Explore every episode of the podcast Feed: a food systems podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plant protein without pretending | 24 Sep 2026 | 00:30:26 | |
What if the future of plant-based food isn't about faking meat, but inventing something entirely new? We go inside a student hackathon at Wageningen University (WUR) and follow the winning concept from whiteboard sketch to test kitchen to campus cafeteria. Along the way, food scientists and student organizers weigh in on the potential for the food industry to not always try to imitate meat. This episode was produced in collaboration with Wageningen Alt Protein Project (WAPP). Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Guest
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Melania Zanforlin. Produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Bonus. The hidden costs of biosecurity | 23 Jul 2026 | 00:25:44 | |
After the 2018 African Swine Fever outbreak led to the culling of over a hundred million pigs, China moved toward larger, more biosecure, high-rise hog farms. Human geographer Ray Chan takes us inside these operations. He argues that biosecurity isn't only about preventing disease. He calls it a form of governance, deciding whose risk gets prioritized and how both people and animals are expected to behave. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guest
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Bonus. The futures of China's countryside | 09 Jul 2026 | 00:41:55 | |
China's countryside isn't heading toward one future. Sociologist Forrest Zhang walks us through four different scenarios: suburbanizing villages turned tourist destinations, industrial-scale grain belts managed by smart phones, intensive vegetable farms facing a looming labor crisis, and aging villagers returning to subsistence farming. We explore the shift from socialist to capitalist agriculture, and ask whether the next era may take a "sustainability turn,” a door opened by a shrinking population, food oversupply, and a rising public health crisis. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Listen to China's Food Future (Part 1). Guest
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Bonus. China's food future | 25 Jun 2026 | 00:44:21 | |
China is currently the world's largest importer of agricultural products, buying 60% of globally traded soy. But a 2026 consultation paper by SystemIQ argues China may be approaching a turning point. In the coming decades, China could shift from being a net food importer to net food exporter of animal proteins. We dive into the analysis with the paper's authors to see how plausible that scenario might be, what it would take to get there including the role of alternative proteins in that future, and what might be the implications for global food systems. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Read the consultation paper: China's Food Future (SystemIQ, 2026) Guests
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Feeding 1 in 6. Small mighty fish farms | 11 Jun 2026 | 00:50:55 | |
In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping's government decided not to regulate its fishing sector. What grew out of that space was extraordinary. Today China produces 76 million tonnes of seafood a year, and a mounting environmental cost. This episode follows the small farms and the global infrastructure that connects them, and asks what happens when a government tries to course correct a system it deliberately set loose. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guests
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Sound mixing by Martin Palmqvist. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Feeding 1 in 6. Who grows the rice | 03 Jun 2026 | 00:43:31 | |
One-third of the world's rice is grown in China, on less than a fifth of the world's rice-growing area, by farmers whose average age is over 55, in a countryside that is slowly emptying. This episode asks how that's possible, and how much longer it can last. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guests
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Sound mixing by Martin Palmqvist. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Feeding 1 in 6. Vertical pork | 28 May 2026 | 00:59:28 | |
Today China produces roughly half the world's pork. Getting there required swine genetics from multiple continents, feed from Brazil, and a disease outbreak that wiped out hundreds of millions of animals. This episode asks how they did it, and what that cost - to the household pig, to the smallholder farmer, and to ecosystems thousands of kilometers away. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guests
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Sound mixing by Martin Palmqvist. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Feeding 1 in 6. Can you feed the people? | 21 May 2026 | 00:37:46 | |
In sixty years China moved from catastrophic famine to feeding 1.4 billion people. This episode asks how that transformation happened - and what it set in motion. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guests
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Sound mixing by Martin Palmqvist. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Feeding 1 in 6. China and the future of food (Trailer) | 13 May 2026 | 00:01:25 | |
In sixty years, China has moved from catastrophic famine to now feeding one in six people on the planet. Following three foods - pork, rice, and fish - this series traces a transformation that has emptied the Chinese countryside, reshaped ecosystems from Brazil to the South China Sea, and produced the high-rise hog farm model that is being exported across the world. We examine the competing priorities driving this transformation, the distributed costs and benefits, and what it means for the rest of the world. "Feeding 1 in 6: China and the future of food" arrives in this feed on 21 May 2026. | |||
| US Soy Farmer on “I can only control the things I can control” | 02 Apr 2026 | 00:33:58 | |
