Real Food Reads

Long-time Real Food Media friend and ally Jose Oliva joins us to talk about his co-authored chapter, “Food Workers versus Food Giants.” In this dynamic conversation, we cover the food system’s legacy of slavery, corporate consolidation, unions, and the strategies workers are using to carve out pathways for a more just food system.

Dr. Cindy Ayers, head farmer and CEO of Footprint Farms in Jackson, MS, is carrying on a long legacy of activism and farming. Descended from Civil Rights veterans and sharecroppers, her 68-acre farm is a hub for learning and support, creating real opportunities for young, Black people. We cannot free ourselves until we feed ourselves.

For the debut episode of Foodtopias, we speak with labor organizers Axel Fuentes (Rural Community Workers Alliance) and Christina Spach (Food Chain Workers Alliance) about working conditions in the meat processing industry pre-Covid and during the pandemic, and the worker-led strategies for holding Big Meat accountable.

Our newest podcast series, Foodtopias, showcases the stories and strategies of workers, farmers, healers, ecologists, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), womxn, and community organizers who are growing food & cultivating utopia. The inspiration we need for building a post-pandemic, food sovereign world.

In her new book, Minkoff-Zern argues that farmworkers have the skills and the knowledge to lead the sustainable farming movement, if given the opportunity. The book shares powerful stories of farmworkers who have successfully transitioned to owning and operating their own farms.

Jennifer Gaddis takes us into the world of school lunch—and it’s not pretty: unhealthy food and exploited cafeteria workers abound. But all that can change if we organize together to make fair and healthy school food a reality for all children.

Bryant Terry's stunning collection of recipes is a celebration of vegetables and flavors from the African and Asian diaspora. This episode explores his ethos, work to decolonize veganism, and shed myths about soul food.

Part cookbook, part travelogue, and part investigative journalism, Yasmin Khan’s “Zaitoun: Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen” takes us through the joy and the struggle of eating in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

What does it mean to cook with soul? Lazarus Lynch tells us as we dive into his cookbook “Son of a Southern Chef: Cook With Soul” and uncover the world he wants to create through his art.

Dina Gilio-Whitaker explores Native struggles for land, food, water, and sacred sites from colonization to Standing Rock—and what they mean for climate and environmental justice movements—in this important new book.

Joshua Specht takes a hard look at the cattle industry in the US in "Red Meat Republic: A Hoof-to-Table History of How Beef Shaped America." This isn’t a book about what you should or shouldn’t eat: it's a book about how stories shape our choices and our realities.

Teresa Mares’ new book 'Life on the Other Border: Farmworkers and Food Justice in Vermont' tells the story of food insecurity and fear experienced by the workers who sustain the dairy industry on the Vermont-Canada border—and how they are practicing food sovereignty in their daily lives.

The rich story, and steep cost, of how California’s arid Central Valley became an agricultural powerhouse and what that means for farmers, rural communities, and our food supply as we face the climate crisis.

With finite resources, a growing population, and a changing climate, how do we feed the world? With research conducted on three continents, Tim Wise shows how small farmers around the world—those who already grow most of the world’s food—are our best hope for eating tomorrow.

From “culinary brownface” to the “fetishization of the agricultural other,” this collection of hard-hitting essays from Paloma Martinez-Cruz takes a look at mestizaje identity in the United States through the lens of food.

Real Food Media founder and former Real Food Reads host Anna Lappé joins us to talk about how our food system drives the climate crisis, how food must be part of the solution, and how this conversation has evolved in the nearly ten years since the publication of her book Diet for a Hot Planet.

Seeds have stories to tell. In the face of climate change, corporate consolidation, and decreasing biodiversity, their stories are increasingly important for us to hear. Tune into this special conversation with Kristyn Leach, farmer and seed saver, and Mark Schapiro, author of Seeds of Resistance recorded live at CUESA.

At nearly 1,000 pages, the Farm Bill is difficult to understand for policymakers, let alone the rest of us. Dan Imhoff walks us through this vitally important legislation, and what it means for farmers, our health, and the planet.

Agriculture has often been seen as a site of oppression in Black history, but it is so much more than that. Dr. Monica White shares a different narrative of Black farmers, and agriculture, in the US—one of resistance, innovation, and collective liberation.

Foodies and celebrity chefs celebrate authentic Mexican foods like heirloom corn tortillas traditionally grown and prepared by peasant farmers. But thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in Mexico this cuisine is being replaced by processed food and industrial agriculture. Tanya Kerssen speaks with Eating NAFTA author Alyshia Gálvez.