It's a fact! Every man, woman and child eats food, and 99.999% of us buy food from others who bring it from an average of 2,000 miles away. And so the hungry ask:
Show #640: NOT BY BREAD ALONE - 27-06-2009 (8.94 MB)  Listen Now  buy cd version
Guests: Professor Melissa Caldwell, author of Not by Bread Alone: Social Support in the New Russia
Subject: The equation was simple: From each according to his abililty, to each according to his need. But there was not enough ability, or too much need, and the USSR collapsed into ruin, which leads us to ask…
Who feeds the hungry when the government falls?
Topics include a look at how the hungry were fed in the socialist USSR; what happened to the hungry when that government failed; and who fed the hungry when there was no government help. |
Show #639: FOR WHICH FOODS FROM A YOUNGER LAND DO YOU HUNGER? - 20-06-2009 (8.83 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Mark Kurlansky, Author, The Foo of a Younger Land
Subject: During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration hired writers to document what America was eating. From these accounts it is evident that what we were eating is not what we are eating, which leads us to ask…
For which foods from a younger land do you hunger?
Topics include a look at “America Eats,” the WPA project to document America’s local foods; what Modern Times did to those local foods; and which foods we miss most from those younger times. |
Show #638: CHEAP FOOD FROM CHINA - 13-06-2009 (8.68 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Open Microphone
Subject: There are three frightening ironies within the three simple sentences of this Chico Enterprise-Record letter to the editor:
“Today when I paid for my child’s lunch at school, I asked about the food that was being served. The lunch lady explained that all the canned food is from China because it is really cheap. She showed me the cans and verified the truth.”
Can you identify three ironies in this letter to the editor?
Topics include why Chico, California must feed its school children cheap food from China; the true costs of buying that cheap food; and the consequences of forcing food production off shore. |
Show #637 : NANO FOOD - 06-06-2009 (8.76 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests:Shane Journeay, Ph.D, CEO of Nanotechnology Toxicology Consulting and Training
Subject: To feed our future, we will need to produce more food with less natural resources. Some point to the technology of the nano and say, “Salvation is on the way!” And so we ask…
Can nanotechnology feed our future?
Topics include a brief survey of nanotechnology; how this technology will be used in the production and processing of food; and whether the nano will enable us to feed our future. |
Show #636: Killing Them Softly II - 26-05-2009 (8.58 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Thomas Wittman, President of Gophers Limited
Subject: This from a concerned listener: “No… Don’t spray! Just do not spray! No more chemicals. No pesticides. No bad stuff on my food, our community, our health.” Okay. But wait! What about the pests?
Can pests be managed humanely?
Topics include whether pests should, or should not, be managed; favorite techniques for managing animals pests; and whether pests can be managed “humanely.” |
Show #635: CHILD FARM LABOR - 09-05-2009 (8.75 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: David Strauss, Executive Director, Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs
Subject: They say, “For decades, U.S. children, some as young as 10 years old, have been working in the fields with grave consequences for their health, education, and personal development.” They lead us to ask…
Should children work on farms?
Topics include a look at who does the work on the nation’s farms; why their children are not afforded the same protection as others under the Fair Labor Standards Act; and whether children should be allowed to work on farms |
Show #634: THE TWINKIES OFFENSE - 25-04-2009 (8.7 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Steve Ettlinger, author of Twinkie, Deconstructed
Subject: They became famous as a defense strategy in the San Francisco murder trial of Dan White. Fifteen billion golden cakes later we pause to ask…
What’s in a Twinkie?
Topics include why we eat 500 million Twinkies every year; what ingredients go into the making of Twinkies; and why Twinkies, like many industrial foods, no longer have terroir. |
Show #633: DO IT YOURSELF LIFE - 18-04-2009 (8.76 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: MacKenzie Cowell, Founder of DIYBio, and computer scientist Meredith Patterson
Subject: Scientists in laboratories can take apart two living things and recombine them into a new living thing. Individuals in basements and garages now say, “Me too!” This leads us to ask…
Should life be free for the making?
Topics include a brief overview of how life may be re-engineered; why this technology should taken out of the laboratory and used by “hackers;” and what might come if life is free for the making. |
Show #632: PASSING FARMING'S BAD GAS - 11-04-2009 (8.69 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guest: Gerald Nelson, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute
Subject: Farming, they say, accounts for too much greenhouse gas and should be reformed. This leads us to ask…
Can agriculture clean up its bad gas?
Topics include how much food production contributes to global warming; what can be done to reduce agriculture’s green house gasses; and who should pay for farmers’ greenhouse gasses? |
Show #631: LAWYERING UP FOR FOOD SAFETY - 04-04-2009 (8.57 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Food Poisoning Lawyer Bill Marler, Marler Clark
Subject: Campylobacter, E. coli, hepatitis A, listeria, norovirus, salmonella, and shigella are some of the food borne pathogens that lead us to ask…
Can the law protect us from bad food?
Topics include why good food goes bad; recent food poisoning incidents and what caused them; and what the law can and cannot do to protect us from poisoned foods. |
Show #630: PLAYING CHICKEN - 28-03-2009 (8.72 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Chicken Farmer Jennifer Megyesi, Author of The Joy of Keeping Chickens
Subject: Before radio, television or the internet, there were chickens, which came in hundreds of colors, shapes, and sizes, and were kept in flocks at family farms and city homes. This history leads us to ask…
Can we bring chickens home from the factory?
Topics include a brief history of the domestic chicken; why the chicken ended up in a factory instead of a back yard coop; and what obstacles must be overcome to raise chickens for fun or profit. |
Show #628: RIGHTEOUS ANIMALS - 21-03-2009 (8.67 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Rancher Bill Niman and Rancher, Lawyer, Author Nicolette Hahn Niman
Subject: They moved the animal farm into a factory so we could have cheap food. But Michael Olson’s Third Law of the Food Chain says Cheap food isn’t! And so we wonder…
Is there a viable alternative to the factory farm?
Topics include how Bill Niman built a $65 million dollar business on the principal of righteous animal husbandry; how Nicolette Hahn Niman waged war with factory farms as an attorney with Bobby Kennedy’s Waterkeeper Alliance; and whether there is an economically viable alternative to industrial animal husbandry. |
Show #628: FEDERALIZING OUR FARMS - 14-03-2009 (8.71 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests:Pete Kennedy, Acting President of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
Subject: They tell us it is for our own good, that they are simply trying to help, that we should trust them to do what we cannot do for ourselves. They lead us to ask…
Will House Bill 875 federalize all farms and ranches in the USA?
Topics include how HB 875 would place every farm and ranch under the direct supervision of a new federal Food Safety Administration (FSA); how the FSA would have the power to access and inspect every farm in the United States, as well as the customer list of each of those farms; and whether the federalization of the entire food chain would make for a safer food supply. |
Show #627: FARMLANDS OF LINCOLN - 07-03-2009 (8.7 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guest: History Professor Kurt W. Peterson from North Park University
Subject: Abraham Lincoln spent his first 21 years on the dirt-poor farmlands of the young nation’s frontier. His upbringing leads us to ask:
How did the farm shape the character?
Topics include a look at the poor childhood of the nation’s 16th President; what impact those tough times had on the development of Lincoln’s character; and what impact, if any, Lincoln’s character had on the development of the United States. |
Show #626: THE GRANDMOTHER PLANT - 01-03-2009 (8.66 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Curindera and Grandmother Flordemayo
Subject: Some look to doctors and hospitals for healing and hope; others look to the smiling faces in Washington, DC. But a few still look to the wisdom of grandmothers, and they lead us to ask….
