Unwasted: The Podcast

We’ve all had the experience of buying that apple, or avocado, and having it go bad before you can eat it. It’s so widespread that there are memes about it now. Have you ever wondered what exactly makes food go bad and what we can do to slow this process down? The folks at Apeel Sciences took this real conundrum of how to make our favorite foods last longer and answered it with a game changing new product. Apeel is an innovative, plant-based coating that goes on your favorite fruits &...

When it comes to making farming truly sustainable in the long run, the elephant in the room is land ownership. Healthy soil matters, but so does who owns the soil. Did you know that there were nearly 1 million Black farmers in 1920 and fewer than 45 thousand today? Overall Black landowners own only 0.8 percent of land in the US today. What accounts for this huge racial disparity in land ownership? We’ve brought in agricultural law expert and farmer advocate Jillian Hishaw to h...

Did you know that over 20 billion pounds of textiles are thrown away in the United States every year? Just like the food industry, the clothing industry creates a shocking and honestly overwhelming amount of waste. So what can we do about it? After getting frustrated with how much fabric he saw going to waste in the fashion industry, Daniel Silverstein quit his job and started his own company, Zero Waste Daniel, focused on turning fabric scraps into stylish new clothes. For every pi...

Does environmentalism have a racism problem? Is veganism elitist? Why do so many young environmental activists suffer from burnout? These are some of the thorny but important issues that Isaias Hernandez fearlessly tackles everyday. He is an educator and speaker who’s passionate about environmental justice, veganism, and zero-waste.Our conversation was thought-provoking and packed with insights about our food system, environmentalism, plant-based diets, and more! Episode Show Notes:...

Plant-based eating is here to stay.Most of us have heard about the health benefits and the environmental benefits of going plant based thanks to documentaries like “The Game Changers” and “What the Health.” While eating plant-based sounds great on paper, a lot of us wonder how you can possibly replace the unique taste of dairy products like butter and cheese. So, is dairy really the final frontier for plant-based eating? Miyoko Schinner thinks it is. Miyoko is the founder of Miyoko’...

Nothing makes you feel quite as warm, fuzzy, and cozy as eating some of your comfort foods from childhood. What is it about these meals that is so magical? How can they bring us meaning and connection even across oceans and decades? Hawa Hassan has spent her life exploring the magical power of family memories and recipes. She turned this experience into a marvellous cookbook called “In Bibi's Kitchen: The Recipes and Stories of Grandmothers from the Eight African Countries that Tou...

We’ve all heard the phrase, health is wealth. We know that how we eat is one of the biggest things that determines how healthy we are, but it seems like eating healthy is such a moving target sometimes. There’s new studies, trends, and diets coming out every week and it can be genuinely hard to separate fact from hype and misconception when it comes to the seemingly simple act of feeding ourselves. Why is it so hard to figure out what to eat? Brooklynne Palmer is a medical student w...

When it comes to sustainability, the holy grail a lot of people dream about is growing your own food. What better way to eliminate food miles, cut out the pesticides, and become self sufficient, right? However, as anyone who has ever tried gardening can attest, it’s pretty intimidating at the start. Knowing what to plant, when to plant, and how to get started requires a lot of research. Once you get going you realize that it’s not as simple as just putting something in the ground and wai...

What is wellness and who is it for? Outside of the colorful healthy smoothies and Lululemon branded yoga classes we see on our Instagram feeds, what does wellness really mean in 2020? Maryam Ajayi has a lot to teach us about the wellness world and its blind spots when it comes to racial diversity and inclusion. She argues that the world and industry of wellness has a long way to go until it prioritizes the health and wellness of all people. In this candid conversation she shares her...

Real Food Real Stories is an organization on a mission to humanize our food system, one story at a time. We sat down with their founder and director to learn how they're using storytelling to make food more just and sustainable in the long run.Episode Show Notes:Learn more about Real Food Real Stories on their website and Instagram and be sure to check out their Curious Eater podcast. Jovida and Pei Ru are fans of Diaspora Co spices and Eatwell Farm. We discussed our mutual admirati...