On Appetites: Two New Podcast Episodes, Two More Coming

a.k.a. a four-part series!

How’s everyone holding up? What’s helping you get through? What’s helping you fight? I thought ‘The Necessity of Hope’ piece from Rebecca Traister was great and this one from Jia Tolentino was sobering. I’m giving to The National Network of Abortion Funds, The Yellowhammer Fund, and this group of politicians running in key races (you can just give a single donation and this site divides it evenly). 

I’m also thinking about how to nurture connections, to strengthen the webbing between us. One of my favorite ways to do that is through focused conversations. Last week I wrote about having an unapologetic appetite and hinted that I would be soon sharing a few podcast episodes on the topic. Two out of four of these episodes are now available.

This four-part series includes conversations with people I respect and admire about how they think about appetites and express that thinking in really insightful ways from different perspectives. I hope these conversations are as helpful for you as they have been for me.

The first conversation went live last week and it’s with Angela Garbes, the author of the national bestseller Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change, called “a landmark and a lightning storm, a gift that will be passed hand to hand for years,” by The New Yorker. Angela is also the author of Like a Mother, a narrative nonfiction book exploring the emerging science and cultural myths of pregnancy, which was an NPR Best Book of 2018, a finalist for the Washington State Book Award in Nonfiction, and deemed “excellent” by the New York Times.

Angela and I got to talk about the way she defines mothering, various ways she thinks about her appetites, how we embrace our appetites, and more. Angela writes the world I want to live in and I just LOVED TALKING TO HER. You can listen here!

The second conversation went live just this morning and it’s with Lauren Leavell, a Certified Personal Trainer teaches group fitness classes online (I go every Thursday morning!). Lauren works with people to become comfortable and confident with exercise and movement. Lauren and I start by talking a bit about her background and how she created the type of class that she was looking for. We also talk about how much her class has meant to me as I navigate my relationship with exercise. I really enjoyed talking to Lauren about all of this, especially when we got to speak about LOVE as antidote to diet culture and what it is to have an appetite for a comfortable life. We also talk about our mutual love of grilling (#grilldad). You can listen here!

I’ll let you know when the final two episodes of this series are live. My podcast, like this newsletter, is called Keep Calm & Cook On and it’s here on Apple Podcasts— if you subscribe, new episodes will appear on your podcast player as soon as they’re available. There’s also merch!

Before I go, a heads up that my class this coming Sunday will be my second-to-last before I take some time off from teaching this summer (I will be back with classes in September!).

It’s going to be a Really Fun Tex-Mex Meal with Tequila Mojitos, Jalapeño Popper Chicken, Homemade Refried Pinto Beans + Key Lime Pie Bars. Come for the food, stay for the community and laughs. Sign up right here. FAQs + more info about my classes is right here.

Also…I got to write about the queerness of my Sunday afternoon classes for Bon Appétit’s ‘Food is Queer’ collection of stories. Check it out here!

This great illustration is by Henri Campeã.

Take good care everyone, of yourself and each other. We need to and how amazing that we can.

With love, xo Julia