Soy looks different depending on where you sit. For Ryan Britt, who's farming soy, corn, wheat and cattle on over 2,000 hectares in North Central Missouri, it's the crop that reliably pays the bills. In 2025, Ryan found himself squarely in the middle of a global trade story he had very little control over. We talk about what he can control on the farm — cover cropping, no-till, rotations — and why he still advocates for farmers even when he'd rather be on a tractor. Register for the Bolivia soy webinar here For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Episode edited and hosted by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Volts: Can fake meat solve climate change? | 05 Mar 2026 | 01:30:03 | |
After several hype years, plant-based and cultivated meat have faced growing skepticism. Lately, the media has written obituaries. And the market value is declining. Bruce Friedrich, founder and president of the Good Food Institute, offers a different view: the long view. Friedrich joined clean energy reporter David Roberts on the Volts podcast to discuss his new book, Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity’s Favorite Food—and Our Future. It’s an honest conversation about a difficult topic, that's well worth listening to. Shared here on Feed with permission. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Subscribe to the Volts podcast Read Bruce Friedrich's new book: Meat | |||
| The meat question | 05 Feb 2026 | 00:19:21 | |
Why can reasonable people look at the same evidence on meat—and still eat very differently? Matthew Kessler shares a personal essay reflecting on his time working on livestock farms, conversations with experts across all sides of the issue, and on his own on-and-off relationship with eating animals. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Episode edited and hosted by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. Tangle Essay: What we disagree about when we talk about meat TABLE Podcast: Meat: the four futures TABLE Report: Meat, Metrics and Mindsets | |||
| Agroecology and Sustainable Intensification: the values beneath the science | 22 Jan 2026 | 00:26:01 | |
What does “sustainable agriculture” actually mean, and why do scientists disagree about it? This episode explores how two influential scientific discourses - Agroecology and Sustainable Intensification - start from different values, ask different questions, and often talk past each other. Drawing on an interdisciplinary study at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, ecologist Riccardo Bommarco and ethicist Helena Rocklinsberg examine how those different approaches shape research, priorities, and solutions. The conversation turns to what might change when scientists begin to listen to each other across divides. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Episode edited and hosted by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| The future of food retail, made simple | 11 Dec 2025 | 00:34:04 | |
Most industries have a clear roadmap for transformation. The power sector goes renewable. Cars go electric. But food and agriculture? The world’s most impactful—and most damaging—industry still has no shared path to transformation. Food sustainability consultant and retail expert Mike Barry argues that the future of food hinges on one counterintuitive idea: simplification. And he explains how AI, smarter data, and design can potentially speed up change. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Episode edited and hosted by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Can we eat better without paying more? | 20 Nov 2025 | 00:27:01 | |
Instead of tell people what to eat, what if we changed what food costs? With Jörgen Larsson (researcher from Chalmers University), we explore a cost-neutral tax reform, one that makes healthier and climate-friendly food cheaper without raising the overall grocery bill. We break down how it works, why it matters, and how to frame it in ways that avoid predictable backlash. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Episode edited and hosted by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| A three course meal in 2050 | 30 Oct 2025 | 00:34:16 | |
We invite you to a three course meal in 2050, where climate breakdown has reshaped what and how we eat. Each of the courses is designed to provoke questions about the future of food through taste, visuals, and a bit of discomfort. It’s a story about eating possible futures — and noticing which ones feel delicious, or unsettling. In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of how the meal came together. Bon appétit. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guests
Episode hosted by Jack Thompson. Produced by Jack Thompson and Matthew Kessler. Edited and mixed by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Hunger on our doorstop (Part 2) | 09 Oct 2025 | 00:36:13 | |
Hunger on our Doorstep is a two part podcast about food poverty in the UK. It explores the issues and potential solutions through the eyes of three food campaigners with firsthand experience of food poverty in urban communities, as well as others working to tackle the problem. The often bleak picture of poverty, inequality and exclusion painted in episode one contrasts with inspiring stories of the solutions being put into practice across the country in episode two. This podcast is produced by TABLE with the support and contribution of the Food Foundation, a charity focused on changing food policy and business practice to ensure everyone, across the UK nations, can afford and access a healthy and sustainable diet. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guests
Host
Episode edited and produced by Richard Kipling, Ruth Mattock and Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Can we change what a society eats? (with Sarah Lake) | 18 Sep 2025 | 00:32:03 | |
What if changing what we eat wasn’t about persuasion, but about reshaping everyday food choices? With Sarah Lake, CEO of Tilt Collective, we explore how meat and ultra-processed foods came to dominate U.S. diets – and how Tilt Collective is building a future where healthy and sustainable foods compete on convenience, price, and accessibility. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guest
Episode hosted, edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Why food needs a systems approach (with Corinna Hawkes) | 04 Sep 2025 | 00:24:23 | |
