The Golden Arches in Black America

We can see the causes and effects of biodiversity loss all around us: only one variety of banana or pineapple for sale in every grocery store. Or the miles and miles or corn and soy you pass as you drive the roads of Iowa, Minnesota and  Illinois. Or the windshield effect: that there are far fewer dead insects on our windshields as we drive those country roads. Biodiversity refers to the awesome array of life on earth: everything from microbes to insects to plants to animals to entire ecosystems. We are right now in what’s being called “a biodiversity crisis”, in terms of the number of species we are losing and the increasing pace at which that loss is happening. The primary driver of species loss is our global agriculture system: in other words, the way we grow our food. And as we lose those varieties and breeds of animals and plants, we don’t just lose their genetics, we lose their unique tastes and flavors, too.

This episode features Preeti Simran Sethi, author of Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love; Ricardo Salvador, Director of the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists; Rowen White, a seed keeper, farmer, and founding member of the Indigenous Seed Keepers Network, a project of the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance; Ryan Nebeker, Research and Policy Analyst with FoodPrint; and Urvashi Rangan, Chief Scientist for FoodPrint.

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For the conscious consumer, buying local products is a way to shorten that distance between us and what we eat or drink, and maybe even learn more about how it was produced by talking to the people who made it. But what about something like coffee, which doesn’t grow anywhere near those of us living in the continental United States? Do you know where your coffee comes from? And if you do know what country it comes from, maybe from the bag or canister you bought your beans in, do you know how it was grown? Or who grew it? Or how it transforms from a berry on a branch to the brown roasted “beans” you grind for your cup of Joe?

This episode features Dakota Graff, Director of Coffee at Onyx Coffee Lab; Bartholomew Jones, founder of CxffeeBlack; and Anna Canning, a coffee industry veteran who walks us through the many labels you might find on your bag of coffee.

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Maybe you’re concerned about climate change. Maybe you’re worried about how most livestock is raised in inhumane conditions. Or possibly you’re looking to make a change to your diet to be healthier. Whatever your reasons for eating less meat, whatever anyone’s reasons, it’s adding up to significant growth in what is now pretty universally being called “plant-based eating” — an umbrella term that includes everything from veganism to vegetarianism to flexitarianism to simply trying to eat a little less meat, dairy and eggs. But saying no to animal products and eating a diet rich in plants are not new ideas.

In this episode we speak with writer Alicia Kennedy about her new book, "No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating" to learn more about how our vegetarian and vegan past can illuminate how we think about our plant-based future.

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What do you know about a class of chemicals called PFAS? You can’t see them, and you can’t smell them, but they’re there, providing water-resistance and grease-proof protection to burger wrappers and pizza boxes. But PFAS are used for lots more than transporting takeout. They’re used by manufacturers in items ranging from raincoats to contact lenses to toilet paper.  And the chemicals don’t just stay in these products. When we dispose of them, they end up in our soils and waterways. And the fact that they don’t break down has earned them the name “forever chemicals.” In this episode we head to Maine to learn more about PFAS and how they have ended up in well water, on farms, in food, and ultimately in people’s bodies.

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The good food movement, when it has talked about fast food, has focused on what’s wrong with the industrialized system that produces the burgers and buns and fries, or sometimes the food’s negative health impacts. Occasionally, criticisms have noted the deep ties between McDonald’s and the Black community, sometimes blaming communities of color for making bad food choices, sometimes blaming the fast food industry for being predatory with its advertising or store locations.

But the relationship between fast food and Black America is way more complicated. As Dr. Marcia Chatelain explains in her Pulitzer Prize winning book, “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America,” fast food restaurants have represented a business opportunity for Black franchisees, an employment opportunity for community residents, and a dining opportunity for Blacks who were excluded elsewhere. In today’s episode we talk with Dr. Chatelain about the history of that multifaceted relationship.

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The proliferation of big box stores and giant supermarket chains has changed the face of grocery shopping, taking the place of many locally owned, independent stores and sending profits out to corporate headquarters. Recently, those stores have even started to offer a wide variety of natural and organic foods, threatening the unique contributions of natural food stores and co-op grocers. So, what happens to those places? If you can find organic milk and bulk granola at Kroger, what does the co-op offer that the big box and chain stores cannot? In today’s episode we look at two models of consumer cooperatives, options for buying your food that rely on a less extractive model, where profit stays in the community: co-op grocers and community supported agriculture.

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Americans love shrimp. And one of the exciting developments of the past 20 years or so is that shrimp has gotten really affordable. It used to be a luxury food in the form of shrimp cocktails served at a steakhouse or a fancy wedding. Something for special occasions, slightly out of reach.

Today, shrimp is the number one most popular seafood in America, and as the price point has come way down, it’s become a staple, not just of affordable restaurant chains offering all you can eat, but also in our homes. Every supermarket offers giant frozen bags of it, with the heads and shells already removed if you want, sometimes uncooked, sometimes already boiled or breaded and fried. And it’s sometimes as little as $6 per pound. In today’s episode we talk to experts to find out how and when shrimp became so cheap. And why.

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Single-use food packaging is one of our thorniest problems. We need a safe and convenient way to get food home from the store, and we need easy ways to eat and drink on the go. How can we do that in a way that does not create so much waste? How can we do it in a way that does not put our bodies at risk from the harmful chemicals and additives used in so much of that packaging?

In this episode we look at food packaging, with a focus on plastic, since there’s so much of it, and it’s the one with the most problems. We dig deep into plastic production and its connection to climate change. We talk to experts about how food packaging is problematic not just for the environment, but also for our health. Is there a solution? Is there a future that could exist that was not dominated — and polluted — by plastic?

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In the past decade, demand for eggs has grown, but the kind of eggs we are looking for has changed during that time, too. Consumers are eager to know if the chickens had enough space to move around. Were they cage-free? Free-range? Pasture-raised? Organic? In response to those questions about where those eggs come from and how those hens lived out their lives, egg cartons and the labels and claims on them are working overtime to tell us a story. On today’s episode we look at the many labels on your carton of eggs and dig into what they mean and what they definitely don’t mean.

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There was a time when bacon was a “sometimes” food, occasionally paired with eggs at breakfast or in a summer sandwich with the season’s freshest tomatoes. But then, suddenly, bacon was everywhere, from fast food burgers to ice cream to scented candles. And while the peak might have passed, bacon has settled comfortably onto menus and into our home kitchens for much more than breakfast. 

In this episode we look at where bacon mania came from, and dig a little deeper into this beloved food and the industry behind it. We look at the realities of industrial pork production and how the world’s obsession with pork — bacon on everything! — contributes to the environmental degradation and hollowing out of rural communities in pork producing powerhouse states like Iowa, Missouri and North Carolina.

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