Yuliia Tymoshenko the Culinary Operations Lead of World Central Kitchen in the Ukraine discusses her role in providing food relief in the war-torn country, where meals offer both nourishment and emotional connection. Raised cooking beside her grandmother, Yuliia shares how traditional foods like borscht and varenyky help preserve culture, comfort communities, and create resilience amid displacement, conflict, and uncertainty.

Bettina Iseli of Welthungerhilfe joins us to discuss global food security, humanitarian aid, climate resilience, and conflict. Drawing on decades of experience in vulnerable regions, she explores the challenges of delivering aid, strengthening local food systems, and navigating the growing political and ethical complexities facing international humanitarian organizations today.

Fadi Kattan explores the intersection of Palestinian cuisine, identity, memory, and cultural preservation. Recorded amid escalating conflict in the Middle East, this conversation reflects on food as storytelling, resilience, and humanity. Through restaurants, writing, and hospitality, Fadi shares how cuisine preserves heritage, dignity, and connection in times of displacement.

Ksenija Hotić’s story is rooted in displacement, resilience, and food as cultural memory. Fleeing Bosnia in 1992, her family rebuilt life in exile, with food preserving identity and continuity. Now based between Toronto and Bosnia, she is an award-winning photographer and writer documenting global food cultures, currently creating a personal cookbook exploring memory, belonging, and connection.

Who gets to eat when food runs out? Kinday Samba, Regional Director for West and Central Africa at the UN World Food Programme, draws on over 30 years of experience to unpack how war drives malnutrition and the trade-offs when funding falls short. As food systems collapse, women and children suffer most, and instability spreads far beyond the region, fueling displacement, trafficking, and conflict.

Michael Shaikh, New York–based writer and human rights investigator, joins us to explore food in conflict zones. His book The Last Sweet Bite reveals how war reshapes not just lives, but what and how people eat. From Myanmar to Uyghur regions, food becomes both a tool of control and an act of resistance. This conversation uncovers how culinary traditions endure under extreme pressure. A powerful look at dignity, identity, and survival, told through the lens of food, memory, and the people who refuse to let their culture disappear.