What do Yorkshire beaches, Sierra Leone’s new food strategy, and New York City school lunches have in common? For Corinna Hawkes, they all shaped her journey toward understanding how systems shape food. In this episode, we trace her path from a childhood fascination with shifting sands to her current role at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Along the way, we ask: what does it actually mean to ‘take a systems approach’ to food? What type of leadership skills are needed to fix food systems today? And why do the best solutions sometimes require slowing down, not speeding up? For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Read the report: Transforming food and agriculture through a systems approach (FAO, 2025) Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guest
Episode hosted, edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Hunger on our doorstep (Part 1) | 31 Jul 2025 | 00:38:41 | |
"Hunger on our Doorstep" is a two part podcast about food poverty in the UK. It explores the issues and potential solutions through the eyes of three food campaigners with firsthand experience of food poverty in urban communities, as well as others working to tackle the problem. The often bleak picture of poverty, inequality and exclusion painted in episode one contrasts with inspiring stories of the solutions being put into practice across the country in episode two. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guests
Host
Episode edited and produced by Richard Kipling, Ruth Mattock and Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions and Pixabay. | |||
| What is food solutionism? And why does it limit us | 12 Jun 2025 | 00:40:24 | |
Why are we drawn to simple fixes for the complex challenge of feeding the world sustainably? Researchers Colin Sage (formerly Cork University) and Garrett Broad (Rowan University) unpack what we're calling "food solutionism"—the tendency to promote single, sweeping solutions, whether high-tech or agroecological, while ignoring context and complexity. They argue for "complicating the narrative early and often", so we can move beyond binary thinking and better understand the trade-offs, limits, and realities behind competing visions for the future of food. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Read the The Blue Sky Thread that prompted this episode Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guests
Host
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler and Jack Thompson. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Food Systems, Rice and Power in Southeast Asia (with Thin Lei Win) | 22 May 2025 | 00:30:40 | |
Why does Myanmar, often called the "rice bowl of Southeast Asia," continue to struggle with high rates of malnutrition? In this episode, journalist Thin Lei Win helps us unpack how political decisions, land ownership, and regional power dynamics shape food systems in Myanmar and beyond. We explore how issues like palm oil expansion and rice production connect to wider challenges around climate and biodiversity—and why lasting change remains difficult without addressing structural inequalities. Still, there are reasons for cautious optimism. Thin shares why she’s inspired by a new generation of journalists and activists working toward more just and sustainable food futures across Southeast Asia. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Check out and subcribe to Thin Ink Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guest
Host
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler and Jack Thompson. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Is this the future of food? (with Michael Grunwald) | 10 Apr 2025 | 00:47:17 | |
Can humanity feed nearly 10 billion people without frying the planet? That question is at the heart of journalist Michael Grunwald’s provocative argument in Sorry, This Is the Future of Food, his recent New York Times essay and the basis of his forthcoming book, We Are Eating the Earth. He warns that we’re clearing an acre of rainforest every six seconds to grow more food — and even if we quit fossil fuels, we won’t avert climate chaos unless we fix how we use land. In this episode, Grunwald makes the case that high-yield industrial agriculture, for all its flaws, might be our best chance to grow more food on less land. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Pre-order We Are Eating the Earth by Michael Grunwald. Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org Guest
Host
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler and Jack Thompson. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Perils of Populism and Precarious Promise of Regenerative Agriculture (with Ken Giller) | 20 Mar 2025 | 00:25:12 | |
Can we have more honest conversations about the future of food and agriculture? That’s the plea from Ken Giller, recently retired professor at Wageningen University, after four decades of witnessing both progress and setbacks in supporting farmers worldwide. We discuss the dangers of populist narratives that oversimplify agricultural challenges, how to reshape research incentives to embrace complexity and nuance, why he opposes carbon credit schemes for farmers, and more. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/ Guests
Host
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| TikTok masculinity and the Tradwife (with Feminist Food Journal) | 27 Feb 2025 | 00:39:20 | |
What else should we consider when shifting to natural, whole foods—beyond just their health benefits? Feminist Food Journal co-founders Isabela Bonnevera and Zoë Johnson explore the deeper questions: whose labor makes these diets possible, who can afford them, and how culture and experience shape our food choices. We dive into these issues and uncover how a simple "natural foods" search on TikTok exposes striking gender dynamics. For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
Host
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| From horses to AI: how fossil fuels shaped agriculture (with Jennifer Clapp) | 13 Feb 2025 | 00:33:32 | |
Is the battle over who controls and owns agricultural data one of the most important—and least discussed—fights in 21st-century farming? In this conversation, Jennifer Clapp (prof at the University of Waterloo and member of IPES-Food) explores the deep ties between fossil fuels and our food system, tracing their influence from fertilizers and pesticides to farm mechanization and digital agriculture. She unpacks how fossil-fueled inputs have shaped—and continue to shape—modern farming. For more info and resources, please visit our episode webpage.
