For The Wild: Daily Summaries Delivered

FAT OF THE LAND - DOLCE S1:E5

“I’d like to propose a toast to the garden, to this beautiful planet, and to the gardener. You know, some people have gardens, some people don't. But, they need to have a garden because Grandfather used to say, “We are all a garden in the world." So, I give thanks to the garden and the gardener.” —Carlo Montesanti And so, we have gathered to the final course in this banquet, Dolce. Dessert. Here at this table, we reflect on inheritance. Returning once more to conversations with Ca...

FAT OF THE LAND - CONTORNI S1:E4

Fat of The Land, Episode 4, Contorni “Mother Earth is really asking us to touch the soil… it’s not just enough to pray. We need to put our hands in the soil.” —Carlo Montesanti Contorni. The side dishes, or the surroundings. In this fourth episode of our series Fat of The Land, we turn towards the question of taste: how it is cultivated and remembered. Through conversations with Carlo Montesanti and Arianna Gelpke, the episode traces the shifting contours of Italian food culture amid to...

FAT OF THE LAND - SECONDI S1:E3

“Before I came here, I dreamt about this land.” —Jessie Jowers, Slow Life Family Farm The third course in our series, Secondi, brings us to the tensions of resistance and surrender. In this episode of Fat of The Land, Ayana speaks with Jessie Jowers of Slow Life Family Farm and Deborah Zapparrata of Cooking Sicily. Here, the episode asks us to consider what social and domestic roles do to us. Focusing on women’s stories, histories, and layers of expectations around femininity, the body,...

FAT OF THE LAND - PRIMI S1:E2

“Human hunger – not just for food, but for everything – drives us to do beautiful things, crazy things, horrible things, but that is the most human thing I can point to. We're a very hungry species, and that hunger moves us.” —Ayana Young, Host Episode two of Fat of The Land grounds us further in Sicily with Jessie and Carlo of Slow Life Family Farm and Mila of Bimbi Naturali. Across the conversation, themes of hunger, desire, and the allure of independence continue to unfold. &nb...

FAT OF THE LAND S1:E1

“I really feel I was called here, and I really feel this land itself is calling for human touch.” – Jessie, Slow Life Family Farm Embracing hunger, desire, and a calling for connection, we’re delighted to share the first episode of Fat of The Land with you. Fat of The Land is a series that asks us what we mean when we look for connection between people and the land. Following a desire for real relation, for deliciousness, and for slowness, each episode traces what happens when we ...

Introducing: Fat of the Land

We are so excited to share Fat of the Land, a new five part series unfolding over the next five weeks. This series began with a kind of romantic impulse. I traveled to Italy with a longing to be among people whose relationships to land and food have been tended over generations, particularly within the traditions of Slow Food. As a settler of North America, I carry big questions around land and lineage and memory and loss... I imagine meeting grandmothers making ravioli, sitting w...

IN THE COMPANY OF HUMPBACKS S1:E3

"The more I learn, the less I know. Sometimes learning more means accepting that we don’t really know." – Rachel Meade In the third episode of In The Company of Humpbacks, Rachel Meade joins Ayana to rethink what we mean by study, communication, and the goals of biology and conservation. What might change if we were more honest about our uncertainties and willing to admit what we don’t know? Could that openness lead to stronger relationships and better science? Rachel guides us into the vast...

IN THE COMPANY OF HUMPBACKS S1:E2