On this episode, we hear from chef and writer Sami Tamimi, Yotam Ottolenghi’s partner and author of the new cookbook Falastin that brings you right into the center of one of the globe’s most hotly contested territories, Isreali-occupied Palesti

Elderberries Don’t Boost Your Immune System, and Other Coronavirus Myths Debunked

Aug 7th, 2020 26m 28s

Our inboxes have been filled to the brim with advice from people peddling vitamins, herbs, and diets—all claiming that the product that they were hawking would help supercharge the body’s defenses to ward off the coronavirus. Is there any truth

Why We Need Black-Owned Food Media

Jul 24th, 2020 56m 2s

“When we don’t own our media, we will not own our messages,” says Stephen Satterfield, the founder of the food culture magazine Whetstone, and one of the only Black owners of a major food publication. Satterfield talks about the challenges of f

Chef Dominique Crenn on Eating as Activism—and the Secret to Phenomenal Sandwiches

Jul 10th, 2020 33m 54s

Dominique Crenn famously nabbed her first cooking job, at the legendary San Francisco restaurant Stars, without ever having gone to culinary school. She went on to become the first female chef in North America to hold three Michelin stars for h

Swollen Hands, Rampant Contagion, No Sick Days: Processing Chicken During a Pandemic

Jun 26th, 2020 25m 26s

Meatpacking plants across the United States have become coronavirus hotspots—and workers at chicken plants are particularly vulnerable. Caitlin Esch, a senior producer at Marketplace, digs into the history behind chicken production in America a

White People Own 98 Percent of Rural Land. Young Farmers Are Asking for It Back.

Jun 12th, 2020 25m 30s

Black families own just one percent of the country’s arable land. But that’s despite the fact US agriculture has deep roots in African traditions. Leah Penniman, author of the book Farming While Black, delves into the roots of our modern farmin

A Science-Loving Chef's Guide to Eating Safely Right Now

May 29th, 2020 24m 7s

Whether you’re in lockdown or beginning to ease your way back into public life—you still need to eat every day. And the questions are still swirling: Are groceries safe? Should I reheat food when I bring it home? Does my delivery meal pose a ri

How Does Your Pandemic Garden Grow?

May 15th, 2020 22m 22s

Quarantine has prompted a burst of gardening activity around the country; some people have even likened it to the 1940s Victory Garden movement. In a third-floor apartment in Queens, two roommates have figured out how to grow a whole host of ve

Should Restaurants Be Saved?

May 1st, 2020 31m 8s

Restaurants run on social contact and razor-thin profit margins. So COVID-19 stopped them cold, and brought them to the brink of financial ruin. In today's episode, Tom Colicchio—owner of Manhattan restaurant empire Crafted Hospitality and judg

Recipe for Escape

Apr 17th, 2020 31m 8s

Whether you are working mandatory overtime shifts, feeling stuck inside a third-floor apartment, or full-time parenting on top of working at home—chances are, you’re craving to break free. So today, we bring you two stories about escape. First,

The Food Workers Who Brave Coronavirus to Feed Us

Apr 3rd, 2020 26m

Supermarket cashiers, meal delivery folks, fast-food cooks, and farmworkers—all help keep society together. While that’s always been true, the COVID-19 crisis has put them in the spotlight. On this episode, we talk to food workers who are putti

Your Best Dinner Option Is Hiding in Your Pantry

Mar 20th, 2020 30m 26s

Get ready to master your pantry, no matter what you've stockpiled. Tamar Adler, author of the book An Everlasting Meal, has tons of tips for home cooking with economy and grace: What to prioritize on your grocery list, how to stretch ingredient

Many Restaurants May Never Re-Open After Coronavirus

Mar 19th, 2020 22m 2s

Today we bring you a bonus episode from our sister show, The Mother Jones Podcast. The coronavirus pandemic is devastating the hospitality industry. Millions of Americans are in lockdown. Events are being cancelled. The day before the release o

103 – The Golden Arches’ Long Shadow on Black America

Mar 6th, 2020 27m 37s

“Getting people to trust fast-food is a process,” says Marcia Chatelain, author of the new book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. For many Black communities, that process started at a precise moment in history: The resulting chaos

102 – You've Never Met Anyone Like This Bee Hunter

Feb 21st, 2020 17m 32s

The new documentary Honeyland is getting rave reviews. Set in North Macedonia, it seems at first to be about the process of hunting for wild bees. And bees do fill the film—flitting in and out of the frame, stinging neighbors, and turning the h

101 – Michael Pollan on the Iowa Farmers Who Will Sway the Election

Feb 3rd, 2020 32m 13s

There's a new power broker in national politics, but it's not a politician. Art Cullen, editor of the tiny Iowa newspaper the Storm Lake Times, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for his op-eds on Big Ag meddling in local communities. Now, presiden

100 – Who Are the Millennial Farmers?

Jan 24th, 2020 27m 9s

Bite’s special 100th episode is all about young farmers. You’ll hear from all kinds of folks—from a fourth generation Japanese American fruit grower in California to a “party farmer” in Brooklyn—about what’s keeping them up at night, and what’s

Chicken, Waffles, and Smashing the Patriarchy

Jan 10th, 2020 23m 28s

Chef Tanya Holland is the owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen, a soul food restaurant in Oakland. She has written cookbooks, appeared on Top Chef, and recently became the first black chef to run a restaurant in San Francisco’s foodie epicenter, the Fe

The Bizarre Fad Diet Taking the Far Right by Storm

Dec 27th, 2019 25m 27s

Lately, Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist known for his arch-conservative politics and views on masculinity, has been talking up the virtues of carnivorism. He’s not the only extreme right winger who has an unusual relationship with me

99 – This Lab Makes Real Meat—But Not From Animals. Will You Eat It?

Dec 13th, 2019 31m 20s

On the last episode of Eating in Climate Chaos, we explore the brave new world of lab-grown meat. First, we visit a startup called Finless Foods that’s making actual fish—without killing any actual fish. Then, we talk to Ben Wurgaft, author of

98 – The Leftovers

Nov 28th, 2019 17m 54s

Silicon Valley's tech companies are all competing for talent, and offering employees perks like free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And all those free meals create a lot of leftovers. One organization aims to redirect that food away from the lan

97 – 5 Presidential Candidates Dish on the Future of Food

Nov 15th, 2019 34m 20s

How would each of the presidential hopefuls change your experience at the grocery store and in the kitchen? On this episode of Bite's special series Eating in Climate Chaos, you’ll hear straight from the mouths of Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sande

96 – Beef Got Us Into This Mess. But Can It Also Help Reverse Global Warming?

Nov 1st, 2019 32m 2s

Rancher Loren Poncia counts roughly 500 Angus beef cattle, 350 sheep, and 19 hogs among his brood at his scenic Stemple Creek Ranch in Tomales, California. And there’s something else he’s farming—something that has the potential to revolutioniz

95 – In Vino Veritas

Oct 18th, 2019 31m 8s

Wine growers in Napa can no longer rely on the consistent fog and cool nights that brought the region global fame. Mother Jones politics reporter Kara Voght takes a break from covering the Hill and travels to Napa to learn about how vintners ar

94 – “All the Delicious Foods Are Dying”

Oct 4th, 2019 36m 27s

In the inaugural episode of Bite’s special series, “Eating in Climate Chaos,” we explore the foods climate change will hit first. Journalist Amanda Little has some warnings about the tastiest delicacies—from cherries to coffee. Delicious foods