Eating Matters

On this brand new episode of _ Eating Matters _, solo host Jenna Liut is taking on Chipotle Mexican Grill, who has been dealing with a spate of food poisoning outbreaks since this past summer.  Until recently, Chipotle has been seen by many as the “darling” of the restaurant industry – championing fresh, local ingredients and sustainably-raised meat. In doing so, Chipotle has managed to do the seemingly impossible – make a national fast-food chain with more than 1,900 locations – feel healthy and wholesome.  Their tagline, “food with integrity,” helped the company reach a market valuation of nearly $24 billion.  Jenna welcomes two food safety and food law experts, Bill Marler and Michael Roberts, to the the show to dig into what exactly has been going on with the chain and what the potential repercussions are from a legal and regulatory standpoint.

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_ Eating Matters _ is back for it’s 4th season as hosts Kim Kessler and Jenna Liut welcome Helena Bottemiller Evich and Chuck Abbott to recap the biggest stories in food policy that broke in 2015.  Helena is a senior food and agriculture reporter for POLITICO Pro while Chuck is a Contributing Editor at the Food and Environment Reporting Network. Between the genetically modified salmon dubbed ‘frankenfish’ to the Food Safety Modernization Act to the WHO labeling processed meat as carcinogenic to humans, both guests relay that this has been quite a newsworthy year!  Tune in to catch up on the headliners you may have missed!

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Wrapping up the radio season, Eating Matters hosts Kim Kessler and Jenna Liut are talking kids menus – where they came from and how they reflect the state of the broader food environment and culture in America today.  Kids also represent a highly targeted and sought after portion of the consumer population.  With the rise of kids menus came marketing to children, which really took off starting with the first ever ‘happy meal,’ in the 1970s.  Today marketing food to kids specifically is a multi-billion dollary industry and many believe is responsible in part for the high rates of obesity and diet-related disease.  Helping to further delve into these issues and possibly policy solutions are Austin Bryniarski, George Weld, chef and owner of Egg, and Jennifer Harris, the Director of Marketing Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity.

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_ Eating Matters _ is taking a new angle this week as Kim Kessler and Jenna Liut are taking on pet food. What is best – dry or wet? Should pets be vegan? Can you trust your veterinarian’s opinion? Tune in for a fascinating discussion on the ethics and cultural opinions surrounding Fido’s dinner featuring guests Craig Giammona, Jackson Landers, and Celia Kutcher.

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“Product of Mexico” – an all too common sticker on many tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers arriving in the USA by the ton, found in your local grocery store. This week on _ Eating Matters _, Kim Kessler and guest co-host Evan Hanczor is on the line with reporter Richard Marosi who is behind the Pulitzer Prize nominated investigative series Product of Mexico featured in the Los Angeles Times, heavily commenting on the conditions that Mexican agricultural workers face. Richard emphasizes the poor conditions endured throughout their lives and the corporations that are to blame, though these corporations claim their Mexican suppliers have committed to decent treatment and living conditions for workers.  Tune in to this important show for more and learn how to take action.

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Today on _ Eating Matters _, hosts Kim Kessler and Jenna Liut welcome Dr. Robert Lustig to the show talking about America’s over-consumption of sugar as well as its implications on the country’s health.  A pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and one of the foremost childhood-obesity researchers, Dr. Lustig shares how he became involved with the sweet research as well as other interests that have played into his clinical observations.  Is all sugar created equally?  Should we go as far to consider sugar poisonous to the body? Tune in for this truly informed discussion for more!

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Tune in for a special partnered episode of _ Eating Matters _ and _ The Farm Report _ as hosts Kim Kessler and Erin Fairbanks are on the line with the United States Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary, Krysta Harden.  Recently announced, the Department of Agriculture announced a commitment to prioritize $5.6 billion over the next two years within USDA programs and services that serve new and beginning farmers and ranchers. Deputy Secretary Harden also announced a new, tailored web tool designed to connect burgeoning farm entrepreneurs with programs and resources available to help them get started.  With the the American farmer reaching on average 58 years old, the next generation of farmers and ranchers is imperative to the future of feeding the country.  What are the challenges for new farmers?  How has the role of women evolved in farming?  How is the USDA looking to help?

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This week Eating Matters is talking food waste with Dana Gunders and Emily Broad Leib. Dana Gunders is an NRDC Staff Scientist focused on Food and Agriculture. She works on market and policy oriented initiatives to promote sustainability throughout food systems and supply chains. She leads NRDC’s work on reducing food waste and is the author of a widely distributed report “Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40% of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill”. She also recently co-authored a report called The Dating Game, revealing how confusing food dates lead to food waste in America. Emily Broad Leib is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, as well as Deputy Director of the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. She co-founded and directs the Center’s Food Law and Policy Clinic, the first law school clinic in the nation devoted to providing legal and policy solutions to nonprofit and government clients in order to address the health, economic, and environmental challenges facing our food system. Broad Leib is recognized as a national leader in Food Law and Policy. Emily’s project, “Reducing Food Waste as a Key to Addressing Climate Change,” was one of seven chosen from around the university to confront the challenge of climate change by leveraging the clinic’s food law and policy expertise to identify systemic solutions that can reduce food waste, which is a major driver of climate change. Tune in for this informative show!

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This week on _ Eating Matters _, hosts Kim Kessler and Jenna Liut welcome Leanne Brown to the studio, author of Good and Cheap, a free PDF cookbook for low-income and Food Stamps recipients.  Leanne explains that while the project may have started as her graduate thesis, it became much bigger than that to the point where she made the book available as a free PDF download to ensure the recipes make it into the hands of those who can’t afford a copy. Everyone should eat great food every day. Eating well means learning to cook and means banishing the mindset that preparing daily meals is a huge chore or takes tremendous skill.  Tune in for an inspiring episode!

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Is it possible to eat a nutritious, healthy diet on a budget?  Is healthy food too expensive, or too cheap? These are the big questions on this week’s episode of Eating Matters with host Kim Kessler and co-host Jenna Liut.  With these concerns creating fault lines among food advocates, some of which have said that Americans need to spend more of their income on food, it raises concerns about those who can’t currently afford enough good food to eat.  On the line, Kim and Jenna welcome two experts, Parke Wilde (Associate Professor, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University) and Marlene Schwartz (Director, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, University of Connecticut), for a thorough discussion surrounding these questions.

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