food — Our Nature Podcast Episodes

EP 27: Daily Habits That Can Change Your Life Featuring Ayurvedic Doctor Bhaswati Bhattacharya

This week, in celebration of the one year anniversary of Our Nature, I’m returning to the first topic I covered on the podcast: Ayurveda. In this episode, I chat with my longtime Ayurveda teacher Doctor Bhaswati Bhattacharya. Dr. Bhaswati is a biomedical scientist, international health specialist, primary care physician and holistic healer. In this episode we discuss: the foundational elements of Ayurveda, how our daily routines profoundly affect our physical and emotional health, the life changing practice of an electricity fast, where Ayurveda and Western medicine overlap and where they differ, how a particular type of oil is considered a miracle cure in Ayurveda, and the many non-cooking uses for ghee (which is clarified butter).

episodesAlyssa BenjaminJune 30, 2020food, ayu, ayurveda

EP 25: An Unfolding Life Featuring Photographer, Textile Artist and Private Chef April Valencia

This week I’m chatting with April Valencia, a photographer, textile artist, sustainability consultant and private chef. She’s shot for Apiece Apart, Levi’s Made and Crafted, Sezane, Gjusta, among others, cooked for Yola Mezcal and the ICA in London, and she’s also on the board at the Elizabeth Street Garden in Manhattan. I wanted to speak with her because she’s had such a wide ranging, varied life - from being married at 21 and working at Trump Tower in New York, to losing her brother and finding herself alone in the jungle of the Yucatan, April’s life has shifted and evolved as she’s grown into herself.

episodesAlyssa BenjaminMay 19, 2020food, photography, solo travel, profile interview

EP 13: Mushrooms, Mycelium and More with Andrew Carter, Co-founder and CEO of Smallhold

Mushrooms may be one of nature’s true mysteries, which is probably why we can’t get enough of them. In this episode, I talk to Andrew Carter, co-founder and CEO of Smallhold, the only mushroom farm and organic farm in New York City. His company installs mini farms, or space-like growing units – in grocery stores such as Whole Foods, restaurants like Mission Chinese, and hotels like The Standard Hotel – that grow mushrooms in controlled climates from bags of sawdust so they can be harvested at their freshest moment.

episodesAlyssa BenjaminSeptember 25, 2019mushrooms, food, the last five questions, urban farming

EP 01: Ayurvedic Chef Divya Alter – What To Eat For How You Feel

Have you heard of the term Ayurveda and wondered what it’s all about? Or maybe you already know the basics, but would like to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of this system of medicine, which is over five thousand years old.

EPISODES