Instacart co-founder Max Mullen goes head to head with Glen's Garden Market founder Danielle Vogel in #LunchAgenda's first live on-air debate, about the future of the grocery distribution industry. Over the past five years, we’ve seen mega-retailers like Target and Walmart become increasingly significant players in the grocery space and come to sell even more organic food nationally than natural-oriented grocery chains. We most recently have watched Amazon’s take over of Whole Foods lead to changes in the chain’s product assortment, and pilots of cashier-less grocery stores.

So what should we as consumers expect next? Will brick and mortar grocery stores continue to be a viable model, or will customers increasingly stay home and order our food online? And most importantly for Lunch Agenda listeners, who believe in voting with our dollars, which model do we want to use for getting groceries to our homes 10, 20, and 50 years from now?

This episode is supported by Compass, the future of real estate in the Metro DC Area and beyond. Discover it at compass.com.

Food comes from people--and often a whole lot of people are needed to get it to our plates. "DC Produce Man" José Morales of Keany Produce & Gourmet unveils a link of the food system that's often hidden from the consumer: distribution! So much of what customers see on the grocery shelf or on our restaurant plates has to do with distributors like Keany. José's experience growing up with immigrant parents who picked tomatoes and other produce in the fields, plus his own summer jobs planting cauliflower in California's Central Valley, have deepened his appreciation for how farmers plant, how they harvest, and who the people are that do the harvesting.

This episode is supported by Compass, the future of real estate in the Metro DC Area and beyond. Discover it at compass.com.

First question on today's #LunchAgenda: where are the women in bread?? We shared theories before diving into the history of grain agriculture and milling in the Mid-Atlantic, and exploring how farmers might revitalize a local grain community moving forward. Kiko welcomes Steve Dryden, Executive Director of Friends of Peirce Mill (located in DC's Rock Creek Park) to the studio, along with Jason White, a University of Maryland researcher who studies efficiency and environmental implications of grain agriculture, and spearheads the Grassroots exhibition at the US National Arboretum.

This episode is supported by Compass, the future of real estate in the Metro DC Area and beyond. Discover it at compass.com.

SEYLOU Bakery & Mill opened three months ago in the Shaw neighborhood of DC, and the town has been lining up for their bread and pastries. Bakers Jonathan Bethony and Charbel Abrache share their secret to turning whole grains into tasty, chewy loaves of bread and airy, flaky croissants--against all odds! The team describes their "whole farm philosophy", and co-owner Jessica Azeez offers insights about the herbal tea program at SEYLOU's cafe.

This episode is supported by Compass, the future of real estate in the Metro DC Area and beyond. Discover it at compass.com.

What makes flour "whole" and why does that matter for our health? Kiko talks with Heinz Thomet, a Maryland farmer who grows and mills wheat, rye and other grains. We also hear from David Killilea, PhD about the research he's leading in Oakland on the nutritional content of flour sold at supermarkets.

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Grab your notebook! Kiko interviews Ona Balkus, legislative counsel for DC Councilmember Mary Cheh, who guides us on how to advocate with local government--including a primer on the budget cycle, just in time to get involved this spring.

This episode is supported by Compass, the future of real estate in the Metro DC Area and beyond. Discover it at compass.com.

The last episode of our Food at School series introduces two new initiatives for making school food fresher and crunchier. Kiko talks with Morgan Maloney and Christie St. Pierre about putting salad bars into 141 Virginia elementary schools, and hears from Kelsey Weisgerber about building Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School's first kitchen.

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Kids forge habits and tastes for food long before they reach kindegarten. So on the second episode of Lunch Agenda's Food at School series, Kiko interviews two innovators in early childhood food service: Dalila Boclin of Community Foodworks and Patrilie Hernandez of the Office of the State Superintendant of Education.

This episode is supported by Compass, the future of real estate in the Metro DC Area and beyond. Discover it at compass.com.

Kiko kicks off the Food at School series in conversation with leaders from the Capital Area Food Bank and Martha's Table. Through their collaboration on Joyful Food Markets, the non-profits are using elementary schools as a place to provide groceries to families when barriers stand in their way to getting food elsewhere.

This episode is supported by Compass, the future of real estate in the Metro DC Area and beyond. Discover it at compass.com.

The final episode of the Groceries for All series offers hope of groceries coming to an underserved neighborhood in Ward 8. Philip Sambol discusses how his business Good Food Markets, coupled with his non-profit Oasis Community Partners, will soon offer an alternative to the traditional big box model.