What You're Eating

Who is harmed by pesticides? A child eating a big, red, conventionally grown Driscoll’s strawberry. Or a bowl of Cheerios. Or does the chain of harm go back further? To a farmworker, spraying pesticides up and down a row of crops. Or a farming family, living on the land where the crops are grown. Or a community, breathing the air and drinking the water downstream from the farm. Are these foods bad...

Over a hundred years ago, we started drinking soda. Today, soda is part of a larger category called sugar sweetened beverages, that includes energy drinks, Dunkin’ frozen matcha lattes, giant Boba teas and Starbucks strawberry acai refreshers. How did these companies tap into our innate cravings to sell us more drinkable calories than we are supposed to eat in a week? In this episode we explore wh...

When most of us imagine a farm, it’s a little red barn with happy cows, a pig and a few chickens pecking in the grass. We are taught this story when we are children, through board books, the song “Old McDonald” and our ABCs. But do you really know what happens on an industrial farm? Have you ever seen a video made by animal rights activists, of animals in pain and being mistreated? Did you scroll...

On this episode we are joined by Helena Bottemiller Evich and Theodore Ross, the co-hosts of the podcast “Forked.” Every two weeks, they discuss “the politics and policy that are turning the American food system on its head.” For much of the past ten months, they have spent a huge amount of time discussing the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, its connections to de-facto leader, Health a...

If we all ate less meat and more beans, it would be a terrific win for the environment. And that’s not the only thing to love about them! They are very good for you. And satisfying. And versatile. They are also culinary mainstays for a huge number of people from a wide variety of cultures. Beans have all the protein that the protein obsessives want right now. And they are very affordable during a...

Ever wondered how chicken nuggets are made? There’s the question of what’s actually in them — a continual source of jokes since the dawn of their existence — but the ingredients aren’t the only mystery. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, about half a million people work in meat-processing plants, slaughtering livestock and cutting carcasses into parts. In Arkansas, a kind of...

Suddenly, it feels like pistachios are everywhere. From Dubai chocolate to pistachio lattes, croissants, nut butters and more … For two years now, pistachio has appeared on several lists of upcoming food trends. How do these food and flavor trends start? How does a product — once mostly eaten by Middle Eastern Americans but stuck on the sidelines with everyone else — hit the mainstream? Do we plan...

If becoming a vegan ever sounded to you like a joy-less task — like you’d have to give up too much, that you’d miss meat too much, that you’d have to transform into an entirely different person — Matt Halteman has some advice.  As he writes in his book, Hungry Beautiful Animals: The Joyful Case for Going Vegan : "The destination of this journey is an inviting, empowering, and inclusive understandi...

The American bumblebee was once the most common bee species in the United States. Its numbers have declined by 90 percent in the last two decades. The problem is bigger than just the loss of an iconic species. Three-fourths of the food crops humans grow depend on pollinators – bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and more. Industrial monocultures sap the soil. Rampant chemical use poisons our water an...

After the death of her grandfather, writer Brea Baker went looking to understand him and, through him, her lineage. In rebuilding and reckoning with her family tree, she pieced together a personal story that reflected the greater history of Black America. In this episode we talk to her about her book, Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership , in w...

We love our pets — a lot. And there’s a booming business — around $136.8 billion worth of pet food, treats and more reflecting that deep love and connection. Of course, as our pets become more central to our families, we become more and more interested in feeding them well. Gone are the days when kibble and cans were the only foods on offer: Caring and concerned owners can now choose between a diz...

When refrigerators became commonplace in our kitchens, they changed the way we shopped, cooked and ate. But home refrigerators are just “the tip of the iceberg,” as they say — the last step in a long, cold, technologically impressive supply chain of refrigerated warehouses, trucks, trains, boats and planes that brings our produce, milk, meat and more from fields, factories and slaughterhouses to o...

There are a lot of ways to raise animals for consumption — and while some would argue we shouldn’t be eating animals at all, others advocate rooting out the cruelest practices, the ones that cause the most suffering. But how do you measure cruelty? Do some animals deserve to suffer less than others because they’re especially cute or smart? And does your right to enjoy a fancy or delicious meal tru...