Can we find healing and hope in the Grandmother Plant? (#626)
Topics include a look at the traditional healing practices of curanderismo; why grandmothers are often the curators of this knowledge; and how curanderismo healing is brought into Modern Times via the Grandmother Plant. |
Show #625: GAMING CORN - 21-02-2009 (8.7 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: reporter Jessica Resnick-Ault from Dow Jones Newswire and David Blume, author of Alcohol Can Be A Gas
Subject: The good news is the price oil has returned to the $35 a barrel range. The bad news is the nation’s ethanol industry is going bankrupt and being purchased by oil companies. This leads us to ask…
What happened to biofuels?
Topics include the pending bankruptcy of approximately 25% of the nation’s ethanol refining industry; how the ethanol industry was played through the trading of commodity futures; and how large sectors of the biofuel industry are now being purchased pennies-on-the-dollar by oil companies. |
Show #624: THE REAL DEAL? - 14-02-2009 (8.66 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guest: Jason Hill, PhD, from the University of Minnesota’s Department of Applied Economics
Subject: To calculate the true cost of a gallon of gasoline, we must add a dollar a gallon for environmental and health costs. This additional dollar per gallon is paid by taxpayers, which leads us to ask…
Is there a real alternative to gasoline?
Topics include a comparison of the true costs of gasoline and biofuels; the impact these fuels have on environment and human health; and whether it is possible to grow ourselves into a less expensive energy future. |
Show #623: THE MISSING FOOD IN OUR FOOD - 07-02-2009 (8.42 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Professor Donald R. Davis from the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas
Subject: A substantial percentage of the minerals, vitamins and protein in our food crops has simply disappeared over the past 50 years. This leads us to ask…
What happened to the food in our food?
Topics include how, since the 1940’s, we have been aware of the diminishing mineral, vitamin and protein content of our food crops; the reasons why there is less food in our foods; and what the future holds if the nutrients in our food continue to disappear. |
Show #622: WENDELL & WES... ON HOPE! - 01-02-2009 (8.62 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Author, professor, poet and Kentucky farmer Wendell Berry, and author, professor, and founder of the Land Institute in Kansas, Wes Jackson, Ph.D.
Subject: During the Great Depression, wind picked up the nation’s cropland and carried it away in great, suffocating clouds of dust. Where there were no crops, there was no hope. Some say a succession of five-year Farm Bills may cause the same kind of destruction, and so we ask…
Can a 50-year Farm Bill save our cropland? (#622)
Topics include why cropland blew away during the years of the Great Depression; why a succession of five-year Farm Bills appears to be causing the same kind of devastation; and how a 50-year Farm Bill might save our cropland, and our hope. |
Show #621: LET YOUR MEDICINE BE YOUR FOOD - 27-01-2009 (8.14 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: University of California Medical Anthropologist Nancy Chen
Subject: Hippocrates said, “Let your medicine be your food, and let your food be your medicine.” But Hippocrates was yesterday. Today we take pharmaceutical medicines, and they lead us to ask….
Why did we separate our food from our medicine?
Topics include a look at cultures in which food is still being used as medicine; the impact government and industry have on the use of food as medicine; and how foods and medicines are coming back together as nutraceuticals and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). |
Show #620: A FARM FOR THE WHITEHOUSE - 17-01-2009 (8.69 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Daniel Bowman Simon and Casey Gustowarow (tent.) from the White House Farm project
Subject: Daniel Bowman Simon and Casey Gustowarow are on a cross country mission in a topsy turvy bus to convince the new President to establish an organic farm at the White House. Their mission leads us to ask….
What do you want the new President to do for the food chain?
Topics include a look at the history of growing food at the White House; why Simon and Gustowarow have taken it upon themselves to convince the new President to establish an organic farm at the White House; and tales from the road to the White House Farm. |
Show #619: TWO ACRES A MINUTE - 10-01-2009 (8.7 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Ellie Kastanopolous from Equity Trust and Jody Bolluyt from Hudson Valley’s Roxbury Farm
Subject: Cities are eating up our prime farmland at the rate of two acres per minute 24-7-365. This loss of farmland leads us to ask…
How can we save enough farmland to maintain our food chain?
Topics include whether enough privately-owned farmland can be saved to maintain the nation’s food chain; what alternatives exist to private ownership of farmland; and what results to these alternatives yield? |
Show #618: WHAT WILL YOU DO TO SECURE THE FOOD CHAIN? - 27-12-2008 (8.47 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Open Microphone
Subject: Congratulations! You have been appointed Secretary of Agriculture for the United States of America. Your appointment leads us to ask…
What policy will you enact to guarantee a safe and secure food chain? (#618)
Topics include a listener’s observation about what happens when the food chain breaks, as in her former Soviet Union; which policy you believe will ensure a secure food chain; and host Olson’s revolutionary policy to achieve food security. |
Show #617: SWATTING FARMERS - 20-12-2008 (8.55 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guest: Attorney Scott Bemis, Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
Subject: The SWAT team held the Stowers family with assault weapons for nine hours while tearing their farmhouse apart looking for evidence. The Stowers’ crime? Selling farm-fresh foods to friends and neighbors! This SWATTING of farmers leads us to ask…
Should farmers be allowed to sell us their foods, or should we be forced to buy their foods from government-sanctioned corporations? (#617)
Topics include why the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund exists; why governments of all shapes and sizes appear to be taking out farmers who sell farm fresh foods direct to consumers; and whether farmers should, or should not, be allowed to sell us farm fresh foods. |
Show #616: THE DENIALISTS II - 13-12-2008 (8.66 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guest: Celia Farber, author of Serious Adverse Events: An Uncensored History of AIDS
Subject: The cluster of diseases known as AIDS has killed over 25 million people around the world. AIDS is said to be caused by the HIV virus, and thus to prevent AIDS one must manage HIV. Yet an increasing number are denying the efficacy of this claim, which leads us to ask:
Which causes AIDS: HIV or poverty?
Topics include why so many HIV positive people can survive on drug “cocktails” without contracting AIDS; what causes AIDS if not the HIV virus; why some believe food and nutrition might be more effective in controlling AIDS than drugs. |
Show #615: THE DENIALISTS - 07-12-2008 (8.79 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Celia Farber, author of Serious Adverse Events: An Uncensored History of AIDS
Subject: HIV / AIDS currently accounts for an estimated 80 percent of all American financial aid to world health and population issues. Yet an increasing number are denying the efficacy of this food chain, which leads us to ask:
Should denialists be denied?
Topics include why some deny commonly held assumptions about HIV / AIDS; what happens to those who deny the commonly held assumptions; and whether denialists should be denied their opinions on HIV / AIDS. |
Show #614: LA DOLCE VITA - 02-12-2008 (8.66 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Ian D’Agata, Director, International Wine Academy, and author of The Guide to the Best Wines of Italy
Subject: Sometimes we simply must break away and go to someplace really special, like Italy, and do something special, like discover the best wines of Italy. And so let’s break away and discover…
Which are the best wines of Italy? (# 614)
Topics include why Italy, which at one time was the epicenter of the world’s wine trade, became a second-string player in that trade; how the diversity of Italian varieties, vintners and terroir affects the selection of its wines; and how to taste and evaluate Italian wines. |
Show #613: THE GREAT DEPRESSION - 22-11-2008 (8.66 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Paul Bonnifield, PhD, author of The Dust Bowl: Dirt, Dust and Depression
Subject: Ask any of those who survived the Great Depression in the 1930s what they ate for dinner and you’ll likely get an ear full, if not a belly full. Their stories lead one to ask…
Who fed the nation during the Great Depression?
Topics include what happened to farmers when the nation’s economy collapsed; how did people feed their families when there was no money; and the difference between the agricultures of then and now. |
Show # 612: THE LAND SNATCHERS - 15-11-2008 (8.73 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Ecologist Virginia Moran
Subject: Foreigners are sneaking in through the wide-open borders of the new world order. Some say the visitors are “invasive” and should be removed; others say there is nothing that can be done about them and we must therefore accept them. This leads us to ask…
Should we tolerate non-native plants?
