Contributing Author: Katherine Walla
Food Tank is excited to introduce the podcast “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg.” On the podcast, Nierenberg invites chefs, experts, and activists to outline their ideal food system—and how their projects are making a better food system more attainable. This week we launched two brand new episodes with New Orleans legend, restauranteur Dickie Brennan, and activist Karen Washington, the owner of Rise and Root Farm. We hope you’ll listen, subscribe, rate, review, and let us know who you would like to see interviewed. You can listen to “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” on Apple iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you consume your podcasts.
Food Tank is also highlighting 22 podcasts we admire—podcasts that explore issues relating to food politics, environment, history, access and affordability, and women’s equality. Listen, enjoy, learn, and of course, let us know which podcasts are your favourites.
1. A Taste of the Past
A Taste of the Past, a Heritage Radio Network podcast, connects food cultures of the past to the present, reaching back as far as ancient Mesopotamia and Rome. Host Linda Pelaccio, a culinary historian, invites authors, scholars, and culinary experts to discuss food history. The podcast not only covers single ingredients, such as noodles, but also trends in recipes, dining, and employment in the food system.
2. Agro Africa
Channel Africa’s podcast Agro Africa discusses agriculture and its role in Africa’s development. The podcast brings together entrepreneurs, farmers, and researchers searching for solutions to industrial agricultural practices or practices threatened by climate change. Agro Africa not only discovers ways Africa’s agriculture must change in the future but also discovers agricultural changes it has made in the past that contribute to the continent’s preparations for climate change.
3. Bite
Bite is “a podcast for people who think hard about food.” Hosted by Mother Jones Magazine Writers Tom Philpott, Kiera Butler, and Maddie Oatman, the podcast invites farmers, chefs, scientists, and writers to explore food. Together, they uncover the politics, history, and science behind food choices today. Bite also breaks down news from the food world for listeners of all backgrounds.
4. Farmer to Farmer
On Farmer to Farmer, host Chris Blanchard introduces listeners to successful farmers and growers. The podcast, made by farmers for farmers, explores what it takes to make a farm successful. Listeners can hear about a range of issues including employment in the farm sector, soil fertility, farming challenges, and even the secrets to cultivating carrots.
5. Food Heaven Podcast
Food Heaven Podcast co-hosts Jessica Jones and Wendy Lopez share tips for using diet and health choices to commit to sustainable, healthy living. The podcast invites experts in topics like food, health, and nutrition to share advice on ways listeners can work toward their desired healthy lives. Jones and Lopez’s focus on health goes beyond food, covering topics such as mental health and body kindness.
6. Gastropod
Co-hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley discover more about food on Gastropod. The podcast brings together experts at research labs, farms, and archaeological sites in order to use food as a tool to understand the world and its history. Gastropod also tries to identify the role that food plays in shaping cultures, history, and current trends.
7. Good Food
Good Food presents the latest news about what’s happening in food and restaurant culture throughout America. Host Evan Kleiman discusses the latest water and agricultural issues, food politics, and cultural movements relating to the food system. Kleiman’s take on life, culture, and the human species explores trends in southern California, ranging from avocados, tacos, and the best L.A. pie.
8. Hacking Hunger
Part of the United Nations World Food Programme’s Storytellers project, Hacking Hunger shares stories about hunger and nutrition in current events. Host M.J. Altman shares the stories of those not only living with hunger, but fighting it: Altman talks to aid workers, journalists, lawmakers, community leaders, and survivors to encourage listeners to find their own place in fighting hunger.
9. Homesteady
Homesteady finds ways for listeners to lead a self-sufficient and sustainable life, growing and raising food on their own. Host Aust—a farmer and father—lives off the land with his family, trying to create a steady life on the farm. The podcast realistically portrays the obligations of homesteading, from foraging and hunting to farming and harvesting.
10. Plate of the Union
Plate of the Union brings together chefs, farmers, and policymakers with passions for advocacy. Sponsored by Food Policy Action, the podcast aims to promote safe, healthy, and affordable food for all. Host Spike Mendelsohn—celebrity chef and Chairman of the D.C. Food Policy Council—joins Food Policy Action’s Executive Director, Monica Mills, to discuss guests’ dreams for a better food system and their initiatives bringing these dreams into reality.
