In this week’s episode, we hear from Lisa Gross, owner of League of Kitchens. She is one such human. She’s the founder of a business that at every level values women in ways that are revolutionary. Packed into one company, she has managed to capture what America needs most right now: meaningful cultural exchange, putting women at the center of the story, celebrating diversity, celebrating immigrants, and being revolutionary by paying women for their talents (talents, I will add, that...
Oct 27, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 8
This week, I speak with Kara Heckert, a regional director at the nonprofit American Farmland Trust. Its mission is to save America’s farms and ranches. Kara works there on agricultural sustainability and natural resource conservation in California. America’s farmers are facing some very real challenges right now. Wildfires, drought, loss of farmland, and a history of discrimination. In this episode, we look more closely at all these issues.
Oct 20, 2021•34 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Today, we’re talking about rice with farmer Michael Bosworth! California grows 20 percent of America’s rice, and nearly all of the country’s sushi rice. Ninety-seven percent of the state’s rice farms are located in the Sacramento Valley. One of these farms is run by Michael, who comes from a family of farmers dating back to the 1870s. He went to college to study farming and has been a farmer his whole life. The man has rice in his veins! Michael is a different...
Oct 06, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Dates are such a fascinating desert fruit. They grow on date palm trees, which may be one of the oldest cultivated trees in the world, dating back over 5,000 years. They’re not only tasty, but they’re a pretty cool food to learn about, too. Today’s guest teaches us all sorts of fun facts. I learned so much talking to her! Like, did you know that dates are considered a berry? Or that the dried fruit is more than 50 percent sugar? Joan Smith runs Rancho Meladuco Date ...
Sep 29, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 5
As Americans search for ways to cook more at home with limited time, the blender provides easy answers. It’s a useful tool in our search for healthier eating, too. What easier way to turn kale into breakfast? In a recent study, 54% of consumers said they care more about the healthfulness of their food and beverage choices in 2020 than a decade ago. People want to eat healthy, and Tess leverages the blender to help them learn how. Tess Masters is an actor, lifestyle personality, and c...
Sep 22, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In one survey, 93% of respondents said they wanted to eat healthier. In another survey, 49% of people said they want to eat mindfully, rather than dieting. Today’s guest is one of these Americans--a busy mom who wanted to leave a better food legacy for her family, so she started a meal planning company, The Fresh 20. In this episode, we talk about her tips for being practical in the kitchen, how she raises healthy children, and how she feels inside her healthier body. Melissa L...
Sep 15, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 3
I’m excited to introduce you to Beth Lee. She grew up enjoying her grandma’s traditional Jewish baked goods, but they were never written down. So, Beth took a journey, interviewing people across the world to capture and publish a new cookbook based on essential Jewish baking from across the diaspora. It’s a beautiful story of family, culture, and tradition.
Sep 08, 2021•42 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Welcome to Season 2 of Raising Kale! In Season 1, I asked our guests what listeners like you can do to become "Kale Raisers" and improve your own communities. Their #1 answer? Eat local and get to know your farmers. So, in Season 2, Farmers & Families, I’ll be talking to more farmers. We’ll learn about what they’re growing, and how they’re innovating, and what they’re doing to improve their communities in addition to feeding people. We start Season 2 in Am...
Sep 01, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Rock stars have a history of creating change in our food movement. Food and music have a unifying quality--they can bring people together around issues that are complex and even depressing--and help fill us with hope. When Rockstar Gavin Rossdale isn't singing and playing guitar with his band Bush, he's making delicious meals for his family with sustainable food. He admits that if he wasn’t a musician, he would have been a chef. When Gavin heard about this podcast, he offer...
May 19, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 13
David Lebovitz started his culinary career at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, working with Chef Alice Waters (episode 4 guest). He’s been featured in Oprah, Bon Appetit, and many more culinary publications. In 2019, Saveur magazine awarded his website their first-ever Blog of the Decade. David shares his journey from washing dishes in a strip mall steakhouse to living in Paris.
May 12, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 12
In an era of fake news, information about our food is not immune. Myths and misinformation abound. 21% of respondents in one study said they get their nutrition advice from social media. At a time when rates of hunger are rising, farm land is disappearing, and over half of Americans are sick from their diets, we can’t afford to get this wrong. Lucky for us, there are thoughtful journalists like Danielle who are breaking through the noise. Danielle Nierenberg is the president an...
May 05, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 11
This week we hear from scientist Michael Mazourek, who’s designing new vegetables as a seed breeder with Row 7 Seed Company . He’s doing something radical with our food--he’s making it taste better! He is an actual kale raiser--as in, he breeds the seeds that grow vegetables! It all started with a challenge from chef Dan Barber to build a better butternut squash. The result is the delicious and widely available honeynut squash!...
Apr 28, 2021•51 min•Season 1Ep. 10
You may have heard the rumors that school lunch is broken. But have you heard the one about how school lunch is being done RIGHT?! Today, you’re going to hear how school lunch is supposed to be done! My nonprofit is fortunate to work in a school district alongside a school lunch program that breaks barriers. I can’t wait for you to meet their leader. Diana Flores wants to transform school kitchens into school restaurants. She serves as the director of Nutrition Services for Californi...
Apr 21, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 9
There are currently an estimated 42 million Americans who are food insecure, or hungry, according to Feeding America. Of those, 13 million are children. What is the #1 cause of hunger? It’s not a lack of food. It’s a lack of jobs, or jobs that don’t pay enough