PODCAST · society
The Table Underground
by Tagan Engel
Digging deep into stories of food, radical love and creative social justice. Broadcast on WPKN 89.5 community radio Bridgeport, CT. Hosted by chef, activist, organizer, educator Tagan Engel
Episodes
-
Shucking the Status Quo
How communities are restoring Long Island Sound one shell at a time. Recorded live at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, we hear from shellfish farmers Chief Sagamore Buddy Pocknett of the First Light Farm of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and Beth Simonds of Stonington Farms Shellfish &…
more -
Chef's Roundtable
Chef's Emily Mingrone, Damon Sawyer, and Arturo Franco Camacho in a Chefs Roundtable discussion on sourcing ingredients, the values and creativity that drive their kitchens, and the people that make it all possible. Recorded live at the 2026 International Festival of Arts and Ideas as part of the...
-
Strategic Organizing w/ Jose Oliva of HEAL Food Alliance
Protests in recent years have mobilized millions of people across the country and world, and brought attention to issues of great injustice. Despite these mass actions, real systemic change on issues from genocide to immigration, to food and farm worker abuses have remained out of reach. One…
more -
Bryant Terry, Vegetable Kingdom (from the Archives)
Chef, activist, artist and author Bryant Terry on his 5th book, Vegetable Kingdom - cooking for his kids - uplifting Black and Asian food traditions - and collective actions to transform our "messed up food system". A show from our archives, first aired in 2020. Thanks to the Yale Sustainable…
more -
Oysters & Ocean Restoration w/ CORR Shell Recycling & Leetes Island Oysters
Tim Macklin & Todd Koehnke of CORR: Collective Oyster Recycling and Restoration and Kim Granbery a wild oyster farmer and owner of Leetes Island Oysters share about their work to return oysters to Long Island Sound. This farming and stewardship work helps to rebuild habitat, filter water, prevent...
-
Uplifting Tunisian Olive Oil w/ Soraya Hosni
Soraya Hosni is a French-Tunisian social entrepreneur, olive oil sommelier, farmer and environmental anthropologist. She speaks 8 languages and is as comfortable talking with North African olive farmers as she is with global leaders. Her innovative work to address systemic challenges and…
more -
Growing Mushrooms w/ Hood Farmer Rob
Rob Peck, aka Hood Farmer Rob is a Black urban farmer, mushroom grower and educator based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His love of fungi has led him from cooking up mushrooms to foraging in parks and the forest, to growing mushrooms - both indoors and out - and now, into the Lab to grow his own...
-
Family Edition
For our first show of 2026 - go behind the scenes with our Host Tagan Engel's family, her partner Enroue Onigbonna Halfkenny and children Tomitsela and Ayo Engel-Halfkenny. They talk about the themes of this show: food, radical love and creative social justice which are also pretty big themes in...
-
Loving Soybeans w/ Chef & Farmer Ria Ibrahim
Indonesian Chef and Farmer Ria Ibrahim shares on building loving relationship with soybeans through a multitude of methods to preserve and enjoy these sacred beans including as miso, tofu, and soy milk. As Farm to Table Director at Soul Fire Farm Ria brings deep cultural connections, love and...
-
Healing Through Corn Rematriation w/ Lauren Sun Turtle Peters
Lauren “Sun Turtle” Peters is a Mashpee Wampanoag seed keeper carrying on in the traditions she learned from her clan mother Anita “Mother Bear“ Peters. In 2021 Lauren helped to return the King Phillips variety of corn, also known as Metacom corn, to be grown on her people’s land for the first…
more -
A Career Transforming Women's Health Care w/ Dr. Mitch Levine
Most of the stories on this show are connected to food in some way - but as our byline says we also talk about radical love and creative social justice, and today’s show uplifts a beautiful example of both of these principles. Mitch Levine is an OBGYN doctor based in the Boston area who has been...
