Progressive Hedonist

Leah Thomas, founder of the Intersectional Environmentalist, speaks eloquently about the importance of understanding interrelated systemic inequities and highlights the extraordinary work of Black environmentalists who have inspired her. In October 2024, podcast host Dana Cowin spoke to Thomas about the challenges of working in the eco space. Leah details the powerful effects of infusing joy...

In the ever-evolving world of food tech, Larissa Zimberoff is a uniquely thoughtful, well-informed and rigorous writer who cares about health, nutrition, innovation, taste, climate and soil. On this episode, host Dana Cowin learns about the Silicon Valley startups that are making new foods and trying to solve problems that we may one day encounter. Listen in to learn about the spectrum of tech foo...

LinYee Yuan is the founder of Mold, a platform that "hopes to inspire designers to improve food systems through creative, human-centric solutions." For Yuan, the role of "design" is to ask questions, and on the Progressive Hedonist podcast, she posits several thought-provoking ones: Can we build and power our future using agricultural waste products? Why does something have to last forever to be c...

Bestselling author Dan Buettner has unlocked the secrets of longevity by studying Blue Zones, regions in the world where people live beyond the age of 80. Host Dana Cowin asks Buettner what we can learn from these communities now, and how we can lead long and healthy lives when confronted by environmental chaos. Listen in to hear Buettner’s skeptical response about the power of the individual to e...

How are restaurants contributing to health issues for people and planet? That is one of the motivating questions for Johanna Hellrigl, chef and co-owner of Ama in Washington, DC. On the Progressive Hedonist podcast, Hellrigl shares how her own difficult health journey and the death of her talented chef father led her to create "meals that not only taste good but also feel good."  For her Northern...

Imani Black, founder of Minorities in Aquaculture (MIA), discusses the history—and the future—of Black watermen and demystifies the American aquaculture industry in this episode of Progressive Hedonist with Dana Cowin. Growing up on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Imani is drawn to work on the water, and along the way discovers her family’s own connection to the challenging local seafood industry. As sh...

One of the best-known chef-environmentalists in the world, Dan Barber of Blue Hill Stone Barns shares his thoughts on how prioritizing deliciousness can improve the world. On this podcast, Barber dives into the benefits of growing food for flavor-first increased nutrition and soil health. He also digs in deep about why he launched a seed company, how we can improve on the accepted farm-to-table mo...

Cocktail consultant Kelsey Ramage of LA’s Trash Collective is an expert in making divine drinks from items that would ordinarily be thrown away. After noticing the obscene amount of fresh produce tossed out at a hotel where she was working in London, she began to develop cocktails with ubiquitous leftover lemon and lime rinds. She went on to create the Trash Tiki tour showcasing the delicate uses...

Andrew Zimmern might be best known for eating things like coral worms in Samoa and horse rib and rectum sausage in Kazakhstan, but when podcast host Dana Cowin caught up with him on Progressive Hedonist, he had clearly begun focusing on a new kind of food adventure. He now spends a lot of time addressing issues around sustainability, including producing the extraordinary documentary  Hope In the W...

Isaias Hernandez is a young climate activist whose background, education and insights make him one of the most prominent eco-communicators of his generation. A child of Mexican immigrants, he grew up in LA next door to polluting chemical companies, and went on to study Environmental Science at Berkeley. He soon realized that the language around environmentalism was so inaccessible he could hardly...

A pioneer of farm to table restaurants in America, chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse takes us back to the beginning of the regenerative organic movement in California and brings us to the present day, highlighting her non-profit Edible Schoolyard and her commitment to teaching kids how to cook and grow food. Waters also describes school-supported agriculture as one important way we can invest in o...

Chef Douglas McMaster, a leader in the zero waste food movement, shares his insights into how to become more connected with nature. The result is experiencing greater pleasure and understanding of the systems that undergird our lives. McMaster went on to create Silo, the first zero waste restaurant in the world, now open in London. Every aspect of the restaurant from the physical space to the food...

With fierce intelligence, wit and an easy charm, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, author of the instant best-seller “What If We Get It Right?” stresses the urgency of implementing existing solutions to the climate crisis. For her book, Johnson interviewed 20 experts and on Progressive Hedonist, she shares their insights with host Dana Cowin. Listen in to hear about the importance of local and regional...

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