Eating Matters

Are you #LivingOffTips? This week on Eating Matters, host Kim Kessler is talking to Meg Fosque, the National Policy Director of Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United. ROC United exists to improve wages and working conditions for the nation’s restaurant workforce. Meg explains that with over 10 million employees nationwide, the restaurant industry is the one of the largest and fastest-growing private sector employers in the nation. Unfortunately, despite the growth and profitability of the industry, restaurant jobs provide largely low wages and little access to benefits. Meg and Kim discuss exactly how ROC United has made a difference and what the organization’s goals are for the future. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“We try to take a three pronged approach which is affecting cultural change, corporate change, and policy change.” [26:25]

—Meg Fosque on Eating Matters

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This week on the third installment of the Prescribing Food series, host Kim Kessler welcomes Dr. Deborah Frank to Eating Matters, discussing the connection between food and healthcare. Kim asks Dr. Frank about her incredible background and how it led her to found and direct the Grow Clinic for Children at the Boston Medical Center, where malnourished kids and their families are helped by a team of doctors, social workers, and nutritionists. She goes on to share details about Children’s HealthWatch and that while malnutrition in children is not incredibly rare in the United States, it does exist and deserves to be addressed. Later in the show, Kim gets the scoop on the Preventive Food Pantry housed at the Boston Medical Center. The Food Pantry works to address nutrition-related illness and under-nutrition for low-income patients. It fills the therapeutic gap by linking physicians and nutritionists to patients. Individuals with special nutritional needs are referred to the Pantry by Boston Medical Center primary care providers who write “prescriptions” for supplemental foods that best promote physical health, prevent future illness and facilitate recovery. The Pantry is often used by patients with cancer, HIV/AIDS, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, obesity, food allergies and other chronic conditions. Tune in for a great show! This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“Food is medicine.” [28:45]

—Dr. Deborah Frank on Eating Matters

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This week on Eating Matters, host Kim Kessler is talking with Gus Schumacher, Vice President and Founding Board Chair of Wholesome Wave. Wholesome Wave is a national nonprofit that is helping to reshape the American food system by putting entrepreneurial, innovative thinking to work. The organization partners with farmers and farmers markets, community leaders, healthcare providers, like-minded nonprofits and government entities to implement programs that increase affordable access to healthy, locally grown fruit and vegetables for consumers in underserved communities. Gus discusses how the organization began, their mission, highlights from their work, as well as the change they hope to see come about concerning hunger and agricultural issues in the future. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“With 10 to 13 million Americans now insured through the Healthcare Act, that hospitals are now turning to wellness and prevention.” [29:00]

—Gus Schumacher on Eating Matters

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God’s Love We Deliver started in 1985, when Ganga Stone biked over a couple bags of groceries to a friend living with HIV/AIDS. When she realized that he needed more than raw ingredients, she founded God’s Love — an organization that tailors nutritious, health-promoting meals for people living with serious illnesses. On today’s Eating Matters episode—the second installment of the “Prescribing Food” series—the organization’s Director of Policy and Planning Alissa Wassung joins assistant producer Talia Ralph, along with Sarah, a client of God’s Love. The conversation spans how their client base has grown and changed to what progressive policies are happening in New York state to make these kinds of services easier to access. “Food is love,” is one of GLWD’s central tenets, but it is also a powerful tool to make people’s lives easier and healthier as they face cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other serious illnesses. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“We believe that being sick and hungry is a crisis that demands urgent response… We never charge clients for their meals and we will never have a waiting list. ” [5:26]

—Alissa Wassung on Eating Matters

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Do you really know what’s in the olive oil you use everyday? How about the true contents of your morning coffee blend? This week on Eating Matters, host Kim Kessler is joined by Michael Roberts, Executive Director of the newly established Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law. Chatting with Kim about the growing menace of food fraud, the two discuss the definition of food fraud, examples of particular products that tend to be adulterated, and the dangers and concerns associated with this global problem. Given the increasingly global and complex nature of food supply chains, Kim and Michael question why food fraud is acknowledged yet not truly addressed. Tune in for an informative show! This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

“We are trusting the production of these products in the hands of people who cheat.” [21:15]

—Michael Roberts on Eating Matters

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Hospital food often gets a bad rap: it’s often unappetizing, unbalanced, and definitely unhealthy. This week on Eating Matters, host Kim Kessler is addressing the issue head on. After spending over 25 years as a lawyer on the Hill, a healthcare administrator, and philanthropist, Marydale DeBor decided it was time to put delicious, nutritious food at the center of healthcare. Her organization, Fresh Advantage, employs a team of nutritionists, consultants, and other experts to help a range of health providers serve up food that is fresh and healthful. Kim and Marydale discuss how exactly she started Fresh Advantage and the trials and tribulations along the way working with hospitals, patients, and navigating government regulations. After the break, Marydale shares three levels of nutrition intervention that have the benefit of being high-impact and low-cost. Tune in for an informative, new episode kicking off 2015! This program was brought to you by Route 11 Potato Chips.

