Mango & Gnocchi is a soulful and sensorial podcast about the power of our collective food stories and how it can nurture our grief journeys. Sharing food is a language of love. It’s how we celebrate and how we grieve. Join nurses and grief experts Roshni Kavate and Rebecca as we ask the question “What is your grief craving?” Each episode, we interview cooks, creatives, and community builders and explore the power of our collective food stories to nurture us, bring us joy, and take us out of our minds and into our hearts.
“My grief has been craving dal, rice, ghee eaten with my hands, garlicky clams, bucatini piled high with spicy tomato sauce, bowls of okra with crispy onions, fresh roasted chestnuts, gobs of apricot jam on warm toast. My invitation is to ask yourself: what is my grief craving?”
— Roshni Kavate
Meet the Hosts
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I am an artist, grief expert and an educator. I worked for over 12 years as an ICU Nurse and Pallaitive Care Nurse and a Birth Doula. I am deeply curious about birth, death and how we create meaning. I have been cooking since i was a young child with my grandmother and mom. I cannot travel without cardamom and saffron in my bag. My art practice is about exploring memory, senses and ancestral rituals through textiles, food and culinary installations. I love exploring local markets, collecting pottery and cooking while traveling, and swimming in the ocean. I live between Barcelona and SF Bay Area (unceded Ohlone lands).
OUR STORY
Mango & Gnocchi is a deep yearning to unearth and build a platform to share the power of our collective food stories. We wanted to explore how food and cooking can offer a balm from grief and can sustain us through the ups and downs of life. Growing up in Indian and Italian families we deeply understand the ancestral traditions and the rituals surrounding food. We devoured cooking and eating intricate biryanis, lasgnas, home made pasta and simple foods like khichadi and soups to nurture us back to health. We have both worked as Nurses with families in the midst of health challenges and loss, and we saw how conversations ultimately came back to food, be it in the NICU or while talking about grief and dying with people at the end of their lives. In our own lives, we have volunteered in kitchens for senior centers, and delivered meals to post partum mothers, parents and families. Our grandmothers spoke the love language of cooking and feeding us. Their memories remind us that sharing a meal and caring and feeding each other is how we soothe and comfort one another.
In our extensive personal and professional experiences we have been inspired by the many stories of how families have survived displacement, colonization, climate change, personal losses and how they have navigated grief with a fierce and tender spirit. It’s in the form of reclaiming, slowing down, celebrating, centering joy, teaching, speaking and sharing stories buried deep inside. It’s tamarind, dates, blue corn, fufu, ginger, anchovies, and dumplings.
We have found that traditional and main stream media seldom give voice to these unheard stories and our hope is to create a platform where we can connect and find sustenance and joy in our collective stories.
We hope you will find comfort, pleasure, wisdom, and a moment of ease as you listen to the Mango & Gnocchi podcast.
Mango & Gnocchi Ep 1
Welcome to our first ever episode, get to know us and why we started this podcast and how food and cooking are connected to grief.