177: How Can Appetites Be Shaped for the Future? with Alicia Kennedy

About this episode

Alicia Kennedy discusses the shaping of appetites and the cultural histories of food in her new book On Eating.

When it comes to thinking about the future of food, is it possible to re-imagine our individual and collective appetites around what we want it to be? Taste is subjective, sure, but it's also deeply embedded in the land, histories, politics, and sociocultural dynamics we navigate throughout our lives. And as my guest this week, Alicia Kennedy, writes, our tastes are also shaped by how we value (or don't value) ingredients and their own histories. Alicia is a writer from Long Island. She is the author of No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating, and On Eating: The Making and Unmaking of My Appetites , which is out officially as of today through Hachette. Her newsletter, From the Desk, covers food, culture, politics, and media, and she is launching Tomato Tomato, a literary journal of food writing, in 2026. Alicia is back on the show today to speak about On Eating, exploring the process of weaving the personal and cultural histories of ingredients through her chapters, the interrogation of early appetites and their influence on her food writing, the dynamics of feminine appetites in food media, and the importance of properly considering the…

People in this episode

Host: Sarah Duignan

Guest: Alicia Kennedy

Topics covered

• future of food
• appetites
• cultural history
• food writing
• feminine appetites
• sociocultural dynamics

Keywords

• appetites
• food culture
• plant-based eating
• food media
• sociocultural dynamics
• food writing
• cultural history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hachette, From the Desk, Tomato Tomato

Books & works: No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating, On Eating: The Making and Unmaking of My Appetites

Places: Long Island

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