Food writer Lee Tran Lam is back for another series of culinary podcast Should You Really Eat That? to chew over, starting with a close up of chocolate. This Valentine’s Day, you might be tempted to gift your partner with this sweet treat, reassuring yourself that chocolate is practically a health food (it’s a bean right?) But is it?
Host of Should You Really Eat That, Lee Tran Lam
Lam in this second series continues to unravel the cultural, social, and nutritional confusion surrounding some of the staples in our diets.
She said:
“I’m thrilled there’s an appetite for a new season of the show, and it’s been great exploring the food history, cultural context, and nutritional debate around ingredients we reach for – such as salt, olive oil, soy, butter, Indigenous foods and, of course, chocolate.
Regardless of your relationship status, it’s hard to avoid all the chocolate that’s around on Valentine’s Day or when it creeps up for Easter! Now seems like a good time to explore whether chocolate is as ‘healthy’ as people think, and dig into its cultural role, from its 4000-year-old contested history in Mexico to sweet treats being used to showcase Indigenous ingredients in Australia.”
In the opening episode, Lam talks to nutrition expert Saman Khalesi, chef Juan Carlos Negrete Lopez and proud Wiradjuri woman Fiona Harrison, chocolatier and founder of Australia’s first Indigenous chocolate company Chocolate On Purpose, to unwrap chocolate at its origin. The rest of the episodes will be unwrapped, poured or sprinkled on a weekly basis with more details below:
• Chocolate: food of the gods, romance aid, dog poison? – Nutrition expert Saman Khalesi; chef Juan Carlos Negrete Lopez; and proud Wiradjuri woman Fiona Harrison, chocolatier and founder of Chocolate On Purpose, Australia’s first Indigenous chocolate company.
• Soy: traditional craft, miracle crop, male threat? – Jung Eun Chae, award-winning chef and co-founder of CHAE restaurant; Yoora Yoon, restaurateur and co-founder of CHAE restaurant; Tony Tan, chef, award-winning cookbook author and founder of Tony Tan’s Cooking School in Trentham; Dr Evangeline Mantzioris, Program Director of Nutrition and Food Sciences at University of South Australia.
• Butter: bakery essential, insult inspiration, wedding gift – Anu Haran, baker and owner of Sydney’s Flour Shop; Pierre Issa, the Sydney-based co-founder of Pepe Saya butter business; Dr Emma Beckett, food and nutrition scientist with FoodIQ Global and the University of New South Wales, and author of You Are More Than What You Eat.
• Olive oil: lamp fuel, criminal swag, pharmacy staple – Ibrahim Kasif, chef from Sydney’s Nour restaurant, and Sarah Asciutto, an olive oil sommelier.
• Salt: slug repellent, history shaper, chip enhancer – Alice Laing, who runs Tasman Sea Salt in Tasmania; Dylan Jones and Tomoya Kawasaki, who make Japanese curry salt and shichimi (seven-spice chilli) salt at their Chotto Motto restaurant in Melbourne; Peter Breadon, Health Program Director at Melbourne’s Grattan Institute on their take on this world-changing ingredient.
• Indigenous ingredients: reconciliation aid, stir-fry essential, traditional medicine – Proud Bundjalung woman Mindy Woods, restaurateur and author of Karkalla at Home: Native Foods and Everyday Recipes for Connecting to Country; chef Kylie Kwong, who ran Sydney’s Billy Kwong and Lucky Kwong restaurants; and Sharna Motlap, proud Mbabaram woman, nutritionist and current research fellow at Charles Darwin University.
Podcast Artwork by Grace Lee