Podcasts

[caption id="attachment_590" align="alignleft" width="279" caption="Soil scientist/agro ecologist Jerry Glover"][/caption] Out here on the Midwestern prairies of Wisconsin were surrounded by acres of farmland. This time of year as we ride road bikes along the creamy smooth highways of Dane County. From one township to the next it’s vast fields of tall green corn plants as far as the eye can see. [caption id="attachment_616" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Photo by Michael Leland "][/caption] [caption id="attachment_589" align="alignright" width="300" caption="photo by Jim Richardson National Geographic"][/caption] Averaging between 14 and 17 mile per hour, we whiz past one corn field after the next. With ours heads tucked in the draft stream keeping pace with the summer training schedule the last thing anyone’s thinking about is the soil beneath our spinning tires. It’s not just dirt you know. Earlier this summer during the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride Colorado I met a guy, a scientist who succeeded in changing how I’ll think about soil forever.

[caption id="attachment_382" align="alignleft" width="288" caption="Chef Ming Tsai"][/caption] Ming Tsai is the chef and owner of Blue Ginger Restaurant in Wellesley Massachusetts. He’s also the national spokesman for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network and works with the Obesity Center at Harvard University. You might have seen him on his PBS cooking show Simply Ming. Tsai understands better than most that it’s harder than ever for working families and individuals to prepare healthy meals. Tsai was the master of ceremonies during a day-long symposium on food during the Mountain Film Festival...

[caption id="attachment_302" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel"][/caption] If we slow down long enough to think about our food we just might come to realize there’s more to it than filling that nagging void in our bellies. We’re so pressed for time that we fail to think about the nutritional value of what we eat. Racing through the drive-thru window of fast food restaurants we pack faces with hamburgers and tacos loaded with fat, salt and empty carbohydrates. And worse than that, we really have...