The Food Chain

Ep. 1397 Eating the Earth?

Michael Olson hosts Michael Grunwald, Author of "We Are Eating The Earth"

Some say the big problem is not fossil foods, it’s the food we eat!  If what they say is true, we simply must ask:

 Are we really eating up the earth?

Topics include why author Grunwald would say, “We are eating the earth;” how the production of food causes so much of the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere; whether agriculture can be made to reduce its pollution.

Recipe for Restaurateurs

Michael Olson hosts Bob Vergidis, Chief Visionary Officer, PointOfSale.Cloud

When, of a sudden, the $10 restaurant burger became a $20 burger, the battle for the remaining burger customers across the land became intense.  This leads us to ask:

What is today's recipe for restaurateur survival?

Topics include the ingredients needed to cook up a successful restaurant; how successful restaurants manage food trends; and the significance of information in providing restaurant diner satisfaction.

Ep 1394 Re-Seeding the Taste of City

Guests:  Greg Peterson, Founder & CEO, Urban Farm.org & Belle Star, Co-Founder, SeedSchoolOnline

In a deed, plant a seed, make a garden grow and transform the taste of city!  And so we ask: 

Where can one obtain seeds to transform the taste of city?

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Greg Peterson, Founder & CEO of UrbanFarm.org and Belle Star, Co-Founder of SeedSchoolOnline, for a conversation about seeds and cities.

Topics include how the commercial seed industry has been consolidated into the hands of a few large corporations; how individuals can select, collect, save, trade and plant their own seeds; and ways in which carefully selected seeds might change the taste of the city.

 

Staff of Life: Local Grocer V Corporate Giants

Michael Olson with Gary Bascou, Co-Founder, Staff of Life Natural Food Market

Staff of Life is a locally-owned grocery store competing for consumer dollars in a market dominated by corporate giants.  And so we ask:

How does a local grocery store survive in a marketplace of corporate giants?

Topics include the culture that gave rise to “natural” and “organic” food markets; how those foods gave rise to Staff of Life Natural Foods Market; and how Staff of Life survives 56 years of competition with corporate food giants.

Ep 1393 Regenerating Food & Agriculture with Software

There was a time farmers grew food with shovels, hoes and horses.  As technology progressed, they used tractors, fertilizers and pesticides.  Today, farmers grow food by stringing together binary digits of “Yes” and “No.”  That leads us to ask:

Can software sustain and regenerate agriculture?

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Dan Ryan, CEO of CIBO Technologies, for a conversation about how digital software is transforming food and agriculture.

Topics include how technology made it possible to farm our way out of the dire predictions of 1968’s The Population Bomb; how today’s software technology may make it possible to farm our way out of today’s dire predictions for our future; and whether digital technologies might open the door to a new “Green Revolution” in food and agriculture.

Ep. 1392 The Magic Kingdom of Specialty Mushrooms

It lives alone, and mostly hidden, in its magic kingdom.  Its members are said to include the largest living organism on earth.   That so many down-to-earth people become its ardent devotees leads us to ask:

What is the magic of mushrooms?

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Ian Garrone, CEO & Founder Far West Fungi, Moss Landing, CA, for a conversation about the magic kingdom of specialty mushrooms.

Topics include a look into the variety of life in the kingdom of fungi; reasons why so many down-to-earth people become devotees of mushrooms; and how the Garrone Family built a specialty mushroom business by selling person-to-person at farmers markets.

Ep 1391 Up Against the Big Four Meat

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Patrick Montgomery, CEO & Founder, KC Cattle Company & Valor Provisions Cooperative, for a conversation about finding real value when buying meat.

Topics include how a small producer of meat competes against America’s Big Four producers; how a cooperative of like-minded producers can increase the ability of each to survive; and the value that may be found in grass-fed labeled beef.

Ep 1390 Cholesterol Conundrum?

Michael Olson hosts Tobias Yeh – Doctor of Pharmacy, Doctor of Medicine and Author of Clinical Truths: How to Not Be Misled by the FDA, Big Pharma & Your Doctor, for a conversation about the use of statin drugs to manage cholesterol.

Cholesterol is the waxy stuff of life that floats through the rivers of our blood veins. To manage this flow of cholesterol, people take $16 billion of statin drugs every year.  That leads us to ask:

Should we take statin drugs to manage our cholesterol?

Topics include why – upon doctors’ orders – 50% of men and 38% of women over 60 take statin drugs to control cholesterol; what is the net result of statin use on mortality; and what alternatives are there to statins.