Topics include whether non-native plant species should be called “invasive;” what kinds of impact non-native species can have on native environments; and whether non-native species should be tolerated or eliminated. |
Show #611: A WILDLIFE GENOCIDE - 01-11-2008 (8.69 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Scott Horsfall, CEO of the California Leafy Green Products Handlers Marketing Agreement and Jo Ann Baumgartner, Director of the Wild Farm Alliance
Subject: In the leafy green fields of the nation’s salad bowl, growers are killing off wildlife. One grower was reported to have poisoned his ponds to prevent frogs from hopping around his fields. This leads us to ask…
Can wildlife be allowed to exist in agriculture?
Topics include how E. Coli changed agriculture in the nation’s salad bowl; why growers of leafy green foods are killing off wildlife; and whether wildlife can be allowed to exist in agriculture. |
Show #610: OUR $10 TRILLION BILL - 25-10-2008 (8.69 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Vicky Markham, Director of the Center for Environment and Population, and Steven Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute
Subject: We have spent more than we earned and now must borrow $10 trillion from our children to keep from going belly up. To make it easier for children to pay our bill, we could have more children, and allow for more immigration. This leads us to ask…
Should we increase population to pay our debt?
Topics include how a growing population can rescue a sick economy; what happens to individuals when a country manages its population; and what can happen to a culture when population is not managed. |
Show #609: THE HOWLING - 18-10-2008 (8.6 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Jay Bodner, Natural Resources Director of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, and Suzanne Asha Stone from Defenders of Wildlife
Subject: The howling of the wolves is both exhilarating and terrifying: exhilarating if you are a city person in need of the wild; terrifying if you are a country person in need of the civil. This howling leads us to ask…
Can wolves co-exist with livestock
Topics include the re-introduction of wolves into the American West; the listing, de-listing, and re-listing of those wolves as endangered species; and whether wolves can co-exist with domestic animals and the people who raise them. |
Show #608: GUERRILLA GARDENERS - 11-10-2008 (8.65 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Mr. Stamen, from LA Guerilla Gardening and Steve Frillman, from New York City Green
Subject: Cities, like forest fires, grow out from an ignition point, consuming land. Unlike burned forests, however, new growth does not willingly spring from inner cities. Enter gardeners who, with or without permission, plant new life in that no man’s land. These green guerrillas lead us to ask…
Who owns the city’s no-man’s land? (#608)
Topics include why inner cities become stagnant; what gardens bring to neglected cityscapes; and what right, if any, do individuals have to plant gardens in the neglected property of others. |
Show #607: WAYNE HAGE'S WAR: PRIVATE PROPERTY ON PUBLIC LANDS - 04-10-2008 (8.58 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Wayne Hage’s daughter, Rebecca Morrison, and a representative from the Sierra Club
Subject: The federal government owns approximately one-third of the land in the United States. One day, rancher Wayne Hage went to war with the government over his right to graze livestock on that public land. Wayne Hage’s war leads us to ask…
Should private property be allowed use of public lands?
Topics include why a property dispute between a Nevada rancher and the federal government turned into a 30-year war over property rights; what impact this war has on the private use of public property; and whether private parties should be able to use public property. |
Show #606: WHEN POLITICS TRUMPS SCIENCE - 27-09-2008 (8.52 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Gary Paul Nabhan, author of Where Our Food Comes From
Subject: Sometimes politics trumps science. It happened during Stalin’s “Land Reform” and Mao’s “Great Leap Forward.” Fortunately, it can’t happen here! Nonetheless, we pause to ask…
What happens when politics trumps science?
Topics include a profile of Russia’s legendary seed collector Nikolai Vavilov; what happened when Vavilov was trumped by Stalin’s Agriculture Secretary, Trofim Lysenko; and what you and I might learn from one of history’s great starvations. |
Show #605: - 22-09-2008 (8.68 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Elizabethtown College Professor Don Kraybill and carpenter Emmanuel Schwartz
Subject: While we pull our plows with giant diesel-burning tractors, they pull theirs with teams of grass-eating horses. Speeding by, we look out the window and think, ‘How quaint.’ But somewhere down the road we pause to ask….
Why the Amish boom midst all our secular gloom?
Topics include a brief look at the culture of the Amish; why the Amish community has doubled its population in the last 16 years; and what lessons, if any, we city people can learn from the Amish. |
Show #604: A MATTER OF INCHES - 13-09-2008 (8.7 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Paul Shapiro from Yes on California Proposition 2 and Matt Sampson from No on 2
Subject: Some say its best to raise food animals in cages. Others say cages are cruel and should be enlarged. In California, this matter-of-inches debate is coming up for a vote. And so we ask…
Should animal cages be enlarged?
Topics include how animal husbandry has evolved into an industry that produces a large amount of food from a small amount of space; why some believe this model ethical, while others think it cruel; and what might happen to the industrial model if a law is passed to enlarge the cages. |
Show #603: GAMMA GOOD FOOD - 06-09-2008 (8.78 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Sarah Klein, and Food and Water Watch’s Tony Corbo
Subject: The Food and Drug Administration will now allow for the bombardment of of fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce with gamma rays, thus allowing you and I to safely eat greens grown thousands of miles away. Some protest this move by the FDA, and so we ask…
What’s wrong with irradiation?
Topics include how deadly pathogens enter our food chain via fresh greens to sicken and kill; how radio active gamma radiation will be used to kill the deadly pathogens, thus making infested foods safe to eat; and why some object to irradiation. |
Show #602: DEFIANT GARDENERS - 30-08-2008 (8.62 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: University of Oregon Professor Kenneth Helphand, Author, Defiant Gardens
Subject: When times get tough, the tough get growing… gardens. From the trenches of World War I, to the Warsaw ghetto and Japanese internment camps of World War II, to the desert sands of Iraq, individuals have turned ruin into garden. And so we ask…
What else grows in gardens?
Topics include how some individuals defy war by planting gardens; a look at some of the defiant gardens of World Wars I and II, and of the recent conflicts of the Middle East; and what else grows in gardens besides plants. |
Show #601: BLUEFIN: COCAINE OF THE SEAS - 23-08-2008 (8.62 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Richard Ellis, Author, Tuna: A Love Affair
Subject: Recently, a Hong Kong restaurateur purchased one fish for $55,700 at a Tokyo fish market. This kind of feeding frenzy led Marine Biologist Barbara Tuck to call bluefin tuna the “cocaine of the seas,” and leads us to ask…
Can farming save our wild fish?
Topics include a look at one of the most magnificent fish in the sea; how that fish came to be worth tens of thousands of dollars each; and what we the people can do, if anything, to keep from killing the thing we love. |
Show #600: WHO WILL FEED US? - 16-08-2008 (8.6 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Open Microphone / Audience Participation
Subject: Special occasions are cause to pause for reflection. And so, on the occasion of our 600th edition of the Food Chain Radio program, we pause to reflect on…
Who will feed us in 25 years?
Topics include how we, as observers of the food chain, think events now shaping news will affect the future of food; what changes we think might come to change the productivity of the food chain; and who will feed us in 25 years. |
Show #599: AN EXTRA EFFORT? - 10-08-2008 (8.64 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: University of Minnesota Professor Jeff Gillman, author of The Truth About Organic Gardening
Subject: One study says organic food is better than conventional food. The next study says there is no difference between organic and conventional. These studies lead us to ask…
Is organic food worth the extra effort?
Topics include what differences exist, if any, between organic and conventional production technologies; why so many scientific studies on organics point in so many different directions; and whether organic food is, or is not, worth the extra effort. |
Show #598: A WAITER'S RANT - 02-08-2008 (8.69 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: The Waiter of Waiter Rant
Subject: We all enjoy having someone tend to our every need while dining out with family or friends. But who are those people who reach into our intimacies with a butter dish? And, hey…
How much should we tip the waiter?
