Give Now  »

wfiu logo
WFIU Public Radio

wtiu logo
WTIU Public Television

Choose which station to support!

Indiana Public Media | WFIU - NPR | WTIU - PBS

What's Old Is New Again--The Authors Of Meal Discuss Food, Culture And Comics

Blue Delliquanti and Soleil Ho, the authors of Meal, as depicted by comic artist, Blue Delliquanti (image courtesy of the artist)

And there's also this vague apocalyptic narrative included in it. More than once I heard people say ‘well, we'll all be eating this someday.'

Entomophagy, or, the practice of consuming insects for food, has been all over the food media world for years. Often you hear it talked about as a sustainable solution for the world's growing demand for protein.

My guests today have a different approach to the topic.

Blue Delliquanti and Soleil Ho are the authors of the Young Adult Graphic Novel, Meal. It's a story about restaurant life, traditional foodways and insect cuisine. Oh, and there's an LGBT romance, to boot!

Blue Delliquanti is a comics writer, illustrator and the creator of O Human Star.

Soleil Ho is a food writer and the restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. She is co-host of the podcast Racist Sandwich, and host of Bitch Media's podcast Popaganda. She has also cooked professionally in Minneapolis, New Orleans and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

In the interview, Blue and Soleil share stories about cultural traditions of raising and eating insects. They also talk about how comics have a way of making complex food topics comprehensible and making bugs look cute on a plate.

Also this week, Chef Arlyn Llewellyn of Function Brewing joins us with a nourishing wintertime soup recipe.

---

Food Comic Recommendations from Blue Delliquanti and Soleil Ho

From Soleil:

Cooking Papa

Sweetness and Lightening

Nobunaga Chef

From Blue:

The Drops of God

Cook Korean!, by Robin Ha

Jade Fung Li

Jean Wei

Music on This Episode

Summer League by Connor Musarra and Stephan Sechi (Killer Tracks)

Sidewalk Strut by Matthew Robert Corbett and Michael Joseph Wilkie (Killer Tracks)

The Earth Eats' theme music is composed by Erin Tobey and performed by Erin and Matt Tobey.

Stories On This Episode

Study Warns Of Global Insect Collapse

A new study warns that more than 40 percent of the world's insect species are at risk of extinction, and a third are endangered.

Support For Indiana Public Media Comes From

About Earth Eats

Harvest Public Media