Feed: a food systems podcast

Presenting the Meat: the four futures series final episode.--Over the last few months, we explored what the future of meat and livestock could look like. We’ve talked about how our values, ethics and where we live in the world can impact our desired futures for meat. And we did a deep dive into four potential futures - efficient meat, alternative “meat”, less meat and no meat.To wrap up the series, we hear comments and thoughts from the listeners, and podcast host Matthew Kessler shares some personal reflections on what he learned about the future of meat and livestock after making this series.--Visit the episode page with more resources: https://tabledebates.org/meat/episode8Project webpage: https://tabledebates.org/meatTake the values-based quiz: https://tabledebates.org/meat/quizMusic by Blue dot Sessions and Epidemic sound.

We continue featuring the Meat: the four futures series with episode 7.--We've heard four distinct visions for the future of meat and livestock. But realistically, won't they all play a role? As we wrap up the series in the next two episodes, we’re going to review what’s in conflict between the four futures and how parts of them might co-exist.In this episode we ask three experts to consider different arguments presented by the four futures as they relate to health, biodiversity and animal ethics. We ask a professor of diet and population health if it’s better to eat some, a lot, or no meat; we ask a biodiversity expert about how the different futures would help biodiversity to recover; and we ask an animal ethicist about the morality of eating animals and to interrogate the ethical cases put forward by the four futures.--Visit the episode page with more resources: https://tabledebates.org/meat/episode7Project webpage: https://tabledebates.org/meatTake the values-based quiz: https://tabledebates.org/meat/quizMusic by Blue dot Sessions and Epidemic sound.

We continue featuring the Meat: the four futures series with our fourth and final exploration of four different futures for meat - Plant based no meat.--Should we remove animals from agriculture and our diets altogether? What if all the land that produces animal feed now could instead produce human food--or be rewilded? Would this be a planet friendly future--or impoverished and unnatural? In this fourth and final scenario: the plant-based no meat future, we explore the motivations, the evidence and the arguments for adopting a diet that centers and celebrates plants. We visit a vegan restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden; a vegan food tech company in Lagos, Nigeria; and an animal free farm outside of Reading in the United Kingdom.But is dietary change at a societal scale unrealistic? Is this the most sustainable, ethical and efficient approach to eating and producing food? We explore all this and more.--Visit the episode page with more resources: https://tabledebates.org/meat/episode6Project webpage: https://tabledebates.org/meatTake the values-based quiz: https://tabledebates.org/meat/quizMusic by Blue dot Sessions and Epidemic sound.

We continue featuring the Meat: the four futures series with our third exploration of four different futures for meat - Less meat.--What if we had a more compassionate approach to farming animals, where we raised and ate fewer animals - and so meat cost more? We speak with farmers, researchers and campaigners who don’t see farmed animals only as producers of meat and milk, but instead highlight their ability to manage landscapes and to recycle waste and nutrients. They cannot imagine sustainable cropping systems without livestock.Is this less meat future a win-win-win for animals, people and the planet, or is it an unrealistic and elitist vision?--Visit the episode page with more resources: https://tabledebates.org/meat/episode5Project webpage: https://tabledebates.org/meatTake the values-based quiz: https://tabledebates.org/meat/quizMusic by Blue dot Sessions and Epidemic sound.

We continue featuring the Meat: the four futures series with our second exploration of four different futures for meat - Alternative "meat".--What do some entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, animal activists, and environmentalists have in common? They each envision a future where meat alternatives can tackle the environmental impacts and animal suffering caused by global livestock production.But in this futuristic vision of replacing livestock with plant-based substitutes and cultivating meat in labs from animal cells - are we living in a utopia or a dystopia? We speak with scientists, investors, and CEOs from across the world to better understand the motivations, scientific basis, and evidence that either support or raise concerns about the future of alternative "meat".--Visit the episode page with more resources: https://tabledebates.org/meat/episode4Project webpage: https://tabledebates.org/meatTake the values-based quiz: https://tabledebates.org/meat/quizMusic by Blue dot Sessions and Epidemic sound.