—Marydale DeBor on Eating Matters

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This week on Eating Matters, host Kim Kessler is ending the year on a high note, sitting down with author, food security expert, and the policy director with the NYC Food Policy Center, Dr. Jan Poppendieck. Initially talking about her recently reissued book, “Breadlines Knee-Deep in Wheat: Food Assistance in the Great Depression,” Jan points out that it was around the time of the great depression where the country became aware of two of today’s important public issues: farm income and hunger. Jan goes on to unravel the interrelated and complex agricultural and assistance policies throughout the years with many notes of good intentions gone bad. Tune in for a great show! This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

—Dr. Jan Poppendieck on Eating Matters

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This week on Eating Matters, host Kim Kessler is discussing school food with guests Laura Benavidez of the Los Angeles Unified School District and Mark Izeman, of the NRDC New York Urban Program. Specifically inspired by the recent story of six of the largest US school districts having switched to antibiotic-free chicken (including Laura’s district), Laura explains that this is intended to protect children’s health. Amid concerns about the rise of bacteria that gain resistance to conventional medicines, Mark shares the specifics of the usage of such antibiotics in food across the country. Under the new standards, all chicken products served in the districts must come from birds that were never fed antibiotics. Kim goes on to talk to Laura and Mark about the big switch, which is expected to take several years as contracts with food vendors expire and meat producers respond to the new standards, among other details surrounding the program. After the break, Dennis Dimick, editor of the food series at National Geographic, joins Kim for a discussion of the series and food issues occurring in the past year. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

—Dennis Dimick on Eating Matters

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This week on Eating Matters, host Kim Kessler is recapping Thanksgiving with guest co-host Michael Melcher and guest Rebecca Morgan, the Executive Director of the Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship (CADE). The group CADE is a non-profit, agricultural development organization serving farmers, cooperatives and agricultural businesses regionally. Established in 1991, CADE has worked to connect producers of specialty farm products to markets. CADE also conducts research on agricultural opportunities and markets with the goal of building a thriving community-based local food system. Talking about foodshed development in the Catskills and surrounding area, Rebecca shines light on the state of local agriculture before commenting on yogurt being named the New York state food with Chobani being in the spotlight. However, she relays that this has not exactly translated to local farm profit. After the break, Kim asks Rebecca to expand on CADE and Lucky Dog Organic Farm recently announcing the Lucky Dog Local Food Hub being selected for funding through the Local Food Promotion Program of the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. Tune in to hear a plethora of information on keeping food sources local from someone in the know, guest Rebecca Morgan. This program was brought to you by The International Culinary Center.

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This week on Eating Matters, host Kim Kessler welcomes Dr. Melony Samuels, the Executive Director of the Bed-Stuy Campaign Against Hunger. Bed-Stuy Campaign Against Hunger (BSCAH) is unique amongst the food pantries in Brooklyn as the first “supermarket-style” pantry. The pantry allows customers to select for themselves both fresh fruits and vegetables and nutritious food items from the pantry shelves. Taking a holistic approach to combating hunger, BSCAH also serves our clients through various social services including job training and education referrals, Food Stamps enrollment, cooking classes, summer camps, pre-HIV testing, diabetes and high blood pressure testing, and financial literacy classes. As the largest food pantry in Brooklyn, BSCAH offers a host of vital services to the over 11,000 clients that they serve a month. Kim asks Melony how she got her start and founded the BSCAH and how she has seen positive change for those helped by the BSCAH. After the break, Melony describes the layout of the food pantry, the process of receiving donations, and her thoughts on current food policy. This program was brought to you by Whole Foods Market.

“I wanted to make sure individuals could be served with dignity.” [17:00]

—Dr. Melony Samuels on Eating Matters

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