This week, we talk with Natalie Pukasemvarangkoon about the Paleo diet. Natalie has experimented with pretty much every diet in the book. She’s been a carnivore, a pescatarian, a vegetarian, and a vegan for a solid 3 years. She’s tried the 80/10/10 diet, raw till four, the HCLF diet, and yes, the Paleo diet. Natalie is the founder of the Paleo Collective - an umbrella for the Paleo lifestyle: providing Paleo-friendly caterings, personal chef services, they host pop-up dinners and provide...

In the Age of People, the plow was, and remains, one of the most destructive inventions. In his new book Growing A Revolution, award-winning author David R. Montgomery calls on farmers to ditch the plow, bring back cover crops, and grow for diversity. Such an agricultural revolution puts soil health at the center of farming. It transforms agriculture from a destructive practice that is very much part of the problem to a major solution that combats climate change. In this episode, we talk to...

As the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) comes to a close in Bonn, Switzerland, where do we stand on our climate commitments? What issues are on the table, and which have been swept under the rug? How are we tackling what many consider to be one of the biggest elephants in the room – the role of livestock and global overconsumption of meat and dairy products? In this episode, we welcome back Mark Pershin on the podcast, founder and CEO of Less Meat Less Heat, an organization committed...

This year for Thanksgiving, Americans will consume 46 million turkeys. Factory farming has never been more 'efficient'. This same year, the US has consumed 9 billion chickens. Worldwide, we managed to eat 50 billion. How does this system function? What makes it so effective and profitable? It all comes down to one word: genetics. Since the 1950s, heritage breeds of poultry, or standard-bred poultry, have been gradually replaced by an army of uniform hybrid birds. Bred to grow as large as...

In this episode, I talk about my beef with Veganism. I explain why, after a 30-day vegan challenge, I remain a sceptical vegetarian. I talk about: How Vegan-endorsed health hypes and food fads create their own ethical dilemmas which vegans need to confront How the ‘Go Vegan, save the planet’ discourse is unhelpful for the movement, and factually questionable. How Veganism needs to move away from a self-understanding as the movement, and instead embrace its place as a movement among...

Like the combustion engine, the telephone, and the Internet before it, blockchain has the potential to transform how human society functions. What would such a transformation look like in the food industry? In this episode, we talk with Blockchain theorist Melanie Swan about what is possible. We explore: What 'Blockchain' is How Blockchain is transforming Big Food businesses redefining operational efficiency and the transparency of supply chains How Blockchain can empower consumers ...

Since 2015, more than 150 cities around the globe have come together to rethink the way we feed our cities. As signatories to the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, they share a commitment to developing sustainable food systems that are inclusive, resilient, safe and diverse. The city of Valencia, the 2017 World Sustainable Food Capital, is leading by example.  In this episode, we discuss: The history and vision of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact The role of the United Nations Food and...

Rob Greenfield is an adventurist and environmental activist that has made it his life’s purpose to lead by example in living a truly sustainable lifestyle. Rob has completely transformed the way he lives over the last half decade. He continuously challenges himself and others by taking sustainable living to the extreme. From off-the-grid tiny houses to dumpster diving, Rob has managed to reach hundreds of thousands of people around the world, spreading his message of positive change.   In...

As cities and populations grow, and the space to feed them shrinks, one proposed solution is to farm upwards rather than outwards, indoors instead of outdoors, in urban spaces as opposed to rural ones. Vertical farming is no longer science fiction; investors are pouring in to support promising companies offering innovative solutions. In this episode, I talk to Claire Gusko, growth manager at INFARM - a Berlin-based indoor urban farming company - about their approach to vertical farming and...

In this week’s special episode, I had the honour of speaking with Dr. Cary Fowler, the “father” of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Cary has been working to preserve crop diversity for over four decades, he is the former Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, and has been described by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as an “inspirational symbol of peace and food security for the entire humanity”. His work is a true inspiration for agriculturalists, archivists and...

From 10-dollar plant-based smoothies in trendy Californian cafés to Vegan helmets in the Israeli Defense Force, Veganism is as diverse as it is topical. What is Veganism really all about, where has it come from and where is it heading? Is it a religion, a social movement, or an ideology?  This week I talk with Nina Gheihman, a sociologist at Harvard. Nina is currently pursuing her PhD, focusing on a comparative study of veganism as a cultural practice in the US, France, and Israel. She is...

Feeding future generations simply won’t work without addressing the food we get from our oceans. Oceans serve as our main source of animal protein, with over 2.6 billion people depending on it every day. How we’ll be able to continue sourcing from our oceans however is the million-dollar question. Overfishing has plundered our oceans, pushing fish stocks and other marine life to the brink of collapse. Seafood farming—also known as aquaculture— is one alternative. It’s the fastest growing...