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| Is a Fossil Fuel Free Food System Possible? (Live recording at ORFC) | 30 Jan 2025 | 00:50:49 | |
We gathered in Oxford to ask: Is a fossil free food system possible? 3 panelists: a farmer, an economist and biodiversity researcher, shared their expert perspectives. What technologies are on the horizon? What uncertainties do they bring? Is it better to farm differently, eat differently, plug in better tech, restrain environmentally damaging practices of food and agribusinesses, or all of the above? This series is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.
Produced by Matthew Kessler, Robbie Blake and Chantal Clément. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions. View a 90 minute video of the full panel discussion Learn more about the Oxford Real Farming Conference | |||
| 7. Transitioning to fossil free food | 05 Dec 2024 | 00:47:38 | |
What would a food system free of fossil fuels look like by 2050? What insights surprised the experts featured in this series? And what trade-offs must we navigate to shape this future? In our final episode, we shift from acknowledging the 'fossil fuel problem in food' to exploring actionable solutions. This series is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.
Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| 6. Fossil fuels in our kitchens | 28 Nov 2024 | 00:47:39 | |
Fossil fuels are hiding in plain sight in our kitchens—powering stoves and cooling refrigerators, plus they're fueling supply chains. They shape how we cook, eat and connect with food. In this episode, we explore how to reduce reliance on fossil fuels in home and commercial kitchens. What counts as a 'clean' cooking fuel in Malawi versus the United States? And what would it take to transform the energy grid powering our food systems? Researchers, chefs, and activists weigh in. This series is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.
Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| 5. Ultra-processed foods, plastics, transport | 21 Nov 2024 | 00:54:46 | |
When we talk about the future of food, we usually picture what's growing in the fields or what's on our dinner plates. But maybe we should pay a little more attention to everything happening in between. Processing and packaging consumes the largest share of fossil fuels in our food system— more than 40%. Our growing reliance on ultra-processed foods, and plastics across the supply chain is making food production more energy-intensive than ever before. This series is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.
Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Fossil fuels, food, and Columbus’s wicked legacy (with Raj Patel) | 14 Nov 2024 | 00:32:57 | |
What are the hidden costs of our current food system and its deep reliance on fossil fuels, a system that burdens citizens with financial, health and environmental consequences? With Raj Patel, research professor at the University Texas at Austin and IPES-Food panel member, we cover this and Christopher Columbus's wicked legacy, middle-class environmentalism, and what a food system free of fossil fuels could look like. We thought this extended interview with Raj Patel was so compelling we wanted to share it in its entirety. For more info and resources, please visit our episode webpage.
Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| 4. Farm machinery, precision agriculture, big data | 07 Nov 2024 | 00:40:01 | |
Fossil fuels are woven into nearly every aspect of modern agriculture - from powering farm machinery to creating plastics and supporting data-driven tech like precision agriculture. But what would it take to reduce or even eliminate their use on farms? We dive into both replacement technologies and transformative food production methods like agroecology, exploring the obstacles and limitations of scaling different solutions. This series is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.
Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| 3. Do we need fossil agrochemicals to feed the world? | 31 Oct 2024 | 00:48:28 | |
Since 2020, over 120 million tonnes of nitrogen fertilizer have been produced annually—a number set to rise by 50% by 2050. It’s easy to assume this is non-negotiable, that without it, we’d face a food crisis. But do we really need all this fossil-based input? As it turns out, there are many ways we can reverse this trend - from curbing overuse and adopting alternative technologies to rethinking our diets and transforming farming practices. We explore a range of options to ease our dependency on fossil fueled agrochemicals. This series is powered by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food.
Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| 2. The rise of fossil fuels in our food | 24 Oct 2024 | 00:43:45 | |
How did fossil fuels become so embedded in our food systems? We trace this journey from the industrial extraction of guano, through the game-changing Haber-Bosch process, to today’s globalized food system. Along the way, we uncover the hidden impacts on biodiversity, farmworkers, and our oceans—revealing the true cost of this reliance on fossil fuels.
Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| 1. There's fossil fuels in our food?! | 24 Oct 2024 | 00:37:14 | |
“For many of us, how fossil fuels are integrated across the food chain is highly invisible.”
Produced by Matthew Kessler, Anna Paskal and Nicole Pita. Edited by Matthew Kessler. Audio engineering by Adam Titmuss. Cover art by The Ethical Agency. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Introducing Fuel to Fork | 16 Oct 2024 | 00:00:34 | |
When we bite into a juicy apple, barrels of crude oil and natural gas cylinders might not spring to mind. But fossil fuels are the hidden ingredient behind all of our food. For every calorie that ends up on our plates, around 10 calories of fossil fuels are used. From the diesel powering the tractors to the fertilizer in the field and plastic packaging, fossil fuels are the lifeblood of the food industry. | |||
| What biodiversity do you care about? | 10 Oct 2024 | 00:34:46 | |
Are food systems allies or enemies in the fight to save biodiversity? With our planet facing a biodiversity crisis, the answer depends on who you ask and what forms of life we prioritize. We speak with farmers, biophysical modelers, and biologists to explore whether producing food and conserving biodiversity can be achieved at the same time. We also discuss how our diets impact biodiversity, whether farming without soil can be better for biodiversity at large, and what it would take to effectively "shrink" the food system.
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| Animal welfare and ethics (with Tamsin Blaxter) | 05 Sep 2024 | 00:49:24 | |
How do philosophers, animal welfare scientists, and farmers differ in their understanding of what a good future for farmed animals looks like? TABLE researcher Tamsin Blaxter discusses the complex relationships between humans and non-human animals and how these connections shape our food choices. We talk about who gets to speak with authority on these topics, the connections between scientific research and animal welfare regulations, and our own experiences with eating and not eating meat. Read TABLE explainer: Animal welfare and ethics in food and agriculture (2024) Register/watch TABLE event Rethinking animals in agriculture: welfare, rights and the future of food (10 September 2024)
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| Valuing nature in our economies (with Adan Martinez Cruz) | 22 Aug 2024 | 00:28:46 | |
Environmental economist Adan L. Martinez-Cruz (Senior Lecturer at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), argues that markets are a fundamental aspect of human society. He suggests that assigning a monetary value to natural resources can provide environmental benefits and create economic incentives to achieve them. In this episode, we discuss concept of non-market valuation, consider whether nature has inherent value, and examine whether markets are the best way to ensure fairness in the cost of food for both consumers and producers.
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler and Ylva Carlqvist Warnborg. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| There is no master metric for biodiversity (with Ville Lähde) | 15 Aug 2024 | 00:40:23 | |
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler and Ylva Carlqvist Warnborg. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Nature knows best: Naturalness in the Ultra-Processed Foods Debate | 08 Aug 2024 | 00:53:44 | |
The idea that more natural food – food which hasn’t been transformed by human and industrial intervention – is best for us is a powerful one. Psychologists have found a strong preference for that which is “natural”, even when people differ in what they understand that term to mean. But naturalness is a muddle – we are often signalled by advertising to see heavily manufactured foods as “natural”; the pioneers of cereal manufacturing were the greatest advocates of “natural” food in the early 20th century; and it’s rare that crops, which have been manipulated by human breeding over millennia, are seen as “unnatural”. | |||
| Presenting "Less And Better?: Ep 1: Its Complicated" | 11 Jul 2024 | 00:34:11 | |
It feels like one of the biggest questions of our time: what do we do about meat? Rather than choosing either extreme – business as usual, or ruling out meat altogether – some people suggest the best approach is one of ‘less and better meat’. But how much less is ‘less’? And which meat is ‘better’? How do we even begin to answer these questions? "Less and Better?" is an eight-part podcast series co-hosted by Katie Revell and Olivia Oldham at Farmerama Radio. Listen to the rest of the series here or wherever you get your podcasts. | |||
| Women Scientists from Global South on Food Security (Part 3) | 27 Jun 2024 | 00:25:53 | |
500 scientists from 60 countries gathered at the 5th Global Food Security Conference in Leuven, Belgium. Instead of saying, "you had to be there," we bring you voices and reflections from the conference. Host Matthew Kessler recorded dozens of interviews, asking experts what key messages they want to deliver to those with the power to change food systems, what are the economics of food systems transformation, and which solutions to make food systems more resilient deserve more attention.
