diff --git a/recipe/build.sh b/recipe/build.sh
index 030561f9..a8fc8983 100644
--- a/recipe/build.sh
+++ b/recipe/build.sh
@@ -3,13 +3,22 @@ set -ex
 
 mkdir builddir
 
-# need to run meson first for cross-compilation case
-$PYTHON $(which meson) setup ${MESON_ARGS} \
-    -Dblas=blas \
-    -Dlapack=lapack \
-    -Duse-g77-abi=true \
-    builddir || (cat builddir/meson-logs/meson-log.txt && exit 1)
+# HACK: extend $CONDA_PREFIX/meson_cross_file that's created in
+# https://github.com/conda-forge/ctng-compiler-activation-feedstock/blob/main/recipe/activate-gcc.sh
+# https://github.com/conda-forge/clang-compiler-activation-feedstock/blob/main/recipe/activate-clang.sh
+# to use host python; requires that [binaries] section is last in meson_cross_file
+echo "python = '${PREFIX}/bin/python'" >> ${CONDA_PREFIX}/meson_cross_file.txt
+
+# meson-python already sets up a -Dbuildtype=release argument to meson, so
+# we need to strip --buildtype out of MESON_ARGS or fail due to redundancy
+MESON_ARGS_REDUCED="$(echo $MESON_ARGS | sed 's/--buildtype release //g')"
 
 # -wnx flags mean: --wheel --no-isolation --skip-dependency-check
-$PYTHON -m build -w -n -x -Cbuilddir=builddir
+$PYTHON -m build -w -n -x \
+    -Cbuilddir=builddir \
+    -Csetup-args=-Dblas=blas \
+    -Csetup-args=-Dlapack=lapack \
+    -Csetup-args=-Duse-g77-abi=true \
+    -Csetup-args=${MESON_ARGS_REDUCED// / -Csetup-args=} \
+    || (cat builddir/meson-logs/meson-log.txt && exit 1)
 pip install dist/scipy*.whl