Have the crops of today bent us to their will? Is corn king? Does our agricultural system still make sense, and can it in its current form cater to the needs of future generations? Are we smarter than a potato? In this episode, we explore how certain crops such as wheat, rice, potato, maize (corn) and soy have come to dominate our landscapes, labour, economic policy and health. We look at the transition from a hunter gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural system 12,000 years ago and observe...

  A.k.a. Lab-grown meat or in vitro meat, there is a lot of hype surrounding cultured meat today. I talk with Erin Kim, Communications Director at New Harvest, about the future prospects of cultured meat. New Harvest is a non-profit research institute in the United States that funds and conducts open, public, collaborative research in the field of cellular agriculture. They're all about reinventing the way we make animal products - without animals. Erin started out at as a volunteer at New...

Humans have been producing food using the same paradigm for 10,000 years. But the burden of a growing population and the impacts of an industrial approach to farming threaten the entire enterprise. The Land Institute is working on a solution. In this episode, we talk with Fred Lutzi, President of The Land Institute, about their unique approach to transforming current destructive agricultural practices. The Land Institute is a science-based research organization based in Kansas, US, that is...

This week, I discuss my thoughts on tackling food waste together with Merit 360. Merit 360 is a year-long World merit program bringing 360 young individuals together to develop a set of action plans to help tackle the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). I share my views on SDG #12 : Responsible Consumption and Production. More specifically, how do we tackle crippling global food waste and food losses and how can we incentivise lasting sustainable consumption habits? The...

Are ‘GMOs’ good or bad? Are they safe to eat? Are they symbolic of what is wrong with our food system? According to plant geneticist Pamela Ronald, such generalisations make little scientific sense and do nothing to advance discussions on sustainable agriculture. This week, we talk ‘GMOs’ with Pamela Ronald from the University of California Davis. Pam and her colleagues have received a number of awards for their work on submergence-tolerant rice. She’s also very well known for her pragmatic...

This week, we discuss the exciting world of edible insects with Robert Nathan Allen (RNA) from Little Herds. Little Herds is an educational non-profit based in Austin, Texas teaching and spreading awareness about edible insects as a resource efficient, economically viable, nutritious and delicious food for us to eat, and as feed for the animal products that we consume. We discuss the enormous potential of edible insects: how incorporating them into Western diets and food systems could help...

This week, I talk with Dr. Dennis vanEngelsdorp, assistant professor of entomology at the University of Maryland in the United States, and project director for the Bee Informed Partnership. A former acting Chief Apiarist in Pennsylvania, Dr. vanEngelsdorp is widely known for his influential work with bees on a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder. In this episode, we discuss the wonderful world of bees and why bees matter. We explore: The historical significance of bees and our...

This week I talk with Iemke Postma. A young entrepreneur in food sustainability, Iemke has set up organisations and businesses in permaculture and mushroom cultivation. He is currently Operations and Project Manager at Florim, a business growing plants, fruits and vegetables in hydroponic greenhouses for local hotels and restaurants in Cape Verde. He’s also setting up his mushroom business in Cape Verde called Cabo Melo. In this episode, we’ll be talking about his journey in food...

This week – as part of the new Learn by Doing initiative– I took on J.B. Mackinnon's 100-mile diet challenge. James Mackinnon was last week’s guest on the For Food’s Sake podcast, Episode 4: The 100-Mile Diet. In this episode, I reflect on my week long adventure of eating a truly local winter diet in Paris. In the 15-minute mini podcast, you’ll discover:   The challenges of eating local: the setbacks, the frustrations…is it really practical for urban dwellers? The rewards of eating...

This week, I talk to Canadian best-selling author James Mackinnon about eating local and the local food movement. James has won more than a dozen national and international writing awards in categories ranging from essays, to science writing, to travelogue. His latest book, The Once and Future World, is a national bestseller in Canada and won the US Green Prize for Sustainable Literature. He’s also a contributor to the New Yorker on consumer issues and ecology, has publications in National...

#Ourfield: Forty people on a one-year journey of co-farming a field of heritage grains, with a British farmer called John.  Future Farm Lab's latest collaboration in creating #OurField has got everyone excited. #OurField is about reconnecting with farmers, living the farmers journey, and sharing his / her risks. By co-investing in a farm, you help call the shots on what is grown and how it's grown, bearing the farmer's risks but also possibly reaping the rewards. In this episode, I discuss...

Taxing food with high carbon emissions seems like a rational, reasonable, and feasible step that governments should take. It seems like the logical thing to do. Raise the price, lower the demand. Tax food, reduce climate change. Or does it? I talk with Dr. Ariane Kehlbacher from the University of Reading about introducing a carbon food tax to combat the negative effects our diets can have on the environment.  We first discuss the theory behind the tax, before delving into the issues that...

I chat with Mark Pershin - CEO of Less Meat Less Heat - about how a Climatarian diet can reduce your carbon footprint and combat climate change.