We continue featuring the Meat: the four futures series with our first exploration of four different futures for meat - Efficient meat 2.0.--Today we farm and eat meat at a scale not matched in human history. We raise 80 billion animals a year for food at a really low cost to the consumer.  Here we look at how technology, research, and innovation have made animal agriculture much more efficient. Do you see efficiency improvements in animal agriculture as essential for feeding a growing population?  Or do you think we should eat less meat, switch to plant-forward diets or create competitive meat alternatives?We speak with agriculture economists, pig farmers, poultry geneticists, and others who make the best case for an efficient meat future.--Visit the episode page with more resources: https://tabledebates.org/meat/episode3Project webpage: https://tabledebates.org/meatTake the values-based quiz: https://tabledebates.org/meat/quizMusic by Blue dot Sessions and Epidemic sound.

Today we are presenting the second episode in the Meat: the four futures series.What are your first thoughts when you see a piece of steak on a plate or a big pot of chicken soup - healthy meal? piece of animal flesh? comfort food? In this episode we explore how our values, ethics and where we live impacts our relationship with meat and livestock.We dig into the history of the diet  humans evolved to eat, visit Burkina Faso and India to hear two different solutions to meet the surging demand for meat across the global South, and talk about the ethics of eating animals in the West, where we’re often distant and detached from where meat comes from.---Visit the episode page with more resources: https://tabledebates.org/meat/episode2Project webpage: https://tabledebates.org/meatTake the values-based quiz: https://tabledebates.org/meat/quizSubscribe to the newsletter: https://tabledebates.org/meat/newsletterAdd your voice to the podcast: https://tabledebates.org/meat/contributeMusic by Blue dot Sessions and Epidemic sound.

Here we present the first episode of a podcast that Feed co-host Matthew Kessler has been creating with TABLE and the SLU Future Food over the last year: Meat the four futuresFood has this incredible ability to bring people together. But it can also divide us. And how can it not? The same foods that some find so nutritious, that give us such a strong sense of who we are - are also believed by others to be at the center of so many existential concerns - global malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and inequality. Meat sits at the center of this controversy. But is it the problem or the solution? Well, that’s complicated. Meat: The Four Futures aims to bring us together on a journey where we can examine our past and our future, our decisions and the science that informs them.The Meat the four futures podcast will explore four competing visions for meat and livestock: 1) Efficient meat 2.0, 2) Alternative "meat", 3) Less meat, and 4) Plant-based no meat. In this episode we set up the series and unpack the promises and pitfalls with each future.--Visit the episode page with more resources: https://tabledebates.org/meat/episode1Project webpage: https://tabledebates.org/meatTake the values-based quiz: https://tabledebates.org/meat/quizSubscribe to the newsletter: https://tabledebates.org/meat/newsletterAdd your voice to the podcast: https://tabledebates.org/meat/contributeMusic by Blue dot Sessions and Epidemic sound.

For our last episode of the second season of Feed, we speak with TABLE director Tara Garnett of the University of Oxford, and TABLE strategic director Sigrid Wertheim-Heck of Wageningen University to reflect on our past 15 episodes. We talk about what surprised us, what we learned, and what we missed across the season. Our wide ranging conversation covered the power of language, the power of imagination, the power of narratives, non-human power and more.If you have any comments, questions or suggestions for the show, you can write us at podcast@tabledebates.org and don’t forget to rate and review us wherever you listen.For more info and transcript, please visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode39

As this season on power in the food system comes to a close, we wanted to focus on how food is consumed in institutions - places where people typically have less agency over their own food choices. In this episode we’re focusing on food in prisons in the United Kingdom and Denmark. We're joined by Lucy Vincent, Chief Executive and Founder of the charity Food Behind Bars in the UK, and Linda Kjær Minke, a criminology professor at the University of Southern Denmark who researches food dynamics in Danish prisons. We discuss how food in prisons is procured, prepared and eaten, and how these two systems of prison food can lead to very different results for the incarcerated, for those working in prisons and – potentially – for society as a whole.For more info and transcript, please visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/episode38