-
From the Archive: Farming While Black + Fever Pitch Pilgrimage
First aired in 2019. Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm on her pivotal book Farming While Black, the Afro-Indigenous roots of sustainable agriculture and the work of supporting Black folks and other people of color in finding liberation on land. Plus Taina Asili’s 2025 Fever Pitch Pilgrimage and…
more -
2 Fab Women Food Business Owners
Meg Fama of The Farm Belly and Raquel Rivera of A Pinch of Salt are two long-time food business owners showing us what successful women-owned businesses can look like all while supporting local farmers and entrepreneurs. They talk about how and why they do what they do and the evolution of their...
-
Palestinian Beekeepers
Mohammed Alqurnah is an agronomist, entomologist and Beekeeper living in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Hana' Maaiah is a Farmer and Beekeeper of Jordanian and Palestinian descent based in the upstate, NY. Hana' recently returned from a two month long trip visiting Mohammed and other…
more -
Growing and Cooking in Community w/Rootlife & By Brimarie
Growing food in the city is also an opportunity to grow community and healing in more ways than one. Dishaun Harris, aka Farmer D and the founder of Rootlife is a Black urban farmer and filmmaker manifesting the change he wants to see in his community. He stewards 5 community farms around the…
more -
Demystifying Food & Land Policy in CT 2025
Passionate policy advocates decipher food security and a farmland access bills, both up for a vote in CT this spring & let us know how and why to get involved. Guests include Reggy St. Fortcolin of Fridgeport and the Liberated Land Cooperative, Chelsea Gazillo of Working Lands Alliance and…
more -
Supporting Food Entrepreneurs w/ReSET & CitySeed
Welcome to the first episode of our 2025 re-launch of The Table Underground: stories of food, radical love and creative social justice! Our guests Cara Santino of CitySeed in New Haven, CT and Katrice Claudio of ReSET in Hartford share the skills and tools they use to support food business...
-
Sandra's Next Generation Soul Food - Telling Their Story
A story short with Sandra and Miguel Pittman owners of Sandra's Next Generation Soul Food Restaurant in New Haven, CT. They share on their 32+ year journey as restaurateurs, being pillars in their community, and the family legacy they have fostered. Story series sponsored by Yale School of the...
-
Oriental Pantry - Telling Their Story
A story short with Ms. Kim, owner of the oldest Asian market in New Haven, CT where she's been running this neighborhood institution with her personal touch for cooking and community since 1985. Story series sponsored by Yale School of the Environment. Photos, slideshow and links at...
-
Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant - Telling Their Story
A story short with husband and wife team Shilmat & Wub Tessema on serving up traditional Ethiopian food and culture at their restaurant since 1999 plus the 24/7 demands of the kitchen and raising a family of three now grown children. Story series sponsored by Yale School of the Environment.…
more -
Cositas Deliciosas - Telling Their Story
A story short with Cositas Deliciosas owners Miguel Xicohtencatl & Cecilia Serrano - Speaking on their business and personal journey to establish this delicious Mexican fruit, juice, and take-out shop in the Fair Haven neighborhood of New Haven, CT. Story series sponsored by Yale School of the...
-
Caribbean Style Vegan - Telling Their Story
A story short with Elisha Hazel & Qulen Wright, owners of Caribbean Style Vegan restaurant in New Haven, CT. Sharing their passion for serving up life-giving Ital food with local ingredients, and learning the business ropes along the way. Story series sponsored by Yale School of the Environment....
-
Portabello Latin Food Cart - Telling Their Story
A story short with Francisco Mendez and Zenaida Muñoz on their experiences running their much loved food carts together with brother Carlos Mendez. They share on their evolution from cooks to cart owners, the Colombian style arepas they’re famous for, and what it’s like working out in the…
more -
Building Power for Change w/ HEAL Food Alliance
Digging into farm and food worker led organizing that’s, multi-sector, multi-racial and has the power to transform our food system by prioritizing people and the planet. With guest Navina Khanna. Episode hosted through the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale.