Topics include outrageous behaviors of restaurant owners, managers, staff, and customers; how to get good service and food when dining out; and how to ensure a saliva-free entrée. |
Show #597: IS SMOKEY HOKEY? - 26-07-2008 (8.77 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: David Carle, author of Introduction to Fire
Subject: “Fire is a natural part of the environment, about as important as rain and sunshine. Fire has always been here and everything good evolved from it.” - Dr. Harold Biswell
Dr. Biswell leads us to ask…
Should we prevent forest fires? (#597)
Topics include a brief discussion about the nature of fire; how fire was used throughout history to manage the environment; and whether we should, or should not, prevent forest fires. |
Show #596: FUTURE OF OUR FOOD - 19-07-2008 (8.63 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Paul Roberts, author of The End of Food, and Mark Winne, author of Closing the Food Gap
Subject: We now live in a world where everything costs much more today than it did yesterday. This leads us to ask,
Who will feed us tomorrow?
Topics include how rapidly inflating prices will affect the food production systems of agriculture; which population segments might suffer food shortages; and what can be done today to ensure a secure food chain for tomorrow. |
Show #595: MIND OR STOMACH? - 13-07-2008 (8.55 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Fredrick Kaufman, Author, A Short History of the American Stomach
Subject: They say you can tell a lot about a person by the way they eat their food. If such is the case, we must be able to tell a lot about a nation by the history of its stomach. This leads us to ask,
Which has exerted the most control over our nation’s history: mind or stomach? (#595)
Topics include how the Puritans used hunger to effect social control; the conflict between the mind in our brain and the mind in our stomach; and reasons why we Americans have become so obsessed with our food. |
Show #594: TED'S FOOD SEARCH - 29-06-2008 (8.69 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: California restaurateur, and National Restaurant Association board member, Ted Burke
Subject: When the U.S. Air Force wanted to determine which of its dining facilities was best, it called on California restaurateur Ted Burke, and made him, for the moment at least, the equivalent of a major general. This leads us to ask… Can an institution serve good food?
Topics include Burke’s world-wide search for the best Air Force dining facility; the differences between institution and restaurant dining; and whether an institution can overcome its institutionalism and serve good food. |
Show #593: THE 1.3 BILLION PERSON APPETITE - 22-06-2008 (8.58 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Harwood Schaffer, Research Associate with University of Tennessee’s Agriculture Policy Analysis Center
Subject: We have, for the most, lost the ability to make things for ourselves, and so must buy those things from China. Flush with our cash, the people of China can now afford to buy the foods that have made us tall and strong. This leads us to ask…
How will China’s 1.3 billion-person appetite affect our food chain?
Topics include the emergence of China as a force in the marketplace for the world’s natural resources; the impact China will likely have on world food prices; and how debtor nations will be able to compete with creditor nations for the world’s food. |
Show #592: FOOD OR FUEL II - 14-06-2008 (8.62 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: David Blume, author of Alcohol Can Be A Gas, and Ohio State Professor of Natural Resources Rattan Lal
Subject: As the world’s oil cartels squeeze us for our last dime, we look for relief to an economy fueled by carbohydrates instead of hydrocarbons. But this leads us to ask, “Which is first, food or fuel?”
Topics include a look at whether corn ethanol can save our economy; what alternatives there might be to corn ethanol; and whether we should use food as fuel. |
Show #591: BIG CITY BEES - 04-06-2008 (8.92 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Urban Beekeeper Kirk Anderson
Subject: Bees are so sensitive they appear to die at the first sign of trouble. As such, they have become the canaries in the mine of our environment. But this leads us to ask, “Why are bees thriving in the unnatural environment of Los Angeles?”
Topics include the difference between keeping bees in the city and in the country; how urban bee keepers are creating communities of bee people in cities around the world; and what it takes to become involved in urban bee keeping. |
Show #590: SEASONS OF THE FATS - 24-05-2008 (8.39 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Susan Allport, author of The Queen of Fats,
Subject: Some time ago, omega-3 fatty acids were removed from the Western diet. As these fatty acids are an essential part of our body’s chemistry, we now suffer accordingly. And so we ask, “What happened to omega-3’s?”
Topics include the relationship of essential fatty acids and the seasons of the sun; why omega-3 fatty acids were removed from the western diet and the consequence of that loss; and what, if anything, can be done to return this essential nutrient to our diet without depleting the oceans of fish. |
Show #589: A FAILING FOUNDATION - 17-05-2008 (8.66 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Ray Cesca, President of the World Agriculture Forum, and Rav Patel, author of Stuffed & Starved
Subject: Agriculture is the foundation upon which we build all our sandcastles. This foundation appears to be failing as the hungry riot for food in 37 developing nations. And so we ask, “Why can’t the world’s hungry feed themselves?”
Topics include the causes of the world’s food shortage and the extent thereof; the impact food shortages have on society; and what, if anything, can be done to feed the hungry. |
Show #588:AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DINNERS - 04-05-2008 (8.82 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Authors Bill and Cheryl Jamison
Subject: Sometimes we simply must get away, and what better way, to get away, then to eat our way around the world?
Topics include how a meal’s set and setting affect how we experience that meal; what to watch out for when out around the world; and some memorable meals in exotic locations. |
Show #587: MEXIFORNIA - 26-04-2008 (8.63 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Victor Davis Hanson
Subject: We feed ourselves with the cheap labor of foreign hands. But this leads us to ask, “How expensive is cheap labor?”
Topics include how immigration is changing the social fabric of California and the United States, how immigrant labor from Latin America is different than immigrant labor from other parts of the world; and what our future might be as we continue to feed ourselves with the cheap labor of foreign hands. |
Show #586: - 19-04-2008 (8.51 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Human Geographer Jennifer Blecha and Animal Breeder Richard Gradwohl
Subject: The price city people pay for animal protein is going through the roof. And so we ask, “Can livestock be raised in the city?”
Topics include the emerging trend of raising animals for food in the city; which animals are most conducive to being raised in a metropolitan environment; and the obstacles municipalities construct to obstruct the raising of animals for food. |
Show #585: END OF CHEAP FOOD - 12-04-2008 (8.35 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Paul Elerick, Internatonal Food Broker
Subject: Money is down. Food is up. Riots are hot! And so we ask, “What happened to cheap food?”
Topics include how the dollar is losing its value along the world’s food chain; why the price of the world’s food has risen an estimated 83% in three years; and how, as some predict, half the world’s population may soon go hungry. |
Show #584: INVASION OF THE INVASIVES - 05-04-2008 (8.6 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: David Theodoropoulos, author of Invasion Biology, and Lori Williams, Executive Director of the National Invasive Species Council
Subject: It seems as though invasive species are finding their way everywhere in our new world order of wide-open borders. This leads us to ask, “Should we tolerate or eliminate?”
Topics include whether non-native species should be called “invasive species;” whether non-native species can wreak irrevocable harm on native environments; and whether invasive species should be tolerated or eliminated. |
Show #583: KILLING THEM SOFTLY - 29-03-2008 (8.7 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Thomas Wittman, President of Gophers Limited and Dr. Myles Bader, author of Club the Bugs and Scare the Critters
Subject: This from a concerned citizen: “No… Don’t spray! Just do not spray. No more chemicals. No pesticides. No bad stuff on my food, our community, our health!” Okay. But wait! What about the pests?
Topics include whether pests should, or should not, be managed; how agriculture, horticulture and home gardening has come to parting of the ways on how to manage pests; and whether pests can be managed “humanely.” |
Show #582: TO SPRAY OR PRAY? - 22-03-2008 (8.64 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: California Department of Food and Agriculure Secretary AG Kawamura and CDFA entomologist Dr. Bob Dowell
Subject: To spray or not to spray: that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the insatiable appetites of outrageous apple moths or, by opposing them with synthetic pheromones, end them.
