Episodes
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Hear from Nithiya Laila about using food as a medium to discuss the topics of heritage and culture. As a culinary anthropologist, she sees food as aspiration, identity and overcoming prejudices.
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During the pandemic lockdown in 2020, some of us baked bread, other made Dalgona coffee, and Hao Pei started guerilla growing rice varieties on a terrace.
In this episode, Hao Pei reveals the origin story of 飯醉集團 Secret (Rice) Society - a guerilla rice garden to save and share native rice varieties and vernacular growing knowledge located on a rooftop in Toa Payoh. He shares about his brushes with the Town Council due to ‘unauthorised planting’, as well as the erasure of native rice varieties tracing back to the Green Revolution and surgence of GMO seeds and hybrid varieties.
Hao Pei believes that rice is more than just food to be consumed, it contains layers of knowledge. What are the stories do we tell about rice? What variety of rice do we consume in Singapore and why? Listen on and find out with us.
Resources
- Broken Rice Atlas - https://brokenriceatlas.net-
- Secret Rice Society -https://www.instagram.com/secretricesociety/ -
Missing episodes?
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In this episode, Aditi unpacks the language that come to shape our perception of soil and shares how Living Soil Asia aims to build and renew our connection to soil through its education programmes. Likening soil to a sourdough starter, Aditi reveals how the life that exist within our soil, or soil microbiology, forms the basis of a healthy food system. Han Jing also discusses the often-overlooked aspects of soil when it comes to growing food and the need for soil regeneration in urban Singapore.
Climate change is connected to broader social determinants of health, and Aditi and Han Jing speaks to the interconnected of soil to everything around us. How does the health of our soil mirror the health of our communities? What do we lose when we lose touch with the soil, and how do we regenerate our soil in our ‘concrete jungle’? Listen on and reimagine our soil story with us.
Resources
Living Soil Asia - https://livingsoil.asia/
Project Black Gold: Community food scrap collective - https://www.projectblackgold.sg/
Foodscape Collective: Co-creating an inclusive circular food system - https://foodscapecollective.com/
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Many of us are unaware that behind the old ORTO site lies Ground-Up Initiate (GUI) - a 2.6ha nature-inspired educational farm and woodworking craft arm. GUI will have to relocate by the end of 2023 as the current land is slated for new housing developments. Unlike the fate of other farms, GUI has secured a new site in the heartlands of Khatib, right behind NS HomeTeam Khatib. Bingyu and the GUI team are fundraising for the new space and getting ready for #GUIsBigMove.
The first thing GUI planted in its first plot of land in 2008 was peanuts. GUI was founded by the late Mr Tay Lai Hock to address the environmental and social concerns created by rapid urbanisation in a small corner of Lim Chu Kang, for city dwellers from all walks of life to touch the soil and heal. 14 years on, the space has grown through the power of community and allowed people to come and connect with nature, others and themselves with the aim of building a 5G society.
Bingyu shares with us the ups and downs of leading a farm in Singapore, the challenges of culture building and the impending move, and his hopes for a community-led new space. In his words, GUI is magical - go see for yourself before the move!
Resources
Ground-Up Initiative - https://www.instagram.com/groundupinitiative/
Fundraiser for #GUIsBigMove! - https://rayofhope.sg/campaign/gui/
#1000GUIConnections by Koo Hui Ying - https://rayofhope.sg/campaign/1000guiconnections
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In this episode, we chat with Foo Mao Sheng, an Entomologist from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (NUS). He shares with us how he got started with eating edible insects after trying his first bamboo worm from Thailand as a protein replacement, as well as the history of entomophagy.
Join our hosts Movin and Sankar as they try silkworm pupae, grasshoppers, crickets and superworms live (don’t worry, they’re SFA-approved!).
Resources and further reading
1. Mao Sheng on Mothership.sg
2. Why Cockroaches Need More Love & SG's Undiscovered Insects ft. Foo Maosheng, Entomologist - Yah Lah BUT Podcast
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In this episode, Rachel Wong shares her journey starting and writing about agriculture and the food system at Cong and Co. Growing up with her grandmother who cooks sparked her curiosity towards how food is prepared and the broader socio-economic forces that shape and determine the food we choose to put on our plates, as well as what is considered palatable.