-
The Black Farmer Fund & Reparative Investing
Reparations in practice with this emerging investment fund collectively led by Black food ecosystem experts. Guest Melanie Allen, Program Director for the fund speaks on their work to build transformative supports for Black farmers and food entrepreneurs. This interview was hosted through the...
-
Shining a Light on Hanukkah with May Ye
Digging a little deeper into this Jewish festival of lights with rabbi in training May Ye; Illuminating injustices, sparking change, creating ritual with connections for Jews of Color, her journey and identity from secular Chinese American Jew into the rabbinate, and there's a little food talk...
-
Youth Leading Protests for Black Lives & Police Abolition
Youth leaders Jeremy Cajigas and Jamila Washington of the Citywide Youth Coalition in New Haven, CT share their perspectives on organizing protests for liberation and black lives; their groups demands for removing police and security guards from schools; divestment from police and investment in...
-
Juneteenth and Black Foodways with Adrian Lipscombe
and the importance of rooting her restaurant in community, which is helping to sustain them through the Covid-19 pandemic.
-
3 Chefs - 3 Perspectives on the Covid Shutdown
CT Chefs Avi Sazpiro of Roia Restaurant, Raquel Rivera of A Pinch of Salt Culinary Education & Catering Company, and Aaron Lee of Yale University Dining & Heartfelt Catering speak to the many ways this pandemic is impacting their work and communities. See more at www.thetableunderground.com...
-
Our Food in the Time of Quarantine: 3 Perspectives
Insights on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic from a wholesale produce distributor, an urban farmer / food justice educator, and tips on cooking in quarantine. Hear about massive shifts in the produce industry, mutual aid efforts to get free farm fresh food to families in need, and some...
-
The Gefilteria Crew on Passover & Reimagining Ashkenazi Foods
Fab culinary duo Liz Alpern & Jeffery Yoskowitz of The Gefilteria sit down (pre Covid-19 quarantine) to nosh and kibbitz about old family recipes, the wide spectrum of Jewish ethnic cuisines, Asha-normativity, producing tons of great gefilte fish each year, liberation stories, and passover...
-
Bryant Terry & Vegetable Kingdom
Chef, activist, and author Bryant Terry on his newest plant-based cookbook - cooking for his kids - uplifting Black and Asian food traditions - and collective actions to transform our "messed up food system".
-
Coquito Season
This homemade coconut milk based cocktail is the pride of the Puerto Rican holiday season. Guests Addys Castillo, and champion coquito maker Aida Casanova talk family recipes, parranda (caroling) traditions, and the complexities and joys of Puerto Rican history and heritage.
-
Witnesses To Hunger
Three women speak on the realities of hunger and poverty and their inspiring advocacy work through the group Witnesses To Hunger. With guests Susan Harris, Junie Cullum, and Wanda Perez.
-
The Food Squad Fall Edition 2019 Live
Fall food adventures help heal depression, Chicken & Sweet Potato Dumpling soup, front porch living in the Hood, talking to strangers = fun food finds = dosa making and heirloom apple munching in VT. W/ guests Babz Rawls Ivy, Frankie Douglass, and Chef Stephen Ross.
-
Teen Entrepreneurs Inspired by Gardens
Giselle Cando & Anajja Stevenson talk about starting their own businesses, working in community gardens, and life as teens in the world today. Feat. the Growing Entrepreneurs Program of the New Haven Land Trust.
-
Berlin, Reparations, and The Holocaust
Host Tagan Engel speaks about her recent trip to Berlin to partner with a group doing transformational education work around the Nazi death camp, Sobibor, her Grandparents escaped form in 1943.
-
Sourdough Geek Out
Atticus Bakery & Bookstore manager Charlie Negaro Jr and baker Josh Kanter talk about their glorious infatuation with sourdough bread making & grain growing - two exceptional new ventures for this 2nd generation establishment in New Haven, CT.