Topics include why controlling the LBAM has become so problematic for CDFA; how CDFA will attempt to operate within the competing demands of federal and local governments, and national and international markets; and what might happen to the nation’s salad bowl should CDFA fail in its attempt to manage the LBAM. |
Show #581: WHICH WAY TO GROW? - 15-03-2008 (8.63 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Judith Redmond from the Community Alliance with Family Farmers and a spokesperson from the Specialty Crops Farm Bill Alliance
Subject: One side says we must eliminate all of the natural elements that can harbor deadly E. coli 0157:H7. The other side says we must encourage those natural elements to grow healthier food. This leads us to ask: “Which way should we grow?”
Topics include why we came to a fork in the road to growing leafy greens in the nation’s salad bowl; why the 2007 Farm Bill has become the focal point in determining which way we will grow; and what the decision will mean to the nation’s leafy green farmers and consumers. |
Show #580:CAGED FOR LIFE - 08-03-2008 (8.62 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Anita Mengels from Californians for Sound Farm Animal Agriculture and Paul Shapiro from the Humane Society’s Factory Farming Project
Subject: We have learned to raise more animals in less space by confining them in ever-smaller cages. Some now say we are confining animals in cages that are simply too small. This leads us to ask: “How small is too small?”
Topics include the evolution of animal agriculture from farm to factory; the ethics of raising animals in cages; and who, or what, should govern the size of those cages. |
Show #579: FARMS IN THE CITY - 03-03-2008 (8.49 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Milwaukee’s Grow Urban and New York City’s Make Brooklyn Bloom farm conferences
Subject: Six decades ago, farms began leaving the city for greener pastures. Today they are returning. This leads us to ask: “Can farms and cities prosper together?”
Topics include reasons why farms locate in or near a city; why cities tolerate the growth of crops in their midst; and whether farms and cities can indeed prosper together. |
Show #578: BEYOND THAT KITCHEN DOOR - 23-02-2008 (8.55 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Retired restaurant inspector Roger Houston and restaurateurs Michael Clark and Chip Kirchner
Subject: Topics include a 38-year history of restaurant inspections; common and uncommon kitchen faults; and how restaurant inspectors decide where to eat when they eat out.
Topic include... |
Show #577: THE BIG DRY - 16-02-2008 (8.65 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Australian Hypnotherapist Rick Collingwood
Subject: They say that hope springs eternal, but sometimes it doesn’t! Consider, for one example, the farmers of Oklahoma, who lost their soil to the wind when rain stopped falling during the 1930s.
Topics include the impact prolonged, record-setting drought is having on farm communities of Australia; what governments can do to ameliorate their situation; and how Collingwood uses hypnotherapy to help farmers manage severe stress. |
Show #576: COOL is Coming! - 09-02-2008 (8.48 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Tom Buis, President, National Farmers Union
Subject: Imagine the surprise when it was revealed that a Taster’s Choice selection for best frozen spinach came from China! And so we ask, “Should manufacturers be forced to reveal a food’s source?”
Topics include a look at who is responsible for the safety of food; why Congress passed the Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling law in 2002; and how industry has prevented the enactment of COOL for the past six years. |
Show #575: MARK ON THE BEAST IV - 02-02-2008 (8.76 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: United States Department of Agriculture Under Secretary Bruce Knight
Subject: The National Animal Identifiication System, or NAIS, is a new government program that seeks to register each premises in the United States that harbors farm animals, and then to track the movements of each of those animals from birth to death. This leads us to ask, "What impact will NAIS have on the production of food in the United States?"
Topics include the purpose(s) for which NAIS is being established; how NAIS will operate at national, state, local and individual property levels; and what impact the program will likely have on the production of food in the United States. |
Show #574: COFFEE BREAK - 28-01-2008 (8.82 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: author / coffee roaster Dean Cyclon of Orange, MA
Subject: Many of the big issues of the day– globalization, immigration, women’s rights, pollution, self-determination– are associated with the production of coffee. And so we pause to ask, “What’s in your cup?”
Topics include a brief look at the1500-year history of coffee; how coffee has become the second most traded commodity on earth, and the impact that trade has on the people who grow coffee; and a trek through Ethiopia, Summatra, New Guinea, Peru and other coffee growing regions. |
Show #573: MARK ON THE BEAST III - 19-01-2008 (8.7 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Vermont farmer Sharon Zecchinelli and Missouri farmer Doreen Hannes
Subject: o stop animal diseases, like avian flu, from sweeping through the nation’s 1.4 million farms, the Federal government has established a National Animal Identification System. NAIS asks all farmers and hobbyists who husband animals to voluntarily register their premises with government and keep track of the movements of each of their animals.
Topics include how a voluntary Federal program is becoming a mandatory state program; why small farmers believe NAIS will drive them, and their support industries, out of business; and how NAIS may discourage individuals from raising their own food. |
Show #572: ENERGY FROM LIFE - 12-01-2008 (8.75 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Juan Enriquez, founder of Harvard Business School’s Life Science Project, cofounder of Synthetic Genomics and managing director of Excel Medical Ventures
Subject: Every link in the food chain is affected by energy prices, and energy prices are going through the roof. This leads us to ask, “Can we produce cheaper energy?”
Topics include how 86% of our energy comes from hydrocarbons; why we have traditionally relied on chemistry to process that hydrocarbon energy; and how biology might allow us to greatly reduce the costs of hydrocarbon energy. |
Show #571: TABASCO ROAD - 20-12-2007 (9 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guest: Jeffrey Rothfeder, Author, McIlhenney's Gold
Subject: Peppers, salt and vinegar. That is not all there is in that little red bottle of Tabasco Sauce, there's also 140 years of American history and we're going to pour it out!
Topics include the two versions of how Tabasco Sauce was invented; why only the McIlhenney family can make Tabasco Sauce; and how the McIhenney family business kept the McIlhenney family together through 140 years of American history. |
Show #570: A RUN FOR THE HONEY - 20-12-2007 (8.87 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Douglas Whynott, author, Following the Bloom
Subject: They are the last to freely move livestock across the great American landscape. But since their livestock is not cattle, perhaps we should call them... beeboys and beegirls!
Topics include how one in three bites of food we eat is made available by bees; what kinds of adventures are experienced when commercial bee keepers move their hives back and forth across the country in search of nectar; and how the business of bees works. |
Show #569: WHO'S IN CHARGE? - 15-12-2007 (8.99 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guest:Caroline Smith DeWaal, Director of Food Safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest
Subject: Consider Michael Olson's Irrefutable Law of the Food Chain #2: The farther we go from the source of our food, the less control we have over what’s in that food. And so we ask, “Who is in charge of food safety?”
Topics include the distances that are now involved in our daily diets; the impact these distances have on such common food items as meat, vegetables and even pet food; and who, if anyone, is in charge of food safety. |
Show #568: A VINEYARD IN TUSCANY - 09-12-2007 (8.68 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Author Ferenc Mate
Subject: Sometimes we simply must break the pattern– go someplace different and do something different. And so we travel to the Tuscany to establish a vineyard.
Topics include why the Tuscany is attractively "human-scaled;" how starting a vineyard in the Tuscany (and throughout Europe) is different than establishing one in the U.S.; and how one might survive with a small label wine in a world market dominated by big labels. |
Show #567: From Frying Pan into the Fire - 01-12-2007 (8.83 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Sally Fallon, Weston A. Price Foundation
Subject: Essential fatty acids are those that cannot be manufactured by our body, and therefore must be obtained from other sources. But when it comes to eating fats, some say we are now going from frying pan to fire! This leads us to ask, “Where can we find good fats?”
Topics include why we are turning away from trans fats to liquid vegetable oils; what impact liquid vegetable oils will have on our body; and where we should be looking to find good essential fats. |
Show #566: The Garagistes of Jefferson - 29-11-2007 (8.25 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Various Food and Wine producers of the Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon Note: Apologies for the sound quality!
