Our friends at Food and Faith podcast just released an excellent interview with my co-host James Connolly.  The intersection of food and faith is often overlooked but it is important to acknowledge the influence of spirituality on what we eat and how we take care of the land.

Co-host of the podcast, Derrick Weston, is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, founding director of the Food and Faith Storytelling Collective, proud father, husband, and gardener. 

Every Food and Faith podcast episode begins with the question, “What is your geography?” It’s a simple question that allows each guest to talk about the food, the music, or culture that has shaped them into who they are today.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that James begins his answer talking about books and takes us through his life story starting with his time in the military, then heading a nonprofit in NYC, and ending up as a documentary maker.

- Learn more about James as he talks to Derrick about:

- The problems with nutrition in schools 

- How James found my work

- Insight into how the current meat industry works

- How there’s a vegan documentary that appeals to every type of consumer

- Vegetarianism and the Black experience

- Seventh-Day Adventists and their influence on policy

- The Pigford v Glickman lawsuit 

- The war with nature and how it relates to the Garden of Eden

Resources:

Archer Gray

Sacred Cow

Kiss the Ground

The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright

Dust Bowls of Empire by Hannah Holleman

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Cows Save the Planet and Water in Plain Sight by Judith Schwartz

Mole Man

Transmilitary

Connect with Derrick:

Website: Faith & Leadership

Instagram: @derricklweston

LinkedIn: Derrick Weston

Twitter: @derricklweston

Podcast: Food and Faith Podcast

Connect with James:

Website: The Primate Kitchen

Instagram: @primatekitchen

Twitter: @jamescophoto

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Episode Credits:

Thank you to all who’ve made this show possible. Our hosts are Diana Rodgers and James Connelly. Our producer is Meg Chatham, and our editor is Emily Soape. And of course, we are grateful for our sponsors, Patreon supporters, and listeners.

This episode was brought to you by my new Sustainavore Course! Are you confused about which diet is best for your health and the planet? Are you feeling frustrated with quick-fix diets and conflicting nutrition information? Check out Sustainavore.  You will learn how to feel confidant that the food you’re buying is the right choice for your health and the environment. The course includes over 7 hours of video instruction from me and 60 daily emails full of tips, tricks, and motivation to keep you going - plus lots of bonus material. For a limited time, I am offering special discount pricing so head over to The Sustainavore Course now!

My co-author and friend, Robb Wolf, and I are back again with another Fireside Chat (or is it a campfire chat?) where we get into current events and the latest research articles about food and nutrition.  And despite a bad internet connection, we get into a couple of great topics this time.

First, we catch up on all the new happenings at Sustainable Dish

- The new website relaunch

- I’m hiring for a Digital Marketing Manager. Check out the job description here.

- The all-new Sustainavore Course coming soon. Stay tuned for details (full credit to Robb for the name)

- The shout out from Bear Grylls

We then get into why the “Less Meat, Better Meat” concept should die and cover these big current topics in research and the news:

- A new paper on how eating meat affects linear growth in kids and why it’s important. You can read more about the science on the Global Food Justice Alliance here

- The Starbucks “Justice Cup” hoax and a quick fact check. You can read the Starbucks response here.

Tune in to hear Robb and me break it all down. 

Resources:

John Sapp and the Roam Free Bison Ranch

Bear Grylls 

Captain Fantastic

Global Food Justice Alliance

Connect with Robb:

Website: The Healthy Rebellion

Instagram: @dasrobbwolf

LinkedIn: Robb Wolf

Facebook: RobbWolf.com

Twitter: @robbwolf

YouTube: Robb Wolf

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Episode Credits:

Thank you to all who’ve made this show possible. Our hosts are Diana Rodgers and James Connelly. Our producer is Meg Chatham, and our editor is Emily Soape. And of course, we are grateful for our sponsors, Patreon supporters, and listeners.

You may know him as Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec, or as Amy Poehler’s co-host in the reality competition series Making It,  or as Megan Mullally’s husband.  But did you know that Nick Offerman is also a passionate supporter of sustainability and the movement for better meat?

Many of you will immediately recognize his dulcet tones as the narrator from my film Sacred Cow. Nick and I met through a mutual friend and fellow supporter of regenerative farming, James Rebanks, and continue a friendship through our shared interests.

In this episode, I sit down to talk to Nick about his latest book, Where the Deer and the Antelope Play. Nick recounts some of his most memorable moments from his journeys and shares the inspiration for his travels.

