The podcasts are launched – hear the first podcast now – two more to follow
Community researchers from the Women’s Environmental Network (Wen) and the University of Sussex have launched a podcast based on their Food History Tour of Tower Hamlets as part of the FoodSEqual project.
In the first episode, Sussex University food and feminist specialist, Elaine Swan, and community researchers, Sajna Miah and Shazna Hussain, explain how the tour came about and share more about the vital role of the community researcher and their research methods.
Over the next two episodes, Sajna, Shazna, and Elaine explore Watney Market, Cable Street (the original site of Café Rio) Wombat’s City Hostel, Wilton’s Music Hall, the former dairies and sugar factories of Wellclose Square and Swedenborg Gardens, and an urban orchard in the heart of the St George’s Estate. ‘While mainstream culinary tours might skip over the fraught histories of exclusion and struggle in Tower Hamlets,…alternative narratives…bring these elements to the forefront.’ (Swan et al., 2023)
Historical analyses matter for a present day understanding of food systems, they inform an understanding of inequalities in contemporary food production and consumption. ‘…our research underlines the significance of historic non-white contributions to the food system within a context of racial inequality. The café owners and workers created what today we would call “community assets,” providing cultural and material nourishment, commensality, welfare, and feelings of conviviality’. (Swan et al., 2023)
Swan, E. et al. (2023). ‘Mapping Pockets of Survival: Café Society in Post-war Cable Street’, Portal Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 19(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02619761003602246.
Hear podcast #1 here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2302475/14631445