Subject: In 1941 residents of Northern California and Southern Oregon voted to secede and form the State of Jefferson. Though the State of Jefferson now exists only in the mind, its Garagistes maintain their spirit of independence through the production of foods and wines.
Topics include a brief history of how the garagistes of France became the garagistes of Jefferson; what these individuals had to go through to establish their food businesses; and why some of their products are now becoming known throughout the world as the "best of the best." |
Show #565: KING CORN - 17-11-2007 (8.69 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Ian Cheney, Co-Producer, King Corn
Subject: While the heart has reasons that reason does not understand, the heartland has corn– 80 million acres of corn. This leads us to ask, "Should we subsidize corn?"
Topics include why our food chain was transformed from one based on grass to one based on grain; what impact that transformation has had on the culture of agriculture; and whether eating all that corn is good for the body. |
Show #564: A REAL RAW DEAL? - 11-11-2007 (8.95 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Mark McAfee, Founder, Organic Pastures Dairy; California Department of Food and Agriculture declined to appear, saying “We're reluctant to participate in a debate.”
Subject: Along the food chain there are good bacteria and bad bacteria. But California AB 1735 suggests only dead bacteria should be allowed in dairy products. This leads us to ask, “Is raw milk toast?”
Topic include... Topics include why some people prefer raw foods to sterilized foods; how AB 1735 may eliminate the production of raw dairy products; and what future, if any, will be left for those who wish to consume raw dairy foods. |
Show #563: 80% RIGHT! - 03-11-2007 (9.01 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Janice Stillman, Editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac
Subject: “Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get,” said Mark Twain. But when it comes to observing today’s climate in order to predict next year’s weather, The Old Farmer’s Almanac is most always 80% right. This leads us to ask them, “Is the globe really warming?”
Topics include a brief history of why and how the Almanac became a leading predictor of future weather; secrets the Almanac is willing to divulge about its weather predicting technologies; and what next year’s weather will be like across the land. |
Show #562: THE LIES OF LABELS - 27-10-2007 (8.81 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Mike Adams from the Consumer Wellness Center
Subject: You buy the chicken labeled “100% Natural” because you want the best for your family. But up to 15% of that 100% Natural chicken’s weight may be salt water or seaweed! This leads us to ask, “Is there truth in labeling?”
Topics include how labeling laws enacted to protect consumers are often used to mislead them; the different tricks labelers use to hide ingredients; and how to find the lies on labels. |
Show #561: Strawberry-Flavored Prozac - 13-10-2007 (8.89 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Karl Hoffower from the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (American Psychiatric Association declined to participate)
Subject: The anti-depressant drug Prozac is now available in a strawberry-flavored liquid to better serve the 8,000,000,000 U.S. school children that now take psychiatric drugs. This leads us to ask, “What are we feeding our children?”
Topics include why U.S. and Canadian children as young as one year are fed psychiatric drugs; what impact those drugs have on behavior; and whether any alternatives exist that could be used to modify problem behavior. |
Show #560: Got (Organic) Milk? - 06-10-2007 (8.9 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Will Fantle from the Cornucopia Institute and Clark Driftmier from Aurora Organic Dairy (tent.)
Subject: The Cornucopia Institute claims that Aurora Organic Dairy sells milk that is not really organic. Aurora, which produces private label organic milk for Wal-Mart, Target, Costco and Safeway, claims that its milk is indeed organic, and that it has the paperwork to prove it. This family feud leads one to ask, “Can big be good?”
Topic include... Topics include why Cornucopia has leveled charges of impropriety against Aurora; how Aurora is fighting these charges; and whether industrialized dairy farms should be allowed to operate with the “organic” designation.
Question of the Week: Should industrial-scale dairy farms be allowed to call themselves “organic?”
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Show #559: The $100,000,000 Mouse - 04-10-2007 (8.76 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Jay Lehr, Science Director from the Heartland Institute and Kieran Suckling, Policy Director from the Center for Biological Diversity
Subject: The Preble’s jumping meadow mouse has been listed as an endangered species since 1998. Recent genetic tests, however, suggest it may not be a species at all! This leads us to ask, “Should we continue to protect the Preble’s mouse?”
Topics include why the Preble’s mouse was listed as an endangered species; what impact that listing has made on the communities of the Rocky Mountains; and whether new genetic tests should be used to delist the Preble’s mouse. |
Show #558: Preparation 501 - 22-09-2007 (8.94 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Manresa restaraunt's David Kinch and Love Apple Farm's Cynthia Sandberg
Subject: To become one of the top 50 restaurants in the world, you have to serve some of the best foods in the world. Manresa restaurant obtains its foods via the biodynamic technologies of Love Apple farm. This leads us to ask, “Do biodynamics make dollars and sense?”
Topics include what it takes to win a place as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world; how striving for perfection led David and Cynthia down the garden path into the mystical realm of biodynamics; and how close they can get to perfection and still earn a dollar. |
Show #557: Angels in the Pantry - 15-09-2007 (8.89 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guest: University of California Sociology Professor Melanie Du Puis
Subject: We have become a nation of avid readers and nervous eaters. Many write books that tell us how to eat. We read these books because we want to know what is healthy, safe, sustainable and just. This leads us to ask, “Can we eat our way into becoming a better nation?”
Topics include the difference between what we think we should eat and what we actually eat; how angels led the nation into the politics of food; and why we follow food evangelists through their confusing gospels of contradictory advice. |
Show #556: IN THE BAG - 08-09-2007 (8.85 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Judith Redmond and Kira Pascoe from the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, and Scott Horsfall from the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement
Subject: Contaminated spinach has again been recalled from the nation’s grocers. Some now say that industry-developed safety guidelines for farmers of the leafy greens will not solve the problem. This leads us to ask, “Will food safety guidelines protect consumers?”
Topics include the two kinds of farms that produce the nation’s leafy green produce; why one kind of farmer believes the food safety protocols developed by the other will not protect consumers but will harm farmers; and what alternatives exist, if any, to the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement. |
Show #533: Revisiting the Political Pig - 06-09-2007 (8.74 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guest: Dr. Laina Farhat-Holtzman
Subject: The year of the pig has returned to China. This year, however, arbitors of the politically correct demand that the pig totem be covered so as not offend the Muslim minority. This leads us to ask, “Why did the pig become a political animal?” ( Answer in Forum #533)
Topics include the cultures in which the pig is taboo; the theories as to why the pig became a political animal; and how barbequed pork helped saves lives during the religious inquisitions of the Dark Ages. |
Show #555: - 25-08-2007 (9.09 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Eric Haeberli & Phineas Hoang, founders of We Love Jam, and Poppy Tooker of Slow Food USA
Subject: Once a favorite of just about everyone in America, the Blenheim apricot lost out in the race to industrialize our food chain. But a few years ago, one last tree was found in Silicon Valley, and now the race is on to “Eat it to save it!”
Topics include why the Blenheim apricot lost out to modern varieties of cots; how two Silicon Valley residents discovered one last Blenheim tree and made a business of its cots; and why the Blenheim apricot was boarded on the Slow Food USA “Ark of Taste.” |
Show #554: - 18-08-2007 (8.46 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Author / Baker Daniel Leader
Subject: Industrialization has given rise to wonder breads in plastic bags, yet some still hunger for the old ways of fresh local breads. This leads one to ask, “What kind of hunger can only be satisfied with local breads?”
Topics include why local bakers continue to survive in marketplaces dominated by industrial bakers; how location and tradition influence the baking of local breads throughout the world; and how local breads can be reintroduced into communities in which none exist. |
Show #553: HUNGER'S FRIENDS - 11-08-2007 (8.78 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Jennifer Parmelee from the United Nation’s World Food Programme
Subject: Rising food prices… sky-rocketing transportation costs… escalating populations of the hungry… There is a perfect storm of trouble blowing along the food chain, which leads one to ask: How will we feed the world’s hungry?