-
Heartfelt Cooking with Aaron Lee
An inspired chef shares his mission for bringing life giving food into the Black community, his journey from Dishwasher to Sous Chef in Yale University Dining, and the stereotypes he deals with as a young Black Chef.
-
The Food Squad Does Strawberries
Iroquois Strawberry Drink, Mohegan friendship berries, Sexy Strawberry Vinaigrette, Black food wisdom, Grandma's Jam, the berry pickers boycott, and more! Guests Rachel Sayet, Raquel Pablo Rivera, and Farron Harvey dig in with host Tagan Engel on, culture, race, joy, and liberation through...
-
When Women Chefs Run The Kitchen
Ep. 55 When Women Chefs Run The Kitchen Robin Bodak (co-owner and head chef) and Dignity Maille (cook) at the restaurant Next Door in New Haven, CT talk about their women-centric kitchen culture, outstanding and unpretentious food, Tanzanian hummus, popped sorghum, and salty caramel & ash…
more -
STORYSCAPE
A collection of short stories on the lives and work of twelve people who explore the landscape of race, change making, education & community around Connecticut. Host Tagan Engel recorded these stories and more as part of a larger multi media project in 2018 to mark the 25th anniversary year of…
more -
Forest Honey - supporting beekeepers & the environment in Ethiopia
Entrepreneur Ariana Yuen shares the successes and challenges of starting her new single origin honey business based in the Gera Forest in Ethiopia.
-
Striving for Reparations: Land, Food, and Self-Determination in the North Philly Peace Park
Brother Tommy Joshua Caison, co-founder and Director of the North Philly Peace Park talks about transformative healing and fence free food forests within this African American community.
-
Yoruba Orisa Tradition in Practice
Babalawo, Priest of Ifa, and Clinical Social Worker Enroue Halfkenny, Onigbana Sangofemi (and husband of host Tagan Engel ;-) shares an overview of the traditional religion of the Yoruba people, and what it looks like in daily life. He speaks on this indigenous African tradition as a path towards...
-
Rebroadcast: Maple Moon, City Tree Tapping & Grits n' Gravy
Rebroadcast of a 2017 three part show: Maple Moon Season with Mohegan educator Rachel Sayet - Tapping maple trees and boiling syrup in the city with 8 year old Sam - and Marshal Cruz shares the wild story of how he started cooking and his dreams of opening a Grits ‘n Gravy food truck.
-
Growing Compost in the City
Entrepreneur Domingo Medina, explains how he’s improving the environment through Peels & Wheels Compost, his bike, solar, and people powered composting business.
-
A Community of Food Entrepreneurs Grows In Bridgeport with a Pinch Of Salt
Guests from A Pinch of Salt, Dave’s Angry Sauce, and Love Breakfast talk about their passions for food, supporting Black and Brown owned food businesses, and spreading fresh food love in their communities.
-
The POWER OF SOUP with Sopa! and Soup & Salaam
Guests Eric Rey and Sumiya Khan talk about their two ventures which use soup as a vehicle for sharing culture, building community, and supporting entrepreneurship. Sopa! is a soup subscription company started by Eric and his brother Alejandro to spread love and build their relationship. Soup &...
-
Farming While Black
Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm on her new book Farming While Black, the Afro/Indigenous roots of sustainable agriculture and the work of supporting people of color in finding liberation on land.
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Table Underground have?
The Table Underground currently has 99 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Table Underground about?
Digging deep into stories of food, radical love and creative social justice. Broadcast on WPKN 89.5 community radio Bridgeport, CT. Hosted by chef, activist, organizer, educator Tagan Engel
How often does The Table Underground release new episodes?
The Table Underground has 99 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Table Underground?
You can listen to The Table Underground on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Table Underground?
The Table Underground is created and hosted by Tagan Engel.
URL copied to clipboard!