Beyond ‘Vegan’: Fake Meats, Food 2.0, & Technocratic Fasting w/ Nick Hillman (Regenerative Ag So

Dec 15, 2025

01:18:23

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Lab-grown “meat.” Cricket protein bars. Impossible burgers at the grocery store.

The world is loudly preaching a new gospel of “ethical,” “sustainable,” plant-based everything... while the same foundations & corporations that built chemical agriculture now tell us the “Future of Food” is bugs, bioreactors, & patented pea protein.

In this Nativity-season episode, Dr. Mike & John welcome back Nick Hillman (regenerative farmer & Orthodox Christian) to go beyond vegan "certified" & ask deeper questions:

What happens when fasting stops being an ascetic practice of the Church… &becomes a top-down technocratic diet plan?
How do fake meats, GMOs, lab-grown protein, &insect foods shape our metabolism, microbiome, & souls?
And how can Orthodox Christians fast on real food... roots, fruits, properly-prepared beans & grains... without going broke or insane?

Building on last week’s episode with Fr. Jonathan Ivanoff on St. Nicholas & almsgiving, we contrast true Christ-centered fasting with a “Future of Food” that increasingly treats food as a lever of control instead of a gift to be received in thanksgiving.

Then we land in the parish kitchen: simple swaps, realistic rhythms, & concrete family- & parish-level steps to take back the future of food at the table you actually sit at.

Key Takeaways:

Fasting is medicine, not a metric. Orthodox fasting is a healing discipline ordered toward repentance, love, & communion with God... not a carbon-credit diet handed down by technocrats.
Fake meats are still fake food. Plant-based burgers & vegan nuggets may be “meat-free,” but their ultra-processed ingredients often drive blood sugar swings, inflammation, & cravings... undermining the very health they promise.
Who controls your food controls your options. When a handful of foundations, corporations, & agencies own the land, seeds, supply chains, & “alt protein” IP, food shifts from gift to leverage.
GMOs & chemicals hit the gut first. Even before we argue ideology, industrial crops & heavy pesticide use are damaging the microbiome, liver, & immune systems of entire populations.
Real fasting can be simple & everyday-friendly. You don’t need boutique products to fast well: fruits, beans, lentils, potatoes, rice, & frozen vegetables can form a nutrient-dense fasting table for ordinary families.
Change happens at the family & parish tables. We may not be able to personally redesign global agriculture, but we can choose more real foods at home, support real farms, & build small parish-scale practices of shared cooking & almsgiving.