Topics include why the need for food aid continues to escalate in spite of all that is done to end that need; what impact price increases have on the agencies that feed the hungry; and what, if anything, can be done to end hunger. |
Show #552: Foods of Color - 04-08-2007 (8.87 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Jim Motavalli, editor of E Magazine
Subject: When it comes to food, white could be beautiful, but mostly its not!
Topics include the impact white foods, like sugar and flour, have on our diet; why government policy encourages consumption of white foods; and what foods of color add to our diets. |
Show #551: Buffalo in the House! - 02-08-2007 (8.9 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Author Richard Rosen
Subject: Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam. Wait, what’s this… a buffalo in the house?
Topics include why buffalo were slaughtered to near extinction; how, in the 1850’s, a Texas rancher and wife saved the great herd from extinction; and why the couple’s distant relative nursed a buffalo calf to adulthood in her Santa Fe home. |
Show #550: A Billion Here... A Billion There.... - 21-07-2007 (9.03 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: John Keeling from the National Potato Council and Larry Mitchell from the American Corn Growers Association
Subject: Each year, the U.S. government spends about $90 billion to ensure that its citizens have cheap food. This leads us to ask, “Who should get the $90 billion?
Topics include why governments subsidize agriculture; why 70% of U.S. subsidies go to 10% of the country’s farmers; and which farmers should get the money. |
Show #549: - 14-07-2007 (8.92 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests:David Friedberg from Weatherbill, Michael Loik from the University of California, Mike McGinnis from Agriculture Online, and Ron Wegner from WTXS
Subject: Droughts here, floods there, global-warming everywhere! And so we pause to ask, “Is weather going wild?” And, if so, “How will we grow food?”
Topics include whether, or not, weather is going wild; what impact global warming would have on agriculture; and what food producers can do to protect against wild weather. |
Show #548: From Pilgrim to Pioneer - 08-07-2007 (8.55 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Roger Welsch, co-author, Cather's Kitchens
Subject: With grocery stores near everyone’s front door, getting fed seems to be an easy thing to do. But those stores were not always there, which leads us to ask, “What can we eat that does not come from a store?”
Topics include examples of pilgrim and pioneer foods; how kitchens worked without gas, electricity or running water; and how food ways led to cultural ways. |
Show #547: FOOD OR FUEL? - 30-06-2007 (8.99 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: David Blume, author, Alcohol Can Be A Gas
Subject: Our oil companies have been tossed out of Venezuela, and so we rush to replace hydrocarbons with carbohydrates by planting corn from sea to shining sea. This leads one to ask, “Food or fuel?”
Topics include the extent to which agricultural resources are being diverted from food production to fuel production; what impact that diversion has on the price of food; and whether we can farm for fuel and food. |
Show #546: IS BIGGER BETTER - 24-06-2007 (9.1 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guest: University of California Professor Emeritus Willam Friedland
Subject: When a farmer returned from WWII, he could make a good living-, pay his debts and send his children to college by farming 100 acres of tomatoes. Today, a farmer must grow over 2,500 acres of tomatoes to earn the same good living. This leads one to ask, “Is bigger better?”
Topics include why agriculture pursues economies of scale; what impact those economies have on the people of ag; and what alternatives exist, if any, to size in the production of food. |
Show #545: Samuari, Supermarkets & Sushi - 09-06-2007 (8.76 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Trevor Carson, Author, The Zen of Fish
Subject: It began as a way to preserve old fish, but became a way for millions to eat fresh fish… fast! This leads one to ask, “How did the way of the samurai become the American way to eat sushi-on-the-go?”
Topics include why so many now eat sushi and sashimi; how these foods became American fast foods; and why the preparation of these foods is considered art as well as craft. |
Show #544 : - 02-06-2007 (8.98 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Angela Logomasini from the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Subject: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was so powerful it helped end the use of DDT. But pointing to the millions who suffer from malaria, some now ask, “Should we end the ban on DDT?"
Topics include the extent to which Silent Spring changed environmental policy; the consequences of these changes on birds, mosquitoes and people; and whether these environmental policies should be reconsidered. |
Show #543: 40,000,000 Farmers Needed - 26-05-2007 (8.51 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guest: Richard Heinberg, author of the Oil Depletion Protocol
Subject: Oil allowed us to move off the farm and into the city, where we now eat food that is trucked in from over a thousand miles away. This leads some to ask, “Who will feed us when we run out of gas?”
Topics include the extent to which we currently rely on oil for our daily bread; what might happen to our supply of food should oil no longer be available; what can be done today to prepare for what might happen tomorrow. |
Show #542: COOL is Hot! - 19-05-2007 (8.7 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Bill Bullard from R-Calf USA and Barry Carpenter from the National Meat Association
Subject: Does it matter from where our food comes? Some say “No!” and go their way; others say “Yes!” and demand to know. This leads one to ask: “Should manufacturers be forced to reveal our food’s country of origin?”
Topics include who is responsible for the safety of food; why some believe manufacturers should be forced to reveal the origin of food; and why others believe country of origin labeling to be an unnecessary expense. |
Show #541: Mother's Mercury - 12-05-2007 (8.79 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Caryn Mandelbaum, GotMercury.org / Stacey Reynolds, mother
Subject: We demand so much Made in China that a new coal-burning power plant must be built every week just to keep us satisfied. Mercury emitted from that burning coal wafts high into the air before falling into our water. This leads one to ask: “Can we survive our demand for Made in China?"
Topics include how mercury is accumulated in the food chain; why babies in utero are most vulnerable to mercury poisoning; and what happens when the human body has ingested too much mercury. |
Show #462 Revisted: The Man Who Listens to Horses - 07-05-2007 (8.46 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Monty Roberts
Subject: "Violence is never the answer," claims horse whisperer Monty Roberts. This leads us to ask: How can one break a horse by whispering to it?
Topics include the various techniques for breaking horses; why gentleness works better than violence for modifying behavior; and a consideration of the similarities between children and horses. |
Show #540: What's in a Name? - 29-04-2007 (8.78 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Ronald Eustice from the Minnesota Beef Council and Wenonah Hauter from Food and Water Watch
Subject: Harmful bacteria from fecal matter has been finding its way into our food chain. Those bacteria might be killed with irradiation, yet many object to the process. The FDA suggests industry be allowed to call irradiation “pasteurization.” This leads one to ask, “What’s in the name?”
Topics include why some believe irradiation is the best solution to the problem of contaminated foods; why others believe irradiation is a threat to a healthy food chain; and why the government wants to allow irradiation to be called by another name. |
Show #539: GRANDMA'S WAR KITCHEN - 26-04-2007 (8.69 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Author Joanne Lamb Hayes
Subject: We enjoy a plentiful supply of the best food the world has to offer. But there were times when knuckle of pork was a culinary treat. This leads one to ask, “What will we eat if times get tough… again?”
Topics include how food was rationed during WWII; which foods became the most difficult to obtain; and how people coped with the diminished supply. |
Show #538: 39,000 POISONED PETS - 14-04-2007 (8.72 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Veterinarian Jean Hofve
Subject: We have poisoned 39,000 of our pets by feeding them commercial pet food from 100 different companies. This leads one to ask, “What’s in the food?”
Topics include why so many pets came to be poisoned by so many pet food companies at one time; how one might protect their pets from such an event; and whether what happened to pet food can happen to people food. |
Show #537: THE JOY OF EATING - 08-04-2007 (8.73 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Roger Welsch, Anthropologist and Author of "Diggin in and Piggin Out"
Subject: We city folk have learned to eat skinless, boneless breasts from factory-farmed chickens, and think ourselves intelligent for doing so. This leads one to ask, “What happened to the joy of eating?”
