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    food activist

    Explore " food activist" with insightful episodes like "Marion Nestle: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics", "S2-Episode 8: Lisa Gross-The New Face of Cooking Classes", "S2-Episode 7: Kara Heckert - Farm Politics", "S2-Episode 6: Michael Bosworth-The Rice Farmer" and "S2-Episode 5: Joan Smith-The Date Farmer" from podcasts like ""A Taste of the Past", "Raising Kale", "Raising Kale", "Raising Kale" and "Raising Kale"" and more!

    Episodes (25)

    Marion Nestle: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics

    Marion Nestle: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics

    Marion Nestle is one of the original food activists in America. For nearly half a century, as she tells it in her recently published memoir Slow Cooked, she has been teaching and writing about the effects of politics on what we eat and, therefore, on our health. She has been called a courageous champion of healthy food, social justice, and scientific integrity.

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    S2-Episode 8: Lisa Gross-The New Face of Cooking Classes

    S2-Episode 8: Lisa Gross-The New Face of Cooking Classes

    In this week’s episode, we hear from Lisa Gross, owner of League of Kitchens. She is one such human. She’s the founder of a business that at every level values women in ways that are revolutionary. Packed into one company, she has managed to capture what America needs most right now: meaningful cultural exchange, putting women at the center of the story, celebrating diversity, celebrating immigrants, and being revolutionary by paying women for their talents (talents, I will add, that have been taken for granted historically as household “duties”). 

    As the daughter of a Korean immigrant and a Jewish New Yorker, Lisa Gross was raised on one grandmother's denjang-guk and the other's matzoh ball soup. Her company, The League of Kitchens, which employs immigrant women as in-home cooking instructors, is borne out of her passion for New York City, her love of cooking, and her connection to the immigrant experience. Lisa is an artist, educator, and social entrepreneur.

    S2-Episode 7: Kara Heckert - Farm Politics

    S2-Episode 7: Kara Heckert - Farm Politics

    This week, I speak with Kara Heckert, a regional director at the nonprofit American Farmland Trust. Its mission is to save America’s farms and ranches. Kara works there on agricultural sustainability and natural resource conservation in California. America’s farmers are facing some very real challenges right now. Wildfires, drought, loss of farmland, and a history of discrimination. In this episode, we look more closely at all these issues. 

    S2-Episode 6: Michael Bosworth-The Rice Farmer

    S2-Episode 6: Michael Bosworth-The Rice Farmer

    Today, we’re talking about rice with farmer Michael Bosworth! 

    California grows 20 percent of America’s rice, and nearly all of the country’s sushi rice. Ninety-seven percent of the state’s rice farms are located in the Sacramento Valley. 

    One of these farms is run by Michael, who comes from a family of farmers dating back to the 1870s. He went to college to study farming and has been a farmer his whole life. The man has rice in his veins!

    Michael is a different kind of rice farmer. While the majority of California rice is grown for sushi, Michael has shifted to nurturing unique varieties of grains grown less with a focus on yield and instead with a focus on flavor. His new company, True Origin Foods, was a small idea before the pandemic hit. Today, with the rise in home cooking and the growing consumer desire to buy local, Michael’s business model is thriving. 

     

    S2-Episode 5: Joan Smith-The Date Farmer

    S2-Episode 5: Joan Smith-The Date Farmer

    Dates are such a fascinating desert fruit. They grow on date palm trees, which may be one of the oldest cultivated trees in the world, dating back over 5,000 years. They’re not only tasty, but they’re a pretty cool food to learn about, too. Today’s guest teaches us all sorts of fun facts. I learned so much talking to her! 

    Like, did you know that dates are considered a berry? Or that the dried fruit is more than 50 percent sugar? 

    Joan Smith runs Rancho Meladuco Date Farm in Coachella Valley, California. She’s a CPA who shifted her career to date farming. She’s a mother, a home cook, and a backyard gardener. Her dates are so delicious, they’ve been featured in Bon Appetite and Oprah magazines!  She shares her favorite date recipes, fun facts about date plants, tales of her farm dogs, and how she makes a point to give back to her community! 

    S2-Episode 4: Tess Masters-The Blender Girl

    S2-Episode 4: Tess Masters-The Blender Girl

    As Americans search for ways to cook more at home with limited time, the blender provides easy answers. It’s a useful tool in our search for healthier eating, too. What easier way to turn kale into breakfast? 

    In a recent study, 54% of consumers said they care more about the healthfulness of their food and beverage choices in 2020 than a decade ago. People want to eat healthy, and Tess leverages the blender to help them learn how.

    Tess Masters is an actor, lifestyle personality, and cookbook author. She’s been featured in the LA Times, Washington Post, Glamour, and more. She was recently the spokesperson for KitchenAid. She runs the popular website, The Blender Girl. 

