Earth Eats

“There’s a restaurant on almost every street in our various cities–they are woven into the fabrics of our communities, and they are deeply embedded in our lives.  Restaurants are the places we go to celebrate marriages, to mourn divorces, the places we go to gossip with friends to celebrate after church and they become these places to hear the stories of their community. They’re talking to the far...

This week on the show, Toby Foster talks with Barbara Henry at the Cincinnati Zoo. She’s the one who figures out what each of the animals need to eat, where to source their food and the best ways to feed the animals to ensure that they thrive.  And, Daniella Richardson talks with the founder of the Indiana Black Loam Conference about obstacles and opportunities for Black farmers in Indiana.

“I’m passionate about the idea that food should not just nurture our body, but should connect us with the land where the ingredients are from. Food should respect and value the techniques of the farmers that are growing those ingredients and the food should also highlight the creativity and the skills of the cooks that are transforming these ingredients. In this little country, we have so many exa...

“A community is not resilient unless those benefits that we have from natural resources, like urban trees, are distributed in a way that all people are benefiting from them. And we do know that we have areas of the city that have lower canopy cover and some of those are associated also with lower income communities and marginalized communities.  And arguably those are the people [who] would be mos...

“Food connects to…for me personally, it’s something that I connect with in ways that are hard to describe at times. Perhaps because I’ve been away from my family, from India, and America has become my home.  But, when a place becomes your home, I think we still keep the things that mean a lot. And I think food is one of the ways–you know? It’s beautiful memories, nostalgia…” This week on the show,...

“After the peace, whenever that comes, we will have land that will have to stay out of production for years because it is so heavily mined or full of cluster bomblets.” This week on the show we talk with geographer Elizabeth Cullen Dunn about the current food landscape in Ukraine. We discuss what the future may hold for farmers and food producers in the region as the war with Russia drags on and a...

“ And she brought two jars of lilacs, like [a] drink made of lilacs. She brought also cups and everybody could try it. It was really something like a miracle for me because I have never thought that it could be drunk in this way.” This week on the show, a story about a community garden in Tallinn, Estonia. We talk with Jerry Mercury, a political immigrant from Russia whose encounter with the garde...

“Speaking directly to Black women and wanting Black women to know that their bodies are not the problem. The way that our bodies are treated and problematized and pathologized, we’re often taught that it’s our fault, that it’s our problem to fix or we just need to love our bodies out of societal oppression.”   This week on the show a conversation with dietitian and author Jessica Wilson about her...

“I just wanted to provide context for folks because I do think that the conversation around plant-based food for the last eight years or so has been pushed toward a more corporate, vertical, lab meat, impossible burgers, beyond burgers, meat substitutes that act like meat and look like meat and has gotten really far away from whole foods and vegetables and legumes and how nice it is to just eat so...

“In terms of what is being discussed right now, I would say the $1.2 trillion dollar elephant in the room is SNAP. And so, the 2023 Farm Bill is estimated to be the most expensive farm bill in US history, over the course of 10 years worth of outlays.” This week on the show we’re talking about the importance of the upcoming Farm Bill.  Our guest is Shellye Suttles, agriculture economist at the O’Ne...

“The goal with the collective is to bridge that gap–so then there is a lot more equity and a lot more opportunity. Because these coffees are incredible and most of the time when they’re coming from people of marginalized identities, those people are ensuring that they’re honoring  the farmers as well–and so the farmers are then getting equitable pay. And so it’s creating that throughout the supply...

“So, I like to say that bees are just like us. So bees have a society, and they live in a built environment, [they have a] little house, just like we have a little house, and they communicate through dance. I don’t know if we communicate through dance, but I think dance is also a thing that humans do…” This week on the show we’re talking with microbiologist Irene Garcia Newton about the beloved ho...

“She looked at my husband and she was like, ‘Jennifer, translate what I’m about to say’ (she doesn’t speak English). She’s like, ‘Tell Derek that I said to please start a website for you and help you spread the word about your cake business.’  And I was like, ‘Grandma, I don’t really know who’s gonna buy a cake from me.’” This week we’re talking with Jennifer Whitely, owner of Cakes by Yenni. She...

 “For me it feels like we live in an age where you look on the news and it just feels like everything is going wrong. And so gardening feels like a small way we can have an actual, tangible, positive impact on the world around us. In a world where it’s easy to feel like everything is just falling apart, it’s a small way to actually see progress.” This week on the show, it’s back to school part two...

“Society has gotten so far disconnected from where their food comes from, that if we can begin with the students, start with children, teaching them how to grow food, they will be much more interested in where their food comes from as they get older. I think that’s a very important part of the process” This week on the show, we talk with Kendall Slaughter, he’s the farm-to-school coordinator for S...

“Preserved they don’t burn, the bitterness softens. California has been burning for years. When I lived in LA, I drank water pumped from Colorado. Lemons from my grandmother’s tree—two orbs, turning in my hands under the faucet—clear, cold, unfiltered…” This week on the show we’ve got poetry and pie.  We talk with the authors of How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies, and we hear from a poet who incorpor...

“And that’s why we call it a food value chain. You know, it’s a supply chain but it’s based on the values that you have as far as how the land is treated, how people are treated, what kind of nutrition contents in your food–all those things [that] people up and down–from the farmer to the consumer have an interest in. And so, this system that we’re developing is about addressing those values and m...

Conversations with a farmer at Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and the owners of Lost Farm Meal Service.

A conversation with geographer Jen Watkins on her experience as a server and her research on the industry.

Huge wooden foeders, wild yeast, and hundreds of pounds of fruit make Upland’s sour beer program one of a kind.

A recent fellowship for young farmers focuses on Black, Indigenous and People of Color in Monroe County, Indiana.

A how-to episode for growing your own figs and for preserving your tomato harvest.

A conversation about a non-profit organization working to build a resilient and equitably green city for all.

A conversation with chef and anthropologist, Nafsika Papacharalampous about changes in high-end dining in Greece, sparked by the financial crisis.

Treatment for eating disorders is often inaccessible and ineffective, especially in communities of color. The founder of Nalgona Positivity Pride has a program that aims to meet people where they are.