This week, with the world's forests burning from the Amazon to Indonesia, we’re revisiting a 2017 episode about the future of food—the production of which, whether beef or palm oil, has caused an unprecedented number of deliberate fires. Centuries of colonialism and resource extraction have transformed continents and the waters between them. Oceans are rising and acidifying, resulting in the extinction of some species and the proliferation of others. What will the act of eating be like 30 years from now? Fifty? One hundred? To imagine that future, we’re joined in this episode by a novelist and a chef—Alexandra Kleeman and Jen Monroe—who dreamed up what a dinner party might look like in the future, on the border between science fiction and reality … and then threw that dinner party, in the corner of a Brooklyn restaurant.

Go beyond the episode: 

• Read about the indigenous fight against Jair Bolsonaro and his agribusiness interests in the Amazon
• Check out Bad Taste, Jen Monroe’s experimental food project, and read this article from “Balling the Queen,” a series of essays and dinners exploring honey bees, consumption, and collapse
• Read “Choking Victim,” a short story by Alexandra Kleeman
• Explore the unusual artistic encounters of The Bellwether, which put on The Next Menu, and read Jordan Kisner’s essay on the massive aspen grove threatened by climate change

Tune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek. Follow us on Twitter @TheAmScho or on Facebook.

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Have suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes! Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman.

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