Vanilla and Chocolate — the two most beloved flavors in the world — have been linked since the beginning. Both products, the vanilla bean and the cacao pod, originated in Mexico, thousands of years ago, where Aztecs used vanilla to make the bitter cocoa powder in their sacred chocolate drink more palatable. Today these two flavors, in both natural and artificial form, dominate our dessert options,...

For well over a century, the hot dog has been the quintessential dirt cheap, flavorful, all-American meal — a kind of meaty blank slate on which to slather your regional preferences, like slaw, chili, relish or onions. But can a person who cares about what they're eating and the impact their food has on the environment — and animals, and meatpacking workers — eat a hot dog in good conscience? How...

Why does the oyster — amorphous, slimy, hidden in a shell that’s craggier and stranger than that of a scallop or a clam — capture so many food-lovers’ hearts? What exactly is an oyster? Why are most of the oysters we eat farmed? And why, unlike other farmed seafood, are they considered such a benefit to their environment? In this episode, we head to the farm — the oyster farm — and talk to various...

We can see the causes and effects of biodiversity loss all around us: only one variety of banana or pineapple for sale in every grocery store. Or the miles and miles or corn and soy you pass as you drive the roads of Iowa, Minnesota and  Illinois. Or the windshield effect: that there are far fewer dead insects on our windshields as we drive those country roads. Biodiversity refers to the awesome a...

For the conscious consumer, buying local products is a way to shorten that distance between us and what we eat or drink, and maybe even learn more about how it was produced by talking to the people who made it. But what about something like coffee, which doesn’t grow anywhere near those of us living in the continental United States? Do you know where your coffee comes from? And if you do know what...

Maybe you’re concerned about climate change. Maybe you’re worried about how most livestock is raised in inhumane conditions. Or possibly you’re looking to make a change to your diet to be healthier. Whatever your reasons for eating less meat, whatever anyone’s reasons, it’s adding up to significant growth in what is now pretty universally being called “plant-based eating” — an umbrella term that i...

What do you know about a class of chemicals called PFAS? You can’t see them, and you can’t smell them, but they’re there, providing water-resistance and grease-proof protection to burger wrappers and pizza boxes. But PFAS are used for lots more than transporting takeout. They’re used by manufacturers in items ranging from raincoats to contact lenses to toilet paper.  And the chemicals don’t just s...

The good food movement, when it has talked about fast food, has focused on what’s wrong with the industrialized system that produces the burgers and buns and fries, or sometimes the food’s negative health impacts. Occasionally, criticisms have noted the deep ties between McDonald’s and the Black community, sometimes blaming communities of color for making bad food choices, sometimes blaming the fa...

The proliferation of big box stores and giant supermarket chains has changed the face of grocery shopping, taking the place of many locally owned, independent stores and sending profits out to corporate headquarters. Recently, those stores have even started to offer a wide variety of natural and organic foods, threatening the unique contributions of natural food stores and co-op grocers. So, what...

Americans love shrimp. And one of the exciting developments of the past 20 years or so is that shrimp has gotten really affordable. It used to be a luxury food in the form of shrimp cocktails served at a steakhouse or a fancy wedding. Something for special occasions, slightly out of reach. Today, shrimp is the number one most popular seafood in America, and as the price point has come way down, it...

Single-use food packaging is one of our thorniest problems. We need a safe and convenient way to get food home from the store, and we need easy ways to eat and drink on the go. How can we do that in a way that does not create so much waste? How can we do it in a way that does not put our bodies at risk from the harmful chemicals and additives used in so much of that packaging? In this episode we l...

In the past decade, demand for eggs has grown, but the kind of eggs we are looking for has changed during that time, too. Consumers are eager to know if the chickens had enough space to move around. Were they cage-free? Free-range? Pasture-raised? Organic? In response to those questions about where those eggs come from and how those hens lived out their lives, egg cartons and the labels and claims...