Conference Organizers
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Economics of Food System Transformation (Part 2) | 13 Jun 2024 | 00:40:20 | |
500 scientists from 60 countries gathered at the 5th Global Food Security Conference in Leuven, Belgium. Instead of saying, "you had to be there," we bring you voices and reflections from the conference. Host Matthew Kessler recorded dozens of interviews, asking experts what key messages they want to deliver to those with the power to change food systems, what are the economics of food systems transformation, and which solutions to make food systems more resilient deserve more attention.
Conference Organizers
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Is Global Food Security a Solvable Puzzle? (Part 1) | 30 May 2024 | 00:32:40 | |
500 scientists from 60 countries gathered at the 5th Global Food Security Conference in Leuven, Belgium. Instead of saying, "you had to be there," we bring you voices and reflections from the conference. Host Matthew Kessler recorded dozens of interviews, asking experts what key messages they want to deliver to those with the power to change food systems, what are the economics of food systems transformation, and which solutions to make food systems more resilient deserve more attention.
Conference Organizers
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Is cultivated "meat" unnatural? Is meat today natural? (with Cor van der Weele) | 09 May 2024 | 00:36:03 | |
While many wonder about the technological hurdles preventing cultivated meat from entering commercial markets, fewer ask a more basic question: will people actually eat it, or will they find it too unnatural? In this episode, we're joined by Cor van der Weele, emeritus professor in philosophy from Wageningen University, who has had a front-row seat to the past 15 years of shifting perceptions of this technology. We'll dive into how a philosopher thinks about “naturalness”, what are the public concerns and the idealistic visions of a cultivated meat future, and why mixed feelings about this innovation could be a healthy sign of progress. For more info and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode62
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Does CRISPR make our food unnatural? (with Lauren Crossland-Marr) | 02 May 2024 | 00:29:38 | |
If more and more gene-edited foods become common on our plates, is that a sign of a promising or worrying food future? With Dr. Lauren Crossland-Marr, food anthropologist and host of the podcast A CRISPR Bite, we unpack whether it’s fair to call CRISPR a natural way of "speeding up the breeding" process, whether technological innovations such as gene editing are addressing root causes of food systems challenges, and if there’s space for middle ground on such a polarizing issue.
Resources Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| What's a natural diet? (with Richard Tellström) | 25 Apr 2024 | 00:18:43 | |
What influences the meals we enjoy today? Meal historian and cultural researcher Richard Tellström from Stockholm University suggests that the surrounding natural environments and ecosystems only play a minimal role. Instead, he argues that our choices are primarily shaped by cultural, political and economic forces. This episode dives into the dramatic shifts in Swedish diets over the past century, highlighting how changes such as new food preservation methods in the 1970s, Sweden's entry into the European Union in the 1990s, and shifting cultural trends throughout have redefined what's fashionable, and therefore possible, to eat. This is the second installment of a two-part series, following our first episode with archaeological chemist Amy Styring who investigates what our ancestors ate during periods of significant societal transitions. Listen to Part 1.
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| What's a natural diet? (with Amy Styring) | 18 Apr 2024 | 00:25:37 | |
Around 6000 years ago in Northwest Europe, our ancestors transitioned from hunter-gatherer societies to sedentary farming. How did their diets change during this time? The field of archaeological sciences and chemistry teamed up to shed new light on this question. This is the first of a two-part series. Next week we hear from a meal historian on the role culture plays in informing what we eat.
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||
| Can we eat enough white-tailed deer to restore forest ecosystems? | 11 Apr 2024 | 00:31:08 | |
Is it possible to eat enough white-tailed deer to keep their populations low enough to restore ecosystems? We posed this question to Bernd Blossey, professor at Cornell University who specializes in the management of invasive species and the restoration of disrupted ecological relationships.
Episode edited and produced by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions. | |||