Food Heroes Podcast

When did you realize that you are white?

Most white adults can’t recall an incident when they became aware of their race. But all Black parents have that conversation with their children at some point, and it often doesn’t start with a good experience.

In the latest episode of #foodheroespod, Abena Foli recalls the time when her friend’s daughter asked “Mommy – am I brown?” Her 5-year-old daughter had experienced her first brush with racism, which prompted the first of many conversations her mother would have.

It’s a reality and a privilege of existing as a white person: we are rarely compelled to face racism unless we choose to. And making that choice to have the hard conversations is…well, hard.

Abena was gracious enough to share her experience with us in the latest episode of Food Heroes Podcast. I encourage you to listen and take action on her advice! 

Corn is in nearly everything we consume. But how did that happen? And why? Charles Wiley, aka the Corn Man, initiates this conversation through storytelling and music!

In this episode, we talk about where we learn about our food systems, Charles’s vision for Corn Man, and the ripple effects of thoughtful conversations.

I go on quite the rant in this solo episode. I read a post on istagram from the Thrid Space CAnteen that got me fired up about the role we can each play in creating a more locally-focused food experience. Lots of observations as we all realize our food system isn't as secure as we believed. Never think you are too small to be an agent for change!

Distance between the farmer and the consumer is not just a problem in the U.S. In Italy, small towns and villages often have just one major grocery store, and people don’t question the convenience of it. “They choose the brand because they trust the brand,” Sonia Massari tells me, “but they don’t know enough about the origin of the food or where the food comes from.” 

As the director of Gusto Lab in Rome, she encourages students to compile stories rather than conduct surveys in order to learn about what people need. Listen to this episode to learn what food access looked like during quarantine in Italy, the similarities and differences between Italy and the U.S., and why she emphasizes empathy as the foundation of her research method.

“It’s not charity forever.” I interviewed Mary McLaughlin from Trees That Feed to learn more about how her organization fights poverty, hunger, and climate change. Her childhood memories on her father’s farm in Jamaica inspired her to save the world by planting food forests!

We talk about all the delicious forms of breadfruit, how she and her husband developed a solar-powered dehydrator, and how Trees That Feed encourages self-reliance through agro-forests.

There’s nothing more alienating than not being able to share a meal with family and friends.
But with the vegan tortellini and ravioli from Eat Nice Foods, Paul Cantagallo and his wife Nell are
uniting all dietary choices around the dinner table. Learn more about their journey to veganism, the
state of the filled pasta industry, and how our cravings for comfort food can bring us together.

Fishermen in Maine have seen shrimp, oyster, and mussel populations rapidly disappear due to fluctuating water temperatures. As a result, their primary source of income is lobster - but that’s at risk as well.

Briana with Atlantic Sea Farms helps fishermen diversify their income with kelp farming. But she had to ask herself “How do you make the kelp industry look like the lobster industry so that lobstermen can participate?”

In this episode, Briana and I talk about the state of the lobster industry (as of October 2019), how kelp farming combats climate change, and why she is proud to be a Mainer (even though she can’t call herself one).

It is April 2 2020 and we are under a "stay in place" order from the governor of Florida. How are you coping with Covid 19? What changes do you think will stick or will it be business as usual once the threat passes? In this solo episode K80 shares updates on past and future interviews and what she is doing to make the most of social distancing and self-quarantine.

Join us for a conversation about climate grief with our guest Carmen Ostrander. Carmen shares some tips on coping with climate grief and introduces the idea of radical reimagining as a way to boost our creativity to build a future we want to see.