What has Covid revealed to us about our food system? Joshna and Mirella delve into what’s next and the great opportunity we have to rebuild a stronger, better connected, more sustainable food system. Vive la revolution! --- On this special series of HotPlate Podcast, craft beer and sensory consultant Mirella Amato, and chef and activist Joshna Maha…

On this special series of HotPlate Podcast, craft beer and sensory expert Mirella Amato, and chef and activist Joshna Maharaj, examine the impact Covid has had on every aspect of our food system, all the way from farm to table. How have things changed? What’s going on behind the scenes? The answers to these questions are often surprising and will h…

What is food security? What does it mean and how is it evaluated? Mirella and Joshna explore food security in Canada before and after the pandemic. What they find is daunting to say the least. But what are the potential solutions? --- On this special series of HotPlate Podcast, craft beer and sensory consultant Mirella Amato, and chef and activist …

On this special series of HotPlate Podcast, craft beer and sensory expert Mirella Amato, and chef and activist Joshna Maharaj, examine the impact Covid has had on every aspect of our food system, all the way from farm to table. How have things changed? What’s going on behind the scenes? The answers to these questions are often surprising and will h…

Mirella and Joshna dig into how Covid-10 has impacted our relationship with food at home. Home gardening has had quite the renaissance, which - unlike other DIY Covid trends - has persisted into 2021. Home cooking and eating family meals together has also had a boom. Both provide benefits as well as significant challenges! ---- On this special seri…

On this special series of HotPlate Podcast, craft beer and sensory expert Mirella Amato, and chef and activist Joshna Maharaj, examine the impact Covid has had on every aspect of our food system, all the way from farm to table. How have things changed? What’s going on behind the scenes? The answers to these questions are often surprising and will h…

Mirella and Joshna discover what’s interesting about fast food ‘restaurants’: despite the fact they suffered financially in the early days of the pandemic, some of them have bounced back to record profits. Why is that? Next, they cover the disjoint between the increase in coffee consumption during the pandemic and decreased sales. This being said, …

On this special series of HotPlate Podcast, craft beer and sensory expert Mirella Amato, and chef and activist Joshna Maharaj, examine the impact Covid has had on every aspect of our food system, all the way from farm to table. How have things changed? What’s going on behind the scenes? The answers to these questions are often surprising and will h…

Mirella ad Joshna move through the Covid-19 timeline as it affected bars. Lockdowns and safety regulations made running bars very challenging, but legal changes were made in Ontario (and elsewhere in Canada) to help bars, alcohol producers, and restaurants. Many of these newly permissive laws are now permanent - like selling bottles with take-out! …

On this special series of HotPlate Podcast, craft beer and sensory expert Mirella Amato, and chef and activist Joshna Maharaj, examine the impact Covid has had on every aspect of our food system, all the way from farm to table. How have things changed? What’s going on behind the scenes? The answers to these questions are often surprising and will h…

Alcohol buying habits have changed wildly over the course of the pandemic, and that impacted alcohol producers massively. On the one hand, people bought lots of alcohol, but on the other hand people weren’t visiting wineries, distilleries, breweries, restaurants, and bars. Production was impacted too. Thankfully, smart adaptation and smarter pivots…

This episode starts with the devastation that has occurred, and is ongoing, in the restaurant industry. But then, watching carefully, we noticed ways restaurants pivoted in order to survive. Finally we explore theories that Covid has provided an opportunity for an industry deeply in need of a “reset” to make long overdue changes. -- On this special…

On this special series of HotPlate Podcast, craft beer and sensory expert Mirella Amato, and chef and activist Joshna Maharaj, examine the impact Covid has had on every aspect of our food system, all the way from farm to table. How have things changed? What’s going on behind the scenes? The answers to these questions are often surprising and will h…

There have been significant changes to our grocery shopping habits over the course of the pandemic. There was a rude awakening when supply chains initially broke down, leaving store shelves empty. Then came a rampant adoption of online grocery shopping as we avoided encountering the virus. Finally in the evolution, consumers have slowly rediscovere…

Have you noticed the dizzying changes in junk food offerings over the course of the pandemic? We did. And don’t worry. No judgement here! Most of us are in the same boat. In this episode Mirella and Joshna look at this phenomenon, first, from a consumer perspective. Why was there a junk food boom? Then, they delve into the company perspective, tryi…

On this special series of HotPlate Podcast, craft beer and sensory expert Mirella Amato, and chef and activist Joshna Maharaj, examine the impact Covid has had on every aspect of our food system, all the way from farm to table. How have things changed? What’s going on behind the scenes? The answers to these questions are often surprising and will h…

Joshna and Mirella start by examining the connection between factory farming of animals and zoonoses, like Covid-19. Although the virus did not originate from a factory farm, if nothing is done to improve how we farm animals, there’s a good chance our next pandemic will. Working conditions in meat packing plants were big news, with outbreaks in fac…

