#95: The Truth About the Mediterranean Diet & How to Be Antiracist in Your Approach to Nutrition with Anjali Prasertong

Anjali Prasertong joins me on this week’s episode to explore what it means to approach nutrition through the lens of culture, antiracism, and food equity.

Tune in as Anjali helps us think through social justice in food systems, debunk white-washed fantasies of the “perfect” diet, and examine how cultural appropriation shows up in the culinary world.

Topics discussed include…

• Cultural influences on our relationship with food
• Talking to kids about culture and violence 
• Popular chefs and culinary appropriation 
• The “ick” of telling people how to eat as a dietitian
• The fantasy of the Mediterranean Diet
• MyPlate and dairy
• Veganism and diet culture 
• Racism in nutrition recommendations  
• Anjali’s approach to food now in the context of anti-racism and food systems
• Making family meals easier 

About Anjali: 

Anjali is a writer and registered dietitian who focuses on racial equity, public health, and food systems. For several years, she was a contributing editor to the award-winning food website The Kitchn. Her work has appeared in TIME.com, The Chicago Tribune, Yahoo, and HuffPost, and I contributed to The Kitchn Cookbook – a James Beard Award winner – and Food52's Simply Genius. Her path has been circuitous, but it has always included food. She taught English in a small city in Central Japan, and wrote weekly reviews of Japanese candy. She was a personal chef for a family in Malibu. She coached BIPOC food entrepreneurs in New Orleans, and ran a program that helped corner stores in low-income neighborhoods sell more fruits and vegetables. She worked with chef Tunde Wey on a social experiment that charged white diners almost three times more than diners of color for the same lunch. At one point she studied global food security from an old convent in Italy, and ate so much pasta. She also has an undergraduate degree in film, which was perfectly useless when she returned to school to become a dietitian. She brings a wide-ranging and nonlinear experience to her perspective on food and nutrition, and to her writing. Anjali currently lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two children.

Anjali's Substack: https://anjaliruth.substack.com/ 

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Group program:

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Podcast Cover Photography by Anya McInroy

Podcast Editing by Brian Walters

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