11. Real Food Reads
Founder and Director of Real Food Media, Anna Lappé believes books have the power to expose reasons why the food system is broken and solutions to fix it. On Real Food Reads, Lappé brings listeners together to discuss top books in food. The podcast also brings prominent authors into the discussion, considering questions big and small, for the future of the food system.
12. Sound Bites
Sound Bites brings together researchers, academics, dietitians, and more to talk about strategies to find good food and maintain healthy nutrition. Host Melissa Joy Dobbins tackles topics including healthy diets, weight management, diabetes, agriculture, farming, and more. Sound Bites aims to provide listeners with credible information on the latest food news and events, like recent episodes on pesticides, pop culture’s psychological effects, and school food.
13. Small Farm Nation
Small Farm Nation seeks to show listeners the benefits and obligations of having a successful sustainable farm. Host Tim Young gives tips on how to attain success by treating the farm as a business, with marketing strategies and branding tools. The podcast addresses topics like business growth, finding customers, community involvement, and social media engagement to help listeners at any stage of the process of building a farm.
14. Sustainable World Radio
On Sustainable World Radio, host Jill Cloutier interviews sustainability experts about possible solutions to environmental challenges. The podcast focuses on the environment and natural world, exploring ecology, soil, herbal medicine, organic growing, regenerative agriculture, and more. Cloutier also explores the link between psychology and ecology, hoping to find solutions to climate change.
15. The Beginning Farmer Show
The Beginning Farmer Show follows host Ethan Book—farmer, blogger, and founder of Crooked Gap Farm—as he starts his farm from scratch. Book shares both the easy and difficult lessons he learned along the way growing crops and raising livestock, including listeners in his hard decisions such as downsizing his herds.
16. The Doctor’s Kitchen
On The Doctor’s Kitchen, United Kingdom National Health Service Doctor Rupy Aujla seeks to show listeners that food is medicine. Aujla sits down with experts and researchers to discuss how nutrition and lifestyle are dependent on one another. The podcast outlines the smartest diets for specific illnesses and diseases while avoiding fad-diets and trends.
17. The Eater Upsell
The Eater Upsell is Eater’s flagship podcast hosted by Eater Editor-in-Chief Amanda Kludt and Audience Development and Special Projects Producer Daniel Geneen. The podcast covers food news, restaurant culture, and industry trends, with a deep look into the newest food innovations. The Eater Upsell also presents the “10 Best Food Stories” each month.
18. The Female Farmer
The Female Farmer podcast is part of the Female Farmer Project, which seeks to document the rise of women in agriculture and their roles in the food system. The podcast serves as a platform for women to share their stories, discussing all aspects of being a female farmer. Co-hosts Audra Mulkern and Kate Doughty dive deep, bringing up discussions not only about feminism, but also motherhood, disability, and veteran support.
19. The Food Chain
The Food Chain, a BBC podcast series, examines the business, science, and cultural significance of food. On the podcast’s special segment, “My Life in Five Dishes,” top chefs and food writers tell stories about their lives remembering five dishes that influenced them. Host Emily Thomas also composes stories of what it really takes to put food on the table.
20. The Secret Ingredient
The Secret Ingredient dives deep into one food system ingredient each episode focusing on anything from tomatoes to school food, and even to democracy. Co-hosts Raj Patel, Tom Philpott, and Rebecca McInroy explore food history to tell listeners why they’re eating the food they eat, and why the food system appears as it does today.
21. The Splendid Table
The Splendid Table explores the intersection of food and life with conversations about culinary arts, culture, and lifestyles. New host Francis Lam, an award-winning food writer, gives a glimpse into the food world, discussing ideas about cooking, sustainability, and food culture. Known as “the radio program for people who love to eat,” The Splendid Table received numerous accolades since its start in 1995, including James Beard Foundation Awards for Best National Radio Show on Food and more.
22. The Urban Farm Podcast
The Urban Farm Podcast assembles special guests to discuss urban gardening and growing. Host Greg Peterson aims to motivate every listener to grow some of their own food with podcasts covering topics like urban beekeeping, chicken farming, composting, and more. The Urban Farm Podcast also explores tools and resources to help listeners make better choices in their local food systems.
Danielle Nierenberg is President of Food Tank and an expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues. She has written extensively on gender and population, the spread of factory farming in the developing world and innovations in sustainable agriculture.