Topics include why men love ribs (and whether women should be allowed to marinate them); how bad food can make a good meal, and good food can make a bad meal; and whether sedentary people can truly enjoy eating. |
Show #536: War in the Salad Bowl - 01-04-2007 (8.57 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Open Microphone
Subject: E. Coli 0157:H7 has precipitated a civil war in the nation’s salad bowl. On one side are those who say all forms of extraneous life should be removed from farms. On the other side are those who advocate for adding more life. This leads us to ask, “Which side will win the consumer dollar?”
Topic include... |
Show #535: A SPRING OF DYING BEES - 24-03-2007 (8.73 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests:Professors Eric Mussen from the University of California, Davis, and Jim Amrine from West Virginia University
Subject: We know what happens with the birds and the bees. But it is the Spring of dying bees, and this leads us to ask, “What happens when there are no bees?”
Topics include why bees are dying in such big numbers this Spring; what might happen to the food chain should we lose our bees; and what solutions might there be to halt the die-off. |
Show #534: Human Rice - 10-03-2007 (8.84 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Karen Stillerman, Union of Concerned Scientists and tentative from Ventria Bioscience
Subject: The Department of Agriculture has approved the large-scale planting of rice containing human genes. This leads one to ask: “Can those human genes be kept down on the farm?”
Topics include why some want to infuse rice with human genes; why some oppose the planting of this rice; and whether the potential benefits of this rice outweigh its potential risks. |
Show #533: - 03-03-2007 (8.74 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Historian Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman
Subject: The Year of the Pig has returned to China. This year, however, Chinese censors have requested that the pig totem be downplayed so as not to offend Muslims. This leads one to ask: “Why did the pig become a political animal?”
Topics include why Moses led his people out of slavery and away from pork; how pigs made it easier to convert heathens into Christians; and how barbequed pork helped people survive the religious purges of the Dark Ages. |
Show #530: HUMANE ANIMALS? - 24-02-2007 (8.8 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Wayne Pacelle, President of the Humane Society of the United States, and Eric Nelson, Director of R-CALF USA
Subject: The debate over the 2007 Farm Bill will include a well-organized effort to ban the inhumane treatment of animals. This leads us to ask: “Can the animals we raise for food be raised humanely?”
Topics include how the industrialization of agriculture has changed how animals are raised; why some believe industrial animal farms are inhumane; and whether there is a humane way to raise food animals that is economically viable. |
Show #531 : - 17-02-2007 (8.77 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: National Farmers Union, Organic Farm Research Foundation and Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance
Subject: Every year, the government hands out $20 billion of our lunch money to those with outstretched hands. This leads us to ask: “Who should get the money?”
Topics include why the U.S. subsidizes its food chain $20 billion a year; who has been given this money; and who now wants in on the action. |
Show #530: BIG GOVERNMENT VRS LITTLE BUGS - 10-02-2007 (8.62 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: California State Senator Dean Florez
Subject: There have been 21 outbreaks traced to contaminated leafy-green produce in the past decade. Many suffered; some died. This leads us to ask: “Can government protect us from bad food?”
Topics include a brief history of E.coli 0157:H7 food contaminations; why some believe government must act to provide food security; and how government’s efforts to protect us would differ from industry’s efforts. |
Show #529: WWOOFING AROUND - 04-02-2007 (8.65 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Leo Goldsmith from WWOOF USA and WWOOFER Rebecca Rukeyser http://www.wwoofusa.org/
Subject: One tragedy of industrial agriculture is that it takes youth off the land and thrusts them into the city, where they find little or no meaningful employment. This leads us to ask, “Where can youth find real work?”
Topics include a history of WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), how WWOOF makes it possible for young and old alike to work on farms and ranches around the world; and what kind of adventures WWOOFing brings. |
Show #528: E.COLI 0157:H7 AND FARMERS - 27-01-2007 (8.71 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Tim Chelling from the Western Growers Association, Dick Nutter, a Farm Bureau consultant and former Ag Commissioner, and Joe Pezzini, VP of Ocean Mist Farms
Subject: In 1982, it appeared on the hamburger patties of fast food. Since then, it has repeatedly contaminated the leaves of leafy greens. This leads us to ask, “Can farmers protect us from E.coli 0157:H7?”
Topics include how agriculture has managed its exposure to E.coli 0157:H7 over the past 25 years; what steps agriculture is taking after the latest contaminations; and to what extent can agriculture protect us from E.coli 0157:H7. |
Show #527: THE POPPY AND THE TEA - 21-01-2007 (9.19 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Mark "Dr. Tea" Ukra
Go to TeaGarden
Subject: Its hard to imagine civilizations coming to blows over two plants, but they did… twice! This leads us to ask, “Will it happen again?”
Topics include the introduction of tea into Europe during the 1600’s; why England’s consumption of tea caused it to war with China over opium; and whether the Opium Wars hold any lessons for modern times. |
Show #526: A CLEAN GREEN MONEY MACHINE? - 13-01-2007 (8.69 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Author John Berlau from the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Subject: We have thrown the pro-business Republicans out of office and replaced them with the pro-environment Democrats. This leads us to ask, “Can we have a clean environment and do business?”
Topics include how environmentalism affects our ability to grow crops and manufacture goods; what relationship exists, if any, between environmentalism and our trade deficit with China; and whether we can have a clean environment while remaining competitive in world markets. |
Show #525: ANOTHER MAGIC OF MUSHROOMS - 07-01-2007 (9 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Author / Mycologist Paul Stamets
Subject: 600,000 homes are attacked by termites each year, costing U.S. homeowners about $1.5 billion. The answer to date has been ozone-depleting methyl bromide. This leads us to ask, “Can nature provide a better answer?”
Topics include a brief look into the world of mycelium; how Stamets discovered that spores from certain mycelium could allow for the control of ants and termites; and how this discovery might lead to a healthier environment. |
Show #486 : - 05-01-2007 (5.04 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Author Mark Kurlansky
Subject: They call it the “Big Apple.” But if history is any measure, it should really be called the “Big Oyster.”
Topics include why the first Europeans found Manhattan Island to be a veritable “garden of eatin;” how the business of early New York City was built, quite literally, on mountains of oyster shells; and what finally happened to end one of the great culinary orgies of all time. |
Show #484 : Local or Organic? - 26-12-2006 (4.78 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Author / Farmer Michael Abelman and Columnist / Farmer Steve Sprinkel
Subject: Some say we should eat foods that are organic. Others say we should eat foods that are local. This leads us to ask, “Which is most important: organic or local?”
Topics include why it is important to know how food is produced; how organic foods and local foods are no longer the same foods; and which is more important to the security of our food chain—foods grown organically or foods grown locally. |
Show # 524: - 18-12-2006 (8.91 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Author & Webmistress Patricia Rain www.vanilla.com
Subject: Its name has become synonymous with that which is boring. This leads us to ask, “Can vanilla be exciting?”
Topics include a look at the vanilla farmers of the developing world; how Ms. Rain became the “Vanilla Queen;” and what is really in the vanilla-flavored “natural” foods we eat. |
Show #523: BIG FOOD - 09-12-2006 (8.87 MB) Listen Now buy cd version
Guests: Alex Avery from the Center for Global Food Issues and Michele Simon from the Center for Informed Food Choices
Subject: Industrial agriculture has been taking the hits lately, with books like Omnivore’s Dilemma, Fast Food Nation and Appetite for Profit throwing the punches. This leads us to ask, “Can big food do the right thing?”
Topics include what relationship exists, if any, between large food corporations and obesity / diabetes; whether large corporations are capable of providing good food; and what alternatives exist, if any, to the corporate form of food business. |
| Show #522: BILLIONS OF BOTTLES OF BUCKS - 02-12-2006 (9.05 MB) |
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