On this special series of HotPlate Podcast, craft beer and sensory expert Mirella Amato, and chef and activist Joshna Maharaj, examine the impact Covid has had on every aspect of our food system, all the way from farm to table. How have things changed? What’s going on behind the scenes? The answers to these questions are often surprising and will h…

We’re at the beginning. That is to say - on the farm! First Mirella and Joshna spend some time analysing what happened with all the ‘dairy dumping’ and food waste that was reported early in the pandemic. The transactional nature of agriculture is revealed, which includes how we handled surpluses when covid shook up demand. (Trigger warning: we disc…

Sometimes it feels like we’re living inside a machine. In the case of our food, we kind of are. With Covid lingering and impacting just about everything, beer and sensory consultant Mirella Amato, and chef and food activist Joshna Maharaj, decided to take a look at how Covid has affected our food. This leads them to a step-by-step exploration of “t…

On this special series of HotPlate Podcast, craft beer and sensory expert Mirella Amato, and chef and activist Joshna Maharaj, examine the impact Covid has had on every aspect of our food system, all the way from farm to table. How have things changed? What’s going on behind the scenes? The answers to these questions are often surprising and will h…

Equal Pay for BIPOC Culinary Talent. The Truth About Jerk. And Curious Moves from KFC. This week we’re thrilled to welcome back Pay Chen as guest host -- @paychen on Instagram and Twitter. Pay is an experienced TV host, writer and producer with a passion for food, fitness, dogs and travel. Pay is frequently seen on morning shows and national daytim…

Fresh Ideas for 2021. Chinese Protest Recipes. What Little We Pay for Pho. And David Chang’s Infamous Rage. This week we’re thrilled to welcome Pay Chen as guest host -- @paychen on Instagram and Twitter. Pay is an experienced TV host, writer and producer with a passion for food, fitness, dogs and travel. Pay is frequently seen on morning shows and…

Cooking with Zooming Grandmas. Comfort and Nostalgia. The Kimchi Crisis. The Plants We Ignore. This week Joshna is joined by Laura Brehaut. Laura is a food reporter for the National Post. She earned a Culinary Arts Certificate and Professional Fromager Certificate from George Brown College. She graduated with a B.A. (Hons) from Ryerson University’s…

Label Wars. Cake for Democracy. The Battle of Borscht. And Dining Domes. This week Joshna is joined by Laura Brehaut. Laura is a food reporter for the National Post. She earned a Culinary Arts Certificate and Professional Fromager Certificate from George Brown College. She graduated with a B.A. (Hons) from Ryerson University’s RTA School of Media, …

French al fresco Dining. Tech is changing indoor dining. The curfew debate. Why Tequila is the new vodka. This episode Joshna is joined by Elayne Duff. Elayne is an accomplished professional with more than 20 years within the beverage and alcohol industry. Working for the two largest drinks companies in the world AB-InBev and Diageo Wine and Spirit…

Smuggled culture. Uncle Roger. The globalization of the grocery store. And presumptuous pumpkin spice. This episode Joshna is joined by Elayne Duff. Elayne is an accomplished professional with more than 20 years within the beverage and alcohol industry. Working for the two largest drinks companies in the world AB-InBev and Diageo Wine and Spirits h…

In our 50th episode -- The Pandemic vs. Irish Pubs. Can wine be any cleaner? The fermentation inoculation. And magic molluscs. Joshna is once again joined by Susan Boyle, drinks consultant, researcher, writer, storyteller, and performer based in Ireland. She writes about beer, presents drinks features on Irish national television and radio and host…

Awards on pause. Rethinking Healthy Food. Airplane meals at sea level. And when it snows chocolate. Joining us this week and next is Susan Boyle @miss_susanboyle, alongside Joshna @joshnamaharaj while Mirella @beerology is on leave. Susan is a drinks consultant, researcher, writer, storyteller, and performer based in Ireland. She writes about beer,…

Bandaid food solutions. Mushroom proteins. Is your meal A+ grade in France? What is perfect rice? An idea which keeps re-emerging is to use corporate food waste to feed the hungry. There are a few reasons it’s not a great idea - not to mention we can all agree hungry people deserve better than waste. Canada just got Mycoprotein this year. It's a ve…

Why is cheese so delicious? What do you really know about fish? Can your cooking get you drunk? And room temperature eating. Why is cheese so delicious? Well, it's pretty technical - but interesting! We delve into the various complexities of production and many flavour compounds that contribute to the delight of eating cheese. This new study shows …

Sugarless juice. How do you zest? Cranberries as a cure. And pickle juice -- in beer? There's a company trying to remove sugar from juice. This got us so riled up we thought we'd better take all the juice topics this week and mix them into one juicy Hot Plate smoothie. It all stems from the outrage we feel about trying to create a sugarless juice w…

Moose butchery in high school. Where we draw the line with meats. Reaching isolated seniors with food. And musical ice-cream cones. This makes sense for northern communities where hunting is very common, but even just from a meat eating perspective, having to face the reality of your meat consumption is key, and why not start this in high school? A…

