It's our last show of 2016! Soleil and Zahir (recording remotely for the first time) begin by distracting you from the news with their top five favorite things they ate this year.
Then, Zahir interviews Arab-American writer Randa Jarrar, author of the new collection of short stories Him, Me, Muhammad Ali. Randa has a lot of insightful things to say about Palestinian food, growing up in Kuwait during the First Gulf War, body image and what it means to be a fat femme, and much more.
We're really excited about this one. Zahir and Alan (don't worry, Soleil will be back on the show soon!) interviewed Hari Kondabolu when he was in Portland. If you're not familiar with Hari and his work, fix your damn life and get on it!
We cover a lot of ground in this episode, including: the food at Bowdoin College, calling out racism in the age of Trump, and why Hari doesn't like being described as an "activist comedian." Plus, Hari unpacks an old joke he once told about vegan soul food, and talks about what he'd change.
How does it feel when your body doesn't fit the definition of "desirable," when no one around you looks the way you look, when taking up space seems like an insult toward the people around you? For this episode, we wanted to consider these questions in the context of eating disorders and how living in a racialized body complicates the mainstream narrative of who gets them. Our guest, Portland-based pop-up chef and caterer Salimatu Amabebe, was kind enough to speak with us about her experience with eating problems and how it informs her own body consciousness, her feelings about desirability, and her career as an independent chef. (Thank you for the title, Warsan Shire.)
Produced by Alan Montecillo. Music by AF the Naysayer and Blue Dot Sessions.
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