Reversing Climate Change S2E69: Mark Bittman on the political economy of junk food
60% of the calories in our food supply are alleged to be ultra-processed junk. So, when did we lose our way? When did we go from growing food to feed our communities to growing food for profit? And how do we find our way back to a just food system—and society?
Mark Bittman is a former New York Times columnist and bestselling author of 30-plus books, including the well-known How to Cook Everything series. His new release is called Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Mark joins Ross and Radkhika to explain how the food system shaped our history and vice versa, describing how the Enclosure Movement may have turned food into a profit-making political tool and created the health crisis we’re facing.
He weighs in on why educating kids about good food is the first step in creating a just food system and advocates for subsidies to support getting good food to more people. Listen in for Mark’s perspective on investing federal dollars in regenerative agriculture and learn how he thinks about making the phrase ‘land reform’ common in our political discourse.
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Resources
Subscribe to The Bittman Project Newsletter
Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal by Mark Bittman
How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser
Renewable Fuel Standard Program
Joel Salatin at Polyface Farms
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan