Cooking a meal is often compared to creating a work of art. From the recipes that inspire you, to your PALETTE of spices, to the smells and tastes that stir up emotions, all of it comes together on an edible canvas as an expression of the inner self. It’s no wonder so many cultures deeply intertwine food with identity. To explore this connection, we’re revisiting Meat and Three stories with our brand new interns. We’ll be talking about our loyalty to grocery store chains, the past and future...

Food sovereignty foregrounds all of our conversations on Meat and Three. If communities are unable to feed themselves freely, safely and sustainably, food cultures can not thrive. From seed banks preserving Indigenous crops, to Israeli control of Palestinian food systems, we kickstart our 16th season by revisiting stories from the Meat and Three archives that center food sovereignty as imperative to maintaining diverse, nourishing food cultures.

Go behind the scenes at HRN with Behind the Internship where you’ll find out  what it’s like to become a podcast producer for HRN’s flagship show, Meat + Three. Tune in to the premiere episode and get to know  Sophia Hooper, Danielle Flitter, and Addison Austin-Lou, three interns in HRN’s Research & Radio Internship Program. Hear about their first steps into podcast production and see what it takes to begin a career in the food media world.

Our Meat and Three Season 16 trailer was engineered by Sam Gerardi. Be sure to subscribe to the Meat and Three feed wherever you get podcasts to stay up-to-date on new episodes of Behind the Internship: a sneak peak behind the M+3 production process, brought to you by the interns themselves! Behind the Internship is produced by Rachael Markow, engineered by Armen Spendijan, and hosted by Taylor Early.

As long as there have been supermarkets there have been folks imagining and participating in alternative modes of grocery shopping. In this episode of Meat and Three, Matt is joined by HRN intern Liv Kunins-Berkowitz as his co-host. Their research focuses on alternative and community-constructed foodways. In this episode, we are leaving the supermarket behind, and unpacking the possibilities of alternative foodways including cooperatives, mutual aid, CSAs, and the black panther free breakfast...

This week on HRN we are examining how folks are changing the world of food and how food has always been a part of changing the world. We are traveling through space and time to bring stories of trailblazers and revolutionaries–those who are truly breaking bonds. First, we reflect on how the Persian diasporic community is connecting to cuisine in the context of the women-led revolution underway in Iran. We also hear about how a group of women banana workers in latin america have transformed...

In this episode of Meat and Three, we are trying to move beyond western medical definitions, and thinking outside the box to better understand disordered eating. Disordered eating has a history of visibility as a negative disease, and largely impacting a small population. Historically, young, white women and girls are depicted in the media and in literature with eating disorders. However, the phenomenon of disordered eating, which we’re using here to mean “eating outside of the norm” contains...

We’re hosting a dinner party, and you are all invited! On this week’s Meat and Three, we explore the complex meanings behind sharing a meal with friends, family, and acquaintances. We dive into how a casual dinner party can be a conduit for community building and fostering connections across diverse frontiers, and how food is central to these experiences. We will also see how some unexpected guests at these get-togethers can spark up some mystery while enjoying a home-cooked meal.

The clothes we wear day in and day out can impact our sense of self-worth, or become a fundamental form of self-expression. From books to online personas to restaurants, we can’t help but cultivate an aesthetic. This episode of Meat and Three is all about what we wear and what it communicates to the world around us. Connect with artist Lotte Ooms on instagram or via her website. Discover all things Morgan Lynzi on her instagram or her website. If you want to hear the rest of Christine’s...

Behind a great meal is often a well crafted recipe. This week on Meat + Three we are opening up the cookbook to explore how foodways are preserved through text. We talk to librarians, YouTubers, cooks, publishers, about the history of cookbooks and the state of the cookbook publishing industry today. From Black cookbooks to an artist’s reimagining of a community cookbook in Maine, we are reading widely. If you can’t get your nose out of the cookbook, this week is for you! 

You may have heard it said that “the eyes eat first”. This is especially true of the social media world, and this week on Meat + Three, we are examining the intersection of the digital world with food. We talked with people across the landscape of food media, from talent agencies to blogs and magazines in order to understand a bit more about how we, collectively, are all in-real-time experiencing changes in the food media industry.

This week on Meat and Three we’re traversing across the country to learn how members of diasporic communities are preserving cultural heritage through seed saving. We’ll introduce you to farmers growing Korean perilla in California, Hmong medicinal herbs and indigenous corn in Wisconsin, and Somali water spinach in Maine.

