Foodways: Kate Lebo & Cecily Wong

A discussion about the way food shapes the way we experience the world, and who we are, with Kate Lebo (The Book of Difficult Fruit), Cecily Wong (Gastro Obscura), and moderator Liz Crain (Dumplings Equal Love).

Inspired by twenty-six fruits, in The Book of Difficult Fruit the essayist, poet, and pie lady Kate Lebo expertly blends natural, culinary, medical, and personal history. What makes a fruit difficult? Its cultivation, its harvest, its preparation, the brevity of its moment for ripeness, its tendency toward rot or poison, the way it might overrun your garden. Here, these fruits will take you on unexpected turns and give sideways insights into relationships, self-care, land stewardship, medical and botanical history, and so much more. Kate Lebo’s unquenchable curiosity promises adventure: intimate, sensuous, ranging, bitter, challenging, rotten, ripe. After reading The Book of Difficult Fruit, you will never think of sweetness the same way again.

Wonder is around every corner, and on every plate. In Gastro Obscura, Cecily Wong and the curious minds behind Atlas Obscura now turn to the hidden curiosities of food, which becomes a gateway to fascinating stories about human history, science, art, and tradition. This breathtaking guide transforms our sense of what people around the world eat and drink. But far more than a menu of curious minds delicacies and unexpected dishes, Gastro Obscura reveals food’s central place in our lives as well as our bellies, touching on history, culture, travel, and more.