Get to know Nick a little bit better as we chat about:

- Nick’s backstory and family history

- His inspiration drawn from Wendell Berry

- How Parks and Rec opened doors for new opportunities

- The good and bad of living in LA

- The necessary tradeoffs of living in the modern world

- The value of face to face interactions

- The problems with battling misinformation

- Nick’s current and upcoming projects

- Nick’s book recommendations

Resources:

Solid Sound Festival 

The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks

Wendell Daily Twitter 

The Unsettling of America by Wendell Berry

Bewilderment and The Overstory by Richard Powers

The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees: The Ash in Human Culture and History  by Robert Penn

Girls & Sex and Boys & Sex by Peggy Orenstein

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Connect with Nick:

Website: Nick Offerman and Offerman Woodshop

Instagram: @nickofferman

Facebook: Nick Offerman

Twitter: @nick_offerman

Podcast: In Bed with Nick and Megan 

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Episode Credits:

Thank you to all who’ve made this show possible. Our hosts are Diana Rodgers and James Connelly. Our producer is Meg Chatham, and our editor is Emily Soape. And of course, we are grateful for our sponsors, Patreon supporters, and listeners.

A big thanks to Nakano Knives for their support of my work and the podcast. I’ve been using their knives for a couple of years now and I love them. They are beautiful, easy to hold, and a fantastic value. And just in time for the holidays, you can use my offer code DIANA for 10% off plus get a $25 voucher toward your next purchase. Who doesn’t love a new knife, right? 

This episode is also sponsored by Paleovalley, my go-to, grab-and-go source for products that prioritize nutrient density in an industry that prioritizes everything else. Their epic lineup of products includes Organic Supergreens, 100% Grass-Fed Beef Sticks, Grass-Fed Organ Complex, 100% Grass-Fed Bone Broth Protein, and low-sugar snack bars. Visit their website here and enter the code SUSTAINABLEDISH for 15% off your first order.

Small and mid-sized farms in America have been dwindling for decades. Often these farms are bought up by larger conglomerates. One relatively recent example is Perdue’s purchase of Niman Ranch. You can read my post about the buyout here and my concerns about CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) taking over companies with higher standards of production. 

In the episode, we learn that it’s not only Big Ag that’s getting into the small farm business. Financial institutions have been in the farmland game for years. My co-host James Connelly interviews Madeleine Fairbairn, an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz about her latest book. Fields of Gold: Financing the Global Land Rush explores the financialization of farmland and how financial institutions began treating farmland as investment opportunities. You can download the ebook for free here.

James and Madeleine start their discussion in the 1970s with skyrocketing crop prices, quickly followed by overproduction and inflation, making farmland attractive to wealthy investors. This situation coupled with financial deregulation in the 80s and 90s caused changing mindsets in companies and consumers that now make finance a part of our everyday lives. 

Their conversation concludes with our current landscape where we see major investment companies like Harvard Management Company and TIAA owning huge swaths of farmland, often to the detriment of the local community. 

Tune in to learn more about:

- Financialization and how it affects all areas of our lives

- The Global Land Grab

- The Shareholder Value Revolution

- Congress's bipartisan measure to prevent institutions from taking over farmland and how those measures went away in the 1980s

- California’s water shortage problem

- How Harvard Management Company bought a vineyard

- The rise of ESGs (Environmental, Social, and Governance) or socially responsible investing

- Madeleine’s skepticism of ESGs

Resources:

Fields of Gold by Madeleine Fairbairn (free ebook)

The Looting Machine: Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa’s Wealth by Tom Burgis

Greta Krippner 

The Great Grain Robbery

The Last Supper for Malthus: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It by Tom Philpott

Connect with Madeleine:

Website: Madeleine Fairbairn and UC AFTeR Project

LinkedIn: Madeleine Fairbairn

Email: mfairbai@ucsc.edu

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Episode Credits:

Thank you to all who’ve made this show possible. Our hosts are Diana Rodgers and James Connelly. Our producer is Meg Chatham, and our editor is Emily Soape. And of course, we are grateful for our sponsors, Patreon supporters, and listeners.

A big thanks to Nakano Knives for their support of my work and the podcast. I’ve been using their knives for a couple of years now and I love them. They are beautiful, easy to hold, and a fantastic value. And just in time for the holidays, you can use my offer code DIANA for 10% off plus get a $25 voucher toward your next purchase. Who doesn’t love a new knife, right?