In this episode we talk with photographer Carrie Solomon (Insta: @carrie_in_paris) and culture writer Adrian Moore (Twitter @majormoore Insta @adrianelvn) about their fascinating book, Chefs' Fridges. They quite literally travelled the world to have More than 35 World-Renowned Cooks Reveal What They Eat at Home. As we discover in our chat with them…

Foods to cool you down in the summer heat. Is it okay to be a picky eater? And what you probably didn't know about Scotland. On this episode we're grateful to have Angela Warburton, a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, share her knowledge of foods to eat which are traditionally understood to have cooling properties. It might just open up a …

Prohibition and racism. A greenhouse in the North. And sexy vegetables (yes, seriously sexy vegetables!). In this episode we have the pleasure of speaking with writer and historian Christine Sismondo about her two articles for Macleans about how prohibition impacted race relations in the US and Canada. This is undeniably relevant right now right do…

The power of bake sales. Can you describe your types of bitter? How to make the perfect cup of coffee. And please don't drink your hand sanitizer! This episode we delve into the connection between the bake sale and grass roots activism. Then, we'll disagree with an experiment about bitterness that seemed to misunderstand beer drinkers. We'll stop f…

Do you remember menus without prices for women? How the brewing slow-downs is affecting Marmite production. Do you treat recipes as scripture? And a brand moving on. We re-tell the story of the price-less "ladies menu" in LA which led to a high profile lawsuit after a business-woman was refused a menu showing prices (yes, you read that!). Already i…

Should we let the restaurant industry die? Diving deep into seafood. Could you survive the hospital quarantine food? And, a sandwich hitting the bliss the point. We kick this one off with a look at Tunde Wey, known well in the restaurant industry known for his performance art and activism. Recently Wey has made the case for letting the restaurant i…

The Guerilla Grafters. Community fridges. Alinea's edible art at home. And are you eating ice cream wrong? You've heard of guerilla gardeners but have you heard of guerilla grafters? Folks are grafting fruit trees onto city-maintained decorative trees in order to provide food to the hungry. It's compelling activism but is it a realistic fix for the…

The mental health crisis in the hospitality industry. A device to make you taste anything. How Norway is helping The Cherokee save their seeds. Hassel Aviles of Not 9 To 5 joins us for a discussion prompted by this article about the crisis of mental health in the hospitality industry. Her work, with co-founder Ariel Coplan, focuses on empowering ho…

Do you love your Drive-thrus? Who cares about the taste of corn? How to freeze your food with confidence. Anti-hangover plants. One part pandemic related and one part general fascination, a symbol for American life and culture is the Drive-thru. Funny enough Mirella has never actually bought food at one, so she relies on Joshna to explain exactly w…

Our take on the Premier's cheesecake. The Food Professor weighs in on milk at Starbucks. Indian efficiency in the kitchen explored. And meet your new guilty pleasure: the bath beer! Ontario Premier Doug Ford decided to share his family recipe for cheesecake. The video is a hot mess, but we applaud encouraging family time in the kitchen and the good…

Are you drinking too much? Will computers shape the future of flavour? The urban gardening revolution. And do you want VR with your dinner? British writer Pete Brown wrote about everyone's number two concern, behind avoiding COVID-19 itself, which is, "Are we drinking too much?" The answer may surprise you. We dig into an Indian organization's work…

Mirella tries to join an Aspic Appreciation Group. What are Poland's Milk Bars and why don't we have them? What's behind the frenzied seed buying? And how restaurants are monetizing their cellars. Underground food movements are one of our favourite topics because we love it when people get nerdy about their food. Led by "Jiggle Daddy," one popular …

What is Joshna's new book about? When should we re-open our pubs? How did Chinese take-out containers come to be? And our favorite recipes - according to Google. Joshna has been managing change-making projects in the food industry for 13 years, and now she's launched a best-selling book about her experiences: Take Back The Tray. It's all about inst…

Should you uninstall your delivery apps? How much would you pay for fake meat? Do you have a sweet tooth? And which YouTube Cooking Channels are worth your time? Needless to say delivery is part of our lives in a new way during 'corona-times'. Unfortunately the latest moves by delivery app titans seem pretty bad for restaurants, with both fees and …

Eating with your hands, the bliss point, molecular coffee, and bacon for snacking on. This episode was recorded in our regular Frequency studio session just prior to the pandemic lockdown. We delayed its release a few weeks to focus on pertinent lockdown issues, but we promise it's still timely! After all, when is bacon not timely? First up, Mirell…

Tips for a clean and functional kitchen, how to make natural cleaners, sparking joy in your kitchen, and storing booze. Do you have the Spring cleaning itch? Is your kitchen next but you don't know where to start? You're not alone! Lucky for us, Mirella recently followed this particular kitchen cleaning plan and together with Joshna dives into the …

The chocolate-brewing witches of colonial Latin America, why those fermented foods you love might not be probiotic, why there's always room for dessert, and the world's first pea-based gin. Hot off a trip to Mexico, Joshna brought us Mexican brewing chocolate to taste (thicker and bitter compared with most North American hot chocolates). This same …