Rachel also discusses the Western-centrism of vegetarian diets and breaks down why agro-biodiversity is important to a sustainable food system. Reflecting on how high-yield crops have come to replace much of our traditional and native varieties, she reflects on how it has influenced how and what we farm, and its associations with notions of modernity and progress.
Resources and further reading
1. Cong and Co - https://congand.co/
2. LepakinSG - https://www.instagram.com/lepakinsg/
3. Pamelia Chia - https://pameliachia.com/
4. The Near-Death of the Cavendish Banana - https://time.com/5730790/banana-panama-disease/
5. Towards Singapore’s Food Future: 30 by 30 - https://www.ourfoodfuture.gov.sg/30by30/
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“I never thought I’d be a farmer.”
In this episode, Evelyn Eng-Lim reflects on her origin story of volunteering with Nature Society before she found herself at the crossroads of owning a plot of land to reclaim autonomy of the food and produce she consumes and eventually, building a food forest at the heart of Lim Chu Kang. She highlights the importance of people and community in building a soil-based farm and what we stand to lose as farms rich in biodiversity are being replaced by agri-tech in Singapore. Can we truly balance the two? -
The cheesecakes are back - with guests!
This season delves into food and the communities in our backyard. Who plays a role in Singapore’s food story, and who gets to shape our food future?
Stay tuned as we launch this 8-episode season, and follow us on Instagram @climatecheesecake. -
In the final episode of the season, the Climate Cheesecake spoke at the Waves of Change Festival 2022 at ArtScience Museum. They share personal experiences with climate anxiety, and some of the ways they cope with it.
Recorded in front of an audience in Singapore on 9 October 2022, with postscripts. -
Why do we love pandas and hate bugs? Doesn’t all wildlife deserve the same love and respect? We discuss this double standard in our responses to these creatures in this 25 minute episode!
Our very first guest @sgbeetlenut hangs out with @theweirdandwild and @sankarology to talk about beetles and shit. No legit, we talk about actual shit. -
Why is it that animals used to be so commonplace but now we need to take day trips to Ubin to see them? Turns out this is a bigger phenomenon at play!
Karsts, rainforests - our constant demand for resources and unsustainable trade are pushing these ecosystems to the brink - and there's a real cost to biodiversity!
Join @sankarology and @ohletsfly as they talk about this crisis and what we can do about it. -
COP27 is happening in November 2022, and that means.... global promises! Time to hold up our end of the deal.
But…what is a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and who decides how these climate commitments are made? And do these commitments actually translate into actual climate action?
We may only be scratching the surface of COP27, but we will get to the rest of it soon.
The outcomes of COP27 are important because it affects our lives. So how can we take charge of our climate futures? @theweirdandwild and @sankarology chat about it.
References:
1. COP27 - Held in Egypt this year!
https://cop27.eg/
2. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
https://unfccc.int/
3. Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use
https://ukcop26.org/glasgow-leaders-declaration-on-forests-and-land-use/
4. How to set SMART Goals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria
5. Why net-zero without a ‘’just transition’ is not an option
https://climatechampions.unfccc.int/why-net-zero-without-a-just-transition-is-not-an-option/
6. Changes to Carbon Tax Rates
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/carbon-credits-used-to-offset-carbon-tax-bill-in-singapore-must-meet-certain-criteria-nea
7. Singapore’s existing NDCs critically insufficient (as of Feb 2021)
https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/singapore/
8. Public Consultation on Singapore's Climate Ambition - Take 10 mins to complete this!
https://go.gov.sg/climate-consultation-22-feedback -
What do forest fires have to do with peat?
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What does climate change have to do with palm oil?
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What does climate change have to do with food security?
Here's what we'll be talking about!
01:22 - About Chicken Shortage
02:10 - Chicken shortage causes - war, disease, heatwaves!
03:30 - Heatwave and changing rainfall in India
04:18 - Heatwaves affecting mango supply
10:23 How to make Tofu (Yes, it comes from soybeans)
16:06 Maybe (probably) we’ll have to eat crickets one day!
17:39 - Sustenir (Not a sponsor, but you can slide into our DMs)