This week’s episode is our second installment of our Money Talks series. In this episode, we explore how the large functions of the global economy intersect with the changing food industry. First, we look at the legacy of Pilotworks, a culinary co-working space showing the possibilities and limitations of a silicon-valley like approach to the food space. Next, we learn about the link between banking and climate change and how a bank account can support sustainable agriculture. For our last...

This week on Meat and Three, we are examining what happens the moment the check arrives. We hear about the lived experience of being a tipped worker before turning to academics and advocates to explain the history and politics of tipping. Then, we talk to an expert on pay-what-you-can restaurants on the role of such establishments in the fight against food insecurity. Oftentimes, the ways we pay for our food goes unquestioned yet these guests prompt us to reimagine paying for our meals to...

Debates around what’s traditional or authentic are constantly spinning in the culinary world— so much so that numerous organizations have been formed to protect the authenticity of various dishes and production methods. In Mezcal’s case, there is an organization whose name translates to The Mexican Regulatory Council for the Quality of Mezcal. The stated purpose of this group, and others like it, is to uphold quality through strict regulations and guidelines. But how do these regulations...

Following Black History Month, we consider what it means for Black food leaders to cultivate a better future for their communities, and thus, for all. From producing new techniques for use in rural agriculture to increasing representation as food entrepreneurs, members of Black communities across the country are looking inward to move forward. By responding dynamically to community needs, they demonstrate that the power and vision for transformation come from within.

It’s officially spring which means it’s time to swap out the winter blues for some color. This week on Meat and Three we are deep diving into our closet of archives and dusting off some stories to welcome in the season of new beginnings. From spring delicacies, to cooking with flowers, to Ramadan and more, we are bringing you a unique collection of topics that encapsulates the essence of spring renewal and tradition. Join us on April 12th for the second installment of our spring live event...

As the incomparable bell hooks wrote in 2016, ‘To truly be free, we must choose beyond simply surviving adversity, we must dare to create lives of sustained optimal wellbeing and joy.’  From creating equitable opportunities in the dairy industry, to telling the quiet parts loudly about kitchen life during American slavery, this week we round off Black History Month and head into Women’s History Month with a love letter to Black women in food who are embodying this ethos.

This week on Meat and Three, we’re breaking out our magnifying glass to explore the smallest corners of the food world. We start with the microbial and scale our way up from there, but only by a bit. From the tiniest of farmers to deceptive industrial practices, we set out to prove that the most interesting of stories can come in the smallest packages. If you’re fascinated by the prospect of cultivating microbes at home, we have just the event for you. On Wednesday, March 8th, Harry and HRN...

Pressure is inescapable. Especially in the kitchen. It breaks down our beans, keeps our spritzes spritzy, and extracts our espresso. Pressure can also break down our spirits, and kitchens have a reputation for being exceptionally stressful scenes. This week we’re investigating pressure in a variety of contexts, from ubiquitous appliances to non-indigenous species.

As the seasons come and go, we bear witness to the growth and decay that happens in the environment around us. And currently in the Northern Hemisphere, the leaves have fallen, and the days are shorter and colder as Winter Solstice approaches. This week on Meat and Three, we’re examining the many processes of decay, from the natural decay within landfills and compost, to the manufactured decay of infrastructure and industry.

While the 2022 World Cup is in full swing, we at Meat and Three are taking on the challenge of investigating the relationship between food and sports. From the missing drink that’s dominating world cup discourse to the one available in plenty at Wimbledon, learn about the foods we associate with sports and how they affect our personal and national identities. Then, take a trip to the cooking competitions of the medieval Arab World and learn about how sailors prepare their kitchens for...

In this bonus episode, Matt speaks with April Jones and Darin Bresnitz about the newest HRN series, The Culinary Call Sheet. They discuss how they both entered the world of food & television, shout-out mentors who inspired them, and talk about the current state of the culinary media industry. Then we present the first half of their episode with Clifford Endo of Vice Media. Want to hear the rest of this episode, and more? Subscribe now to get the episodes as they launch! About the...

From the challenges of cooking with minimal dorm appliances to the nostalgia for a home-cooked meal, this week’s Meat and Three takes us to the college campus dining hall. We will learn how to make a delicious meal out of one’s favorite mug and microwave and the lengths one will go to for a beloved family meal. We will also explore the difficulty of finding culturally relevant food on campus, as well as the often unspoken reality of food insecurity for students and one man’s mission to end...