Season 1 | Episode 9: "Eating"

This episode of Zeugma focuses on the rhetoric of food, taking the prodigious food and restaurant scene of Austin, Texas (the podcast's hometown), as a starting point. We talk with a University of Texas instructor who taught a class on the rhetoric of food, an Austin-based food podcaster, and the executive chef of Contigo, an Austin restaurant. In all these interviews, we consider the way food gets rhetorically framed, constructed, discussed, and consumed. In short, what do we talk about when we talk about food?

You can stream the episode below; you can also download it via iTunes and LibSyn.

image via Wikimedia Commons

Episode Producer: Andrew Uzendoski

As we note in the introduction to this episode, the average resident of Austin, Texas—Zeugma's hometown—spends almost twice as much as the average American on eating out. In short, Austinites have a peculiar relationship to food and restaurants. For the final episode of our first season, then, we take Austin's food scene as a starting point for delving into the rhetoric of food.

We interview three Austin residents about the ways in which food is rhetorically constructed and consumed. First up is Colleen Eils, an instructor at The University of Texas at Austin who recently taught a course entitled "Rhetoric Of Food." She discusses what the course covered, what she and her students learned about food's rhetorical aspects, and why in the world Kim Kardashian is involved in the selling of hamburgers.

Second, Zeugma's Hala Herbly talks with Will Burdette, producer of the Austin-based food podcast No Satiation. They discuss how Will approaches food in his podcast, the communities that spring up around food blogging and podcasting, and what drew him to the subject.

Finally, Andrew Uzendoski talks with Andrew Wiseheart, executive chef for the Austin restaurant Contigo. They cover how Contigo came about, how its creators choose to market the restaurant and organize its menu, and how it fits into broader conversations and movements in the Austin restaurant scene.

If any question holds our first-season finale together, perhaps it's this: What do we talk about when we talk about food?

This episode features the following music, all of which is available via Jamendo.com:

"German Breakfast" by The Skans

"Breakfast in Tanger, Lunch in Berlin" by And Nobody Cared

"Baby You're Really in Love" by Mr. Juan