Where Cooking Meets Storytelling: Inside Robert Apelian’s Fustuk

Where Cooking Meets Storytelling: Inside Robert Apelian’s Fustuk

From If This Food Could Talk by Claudia Hanna

May 14, 2026 · 57 min

About this episode

Robert Apelian discusses how his graphic novel Fustuk intertwines food and storytelling.

He didn’t just create a graphic novel — he built it through food. In this episode of If This Food Could Talk, Robert Apelian joins Claudia Hanna to talk about Fustuk, a visually rich story shaped by cooking, cultural memory, and an obsession with getting every detail right — right down to the recipes. From eggplant dishes and yogurt soup to ancient culinary inspiration, this conversation explores how food can shape storytelling in the most unexpected ways. Get his book here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Claudia Hanna

Guest: Robert Apelian

Topics covered

  • cooking
  • storytelling
  • cultural memory
  • graphic novel
  • food history

Keywords

  • graphic novel
  • food
  • cooking
  • cultural memory
  • recipes
  • storytelling

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Fustuk

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