    S2-Episode 3: Melissa Lanz - Healthy Family Meals

    S2-Episode 3: Melissa Lanz - Healthy Family Meals

    In one survey, 93% of respondents said they wanted to eat healthier. In another survey, 49% of people said they want to eat mindfully, rather than dieting. 

    Today’s guest is one of these Americans--a busy mom who wanted to leave a better food legacy for her family, so she started a meal planning company, The Fresh 20. In this episode, we talk about her tips for being practical in the kitchen, how she raises healthy children, and how she feels inside her healthier body. 

    Melissa Lanz is a former marketing executive who quit her day job to focus on healthy food. She’s an author of the book The Fresh 20, and runs a meal planning service with the same name. She’s been featured in The New York Times, Instyle, among others, and as a contributing editor for Shape Magazine. She’s also a wonderful cook, a mother, and a good human. 

     

    #43: Courtney Swan - Food Activism, Fueling Your Ferrari & Fixing The Failing Food Industry

    #43: Courtney Swan - Food Activism, Fueling Your Ferrari & Fixing The Failing Food Industry

    My guest today is Courtney Swan, who is an Integrative Nutritionist, MS and podcast host. Brought to you by The Mindful Method and The Clean Body Podcast.

    Food activists come from all walks of life, but there is generally one common theme among all of them: frustration with the current food system. Courtney Swan is an integrative nutritionist (MS) and "real foodist" on a mission to change the way America eats. She received her masters of Science in Nutrition and Integrative Health from Maryland University of Integrative Health.

    On a mission to help people, Courtney built a following on social media where she posts daily about the real food and organic movement on her Instagram account Realfoodology. She aims to educate on the dirty practices of the food industry and how to eat healthy, with real food!

    She doesn’t believe in diets and promotes a real food approach to eating.
    She currently resides in LA and works on her instagram and podcast, the Realfoodology podcast full time.

    Please enjoy this episode with Courtney Swan 😄

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    S2- Episode 1: Sara Bernal - The Urban Farmer

    S2- Episode 1: Sara Bernal - The Urban Farmer

    Welcome to Season 2 of Raising Kale! In Season 1, I asked our guests what listeners like you can do to become "Kale Raisers" and improve your own communities. Their #1 answer? Eat local and get to know your farmers. So, in Season 2, Farmers & Families, I’ll be talking to more farmers. We’ll learn about what they’re growing, and how they’re innovating, and what they’re doing to improve their communities in addition to feeding people. 

    We start Season 2 in America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital, Sacramento, California. Our farmer, Sara Bernal, works on an urban farm that’s run by the nonprofit, Center for Land-Based Learning.  

    Urban farming takes place in cities on small plots, not in the country. The average farm size in America in 2012 was 434 acres! But the majority of urban farms are just 5 acres or less. 

    According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, a quarter of the world’s urban population gets their food from urban farms. 15% of the world’s food is grown in cities. As more and more of the world’s population lives in cities, our food supply and our farmers are moving there, too. 

    Urban farmers like Sara Bernal are keenly aware of the needs of their communities and are not only growing food to feed them, but also rising up to meet social needs like hunger.

    Sara Bernal is a farmer, a community activist, a rad human, and a true Kale Raiser! She has lived and worked around the world from Bangladesh to Italy, but it’s in West Sacramento, California where she’s transforming her community through food. She’s the program manager for the nonprofit Center for Land-Based Learning, where she runs an urban farm program that trains new farmers, feeds the hungry, and tirelessly makes the world a better place. 

    Episode 13 - Gavin Rossdale: Rock Star in the Kitchen

    Episode 13 - Gavin Rossdale: Rock Star in the Kitchen

    Rock stars have a history of creating change in our food movement. Food and music have a unifying quality--they can bring people together around issues that are complex and even depressing--and help fill us with hope. 

    When Rockstar Gavin Rossdale isn't singing and playing guitar with his band Bush, he's making delicious meals for his family with sustainable food. He admits that if he wasn’t a musician, he would have been a chef.

    When Gavin heard about this podcast, he offered to lend his celebrity status to help us get the word out. We’re so grateful to him for this support. 

    Episode 12 - David Lebovitz: Cooking from California to Paris

    Episode 12 - David Lebovitz: Cooking from California to Paris

    David Lebovitz started his culinary career at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, working with Chef Alice Waters (episode 4 guest). He’s been featured in Oprah, Bon Appetit, and many more culinary publications. In 2019, Saveur magazine awarded his website their first-ever Blog of the Decade. David shares his journey from washing dishes in a strip mall steakhouse to living in Paris.

