The Food Chain - What's Eating What Radio

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

“You never let a serious crisis go to waste.” Rahm Emanuel

Five banks now hold 56% of all the money. One grocer now sells 25% of all the food. One website now sells 33% of everything sold online. And so we ask…

When President John F. Kennedy issued the challenge: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” many asked…

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 loo

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…

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?” T

Topics include why the U.S. Congress enacted Country of Origin Labeling; why the World Trade Association authorized sanctions against the U.S. for COOL; and which organization should countrol what U.S. citizens may know about their food. Guest: Micha

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 ag

Though the cannabis plant– aka hemp, marijuana– has been illegal since 1937, it is now the foundation upon which many legal businesses are built. This leads us to ask…

In 2006, government launched an campaign to eliminate raw milk. In 2010, raw almonds have been banned from the shelves of grocery stores. Today we ask…

Guests: Kyle Olson, of Education Action Group, and Chef Jamie Smith, of Food Smith

12 million Americans are allergic to food, and 6 million of them are children who cannot yet fend for themselves. Allergic reactions to food range from dermatitis to death. This leads us to ask…

Twenty to Thirty million are now unemployed, and yet farmers can’t find enough people to work on their farms. This leads us to again ask…

This little pig went to market. This little pig stayed home. This little pig went to Las Vegas for a taste of filet mignon. Those pink porkers of Vegas lead us to ask…

Though seven out of every ten Indians depend on income from farms, they are selling off their farmland to the world’s corporations. This leads us to ask…

The fight is on for California’s water, with the salmon fishery extinct, 600,000 acres of prime farmland abandoned, tens of thousands out of work, and food banks distributing food from China. And so we ask…

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 paper

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 dest

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%

Where there were many seed companies, there are now but few. Their consolidation of the gene pool leads us to ask…

We can grow corn for food, and we can grow corn for fuel; but when we grow corn for food and fuel, both will cost more. This leads us to ask…

We developed the first antibiotics in the early 1930’s and, with the help of their magic, spread across the earth like mold in a Petri dish. This leads us to ask, “From where do antibiotics come?” And, “Will they come in time?&#82

When the nation was young we raised children on farms and gave them chores to do. Now we raise children in cities and give them allowances to spend. This leads us to ask…

In 1990, a loaf of bread cost $.70; today, the loaf costs over $3.00. Incomes, however, have not been growing at the same rate, and thus the true cost of food is going “through the roof.” This leads us to ask…