera Bianco, 250mL can Viewing: Trailers for Food Inc. (2006) and

26:49

Thinking Indigeneity with Fabiola Santiago and Mi Oaxaca

Esculent ·

2025/03/19

We start off our third season featuring a conversation with Fabiola Santiago of Mi Oaxaca, exploring how indigenous knowledge is linked with mezcal and the colonial exploitation that occurs within Oaxaca today. From Mexico’s tourism board to the role of service and hospitality workers in disseminating knowledge around mezcal, this season, we are all about the big ideas that shape the esculent.Viewing: Mexico Tourism Board’s 2014 campaign for Oaxaca, “Live it to Believe it” Tasting: Kalawashaq Wine

03:34

Season 3: Ideas

Esculent ·

2025/03/12

Back again. This season hosts four thinkers, shaping and questioning the ideas that make food esculent. Reading: Excerpt from Professor Kyla Wazana Tompkins' new book, Deviant Matter (NYU Press, 2024) Tasting: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant: 2023 Coteaux du Loir Rouge “Cuvée du Rosier” Stay up to date with Esculent on our Instagram Host: Elizabeth McQueen Producer: Stace Baran Theme by Ronan Delisle Audio Support from Jenevieve Bohmann This podcast is supported by the UC Davis Mellon Foundation Sawyer

32:23

Celebrity Chefs and Artful Eating with Professor Paul...

Esculent ·

2025/02/18

The celebrity chef is not a modern concept, as we discuss with Paul Freedman, Professor of History at Yale. Joined by podcast regular Professor Daniela Gutiérrez-Flores, we discuss early modern history, how food comes in and out of fashion, and what artistry might indicate in food history. And the conclusion of Season 2: Historians!Professor Freedman specializes in medieval social history, the history of Catalonia, comparative studies of the peasantry, trade in luxury products, and the history of

26:00

A taste of history with Professor Jeffrey Pilcher

Esculent ·

2025/02/11

What does it take to understand food historically? This episode takes a philosophical turn as Jeffrey Pilcher, Professor of Food History, joins the podcast to discuss what it means to study, write, and taste food history.Jeffrey Pilcher is a Professor of History and Food Studies at the University of Toronto, Where he directs the Culinaria Research Centre. He is the author of several books, including Food in World History, 3d ed (2023) and Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food (2012), and

25:17

Corporate Power and a visit to Disneyland’s Mission...

Esculent ·

2025/02/04

Corporate power is a relentless force in shaping how and what we eat. Join us this week with Professor Enrique C. Ochoa, author of the upcoming book México Between Feast and Famine: Food, Corporate Power, and Inequality, to discuss the role of corporations in constructing a thread of Mexico’s culinary history.Enrique C. Ochoa is Professor of History and Latin American Studies at California State University, Los Angeles Viewing: Disneyland’s Mission Tortilla Factory (2001-2011) Tasting: Arbol de

33:42

Productive Plants, Pacific trades with Professor...

Esculent ·

2025/01/28

Much of food history is a history of trade: how crops, plants, and tastes move around the world. Professor Andrés Reséndez discusses a trade route often overlooked in the 16th and 17th centuries, that of the Manila Galleons, one that can be overshadowed by the intellectually exhausted narrative of the Columbian Exchange. We also eat corn puffs. And an extra special reading by poet Rick Barot from his book, The Galleons.Professor Andrés Reséndez is a professor of history at the University of

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