    Episode 11 - Danielle Nierenberg: The Power of Consumers

    Episode 11 - Danielle Nierenberg: The Power of Consumers

    In an era of fake news, information about our food is not immune. Myths and misinformation abound. 21% of respondents in one study said they get their nutrition advice from social media.

    At a time when rates of hunger are rising, farm land is disappearing, and over half of Americans are sick from their diets, we can’t afford to get this wrong. 

    Lucky for us, there are thoughtful journalists like Danielle who are breaking through the noise. 

    Danielle Nierenberg is the president and co-founder of the nonprofit think tank, Food Tank. The nonprofit focuses on building a global community for safe, healthy, nourished eaters. In other words, they keep consumers informed about issues affecting our food. Danielle has traveled the world to learn about solutions to our broken food system.

    Episode 10-Michael Mazourek: Making Purple Peas & Other Seeds

    Episode 10-Michael Mazourek: Making Purple Peas & Other Seeds

    This week we hear from scientist Michael Mazourek, who’s designing new vegetables as a seed breeder with Row 7 Seed Company. He’s doing something radical with our food--he’s making it taste better! He is an actual kale raiser--as in, he breeds the seeds that grow vegetables! It all started with a challenge from chef Dan Barber to build a better butternut squash. The result is the delicious and widely available honeynut squash!

    Episode 9-Diana Flores: School Lunch Boss

    Episode 9-Diana Flores: School Lunch Boss

    You may have heard the rumors that school lunch is broken. But have you heard the one about how school lunch is being done RIGHT?!

    Today, you’re going to hear how school lunch is supposed to be done! My nonprofit is fortunate to work in a school district alongside a school lunch program that breaks barriers. I can’t wait for you to meet their leader.

    Diana Flores wants to transform school kitchens into school restaurants. She serves as the director of Nutrition Services for California’s 3rd largest school district, Sacramento City Unified. It’s a low-income school district that’s cooking up 30,000 school lunches per day! Forget what you think you know about school lunch. Flores and her team are on a mission to make school food not only taste great, but to also meet high health standards.

    Episode 8-Robert Egger: An Original Kale Raiser

    Episode 8-Robert Egger: An Original Kale Raiser

    There are currently an estimated 42 million Americans who are food insecure, or hungry, according to Feeding America. Of those, 13 million are children. What is the #1 cause of hunger? It’s not a lack of food. It’s a lack of jobs, or jobs that don’t pay enough. It’s about money.

    In order to truly end hunger, we have to overturn the traditional model of food distribution and attack the problem at its source. Robert Egger made a career of doing this very thing. He started DC Central Kitchen in 1989 to work with formerly incarcerated and homeless Americans to create jobs and feed others. He served there for 24 years, and has since worked to tackle issues of food contracts in government institutions, senior hunger, national food policy, uplifting the nonprofit sector, and so much more. 

    This episode goes out to all the O.G. kale raisers who paved the way for the work this podcast celebrates today--getting into good trouble using food as a tool for change. 

    Episode 7-Aviva Paley & Tony Estrada: Jobs that End Hunger

    Episode 7-Aviva Paley & Tony Estrada: Jobs that End Hunger

    Rates of both poverty and hunger are rising in America. The statistics are dire. The number of people living below the federal poverty line in the United States remains stuck at recession-era record levels. Poverty rates have grown even higher since the pandemic hit last year.  A Northwestern University study in June revealed that food needs have doubled nationally. For households with children, food insecurity tripled! 

    One nonprofit in San Diego, California, Kitchens for Good, has created a dual solution for this double-edged problem: train community members who are food insecure in culinary careers. By training them for better jobs, their families will no longer suffer from poverty and food insecurity. For every person they train and help find employment, that is one less family living in poverty and going without food.

    In this episode, we talk to one of the nonprofit’s founders, Aviva Paley, as well as one of their trainees, Tony Estrada. Tony tells me that his life has never been a fairy tale. But when he started the training at Kitchens for Good, his life was transformed. 

     

    Episode 6 - Lisa Lin: Cooking Chinese Food with Mama Lin

    Episode 6 - Lisa Lin: Cooking Chinese Food with Mama Lin

    Two generations of Americans don’t know how to cook. We have to look back to our grandmothers and mothers to learn the recipes we grew up eating. In the current pandemic, people are returning to their kitchens. When mom or grandma are not around, who do we turn to for help? To the Internet--and to food bloggers like Lisa Lin.  Her recipe site, Healthy Nibbles, features delicious recipes that turn farmers market crops into healthy meals. A few years ago, Lisa started including something special on her website: her mom! Some of Lisa’s most popular recipes are classic Chinese dishes she’s learned from Mama Lin, like scallion pancakes.

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