Real Food Reads

The rich story, and steep cost, of how California’s arid Central Valley became an agricultural powerhouse and what that means for farmers, rural communities, and our food supply as we face the climate crisis.

With finite resources, a growing population, and a changing climate, how do we feed the world? With research conducted on three continents, Tim Wise shows how small farmers around the world—those who already grow most of the world’s food—are our best hope for eating tomorrow.

From “culinary brownface” to the “fetishization of the agricultural other,” this collection of hard-hitting essays from Paloma Martinez-Cruz takes a look at mestizaje identity in the United States through the lens of food.

Real Food Media founder and former Real Food Reads host Anna Lappé joins us to talk about how our food system drives the climate crisis, how food must be part of the solution, and how this conversation has evolved in the nearly ten years since the publication of her book Diet for a Hot Planet.

Seeds have stories to tell. In the face of climate change, corporate consolidation, and decreasing biodiversity, their stories are increasingly important for us to hear. Tune into this special conversation with Kristyn Leach, farmer and seed saver, and Mark Schapiro, author of Seeds of Resistance recorded live at CUESA.

At nearly 1,000 pages, the Farm Bill is difficult to understand for policymakers, let alone the rest of us. Dan Imhoff walks us through this vitally important legislation, and what it means for farmers, our health, and the planet.

Agriculture has often been seen as a site of oppression in Black history, but it is so much more than that. Dr. Monica White shares a different narrative of Black farmers, and agriculture, in the US—one of resistance, innovation, and collective liberation.

Foodies and celebrity chefs celebrate authentic Mexican foods like heirloom corn tortillas traditionally grown and prepared by peasant farmers. But thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in Mexico this cuisine is being replaced by processed food and industrial agriculture. Tanya Kerssen speaks with Eating NAFTA author Alyshia Gálvez.

Chocolate is good for you? Bacon is best? Pomegranate juice will prolong your life? The expert who literally wrote the book on food politics (Food Politics, 2002) turns her eye to the unsavory story of food industry-backed nutrition research. Recorded live with Tiffani Patton at CUESA's Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market.

Weaving indigenous wisdom and ecological science, Kimmerer explores the nature of nature and its spirit of abundance.

Luz Calvo and Catriona Esquibel inspire us to rethink nourishment and what’s on our plate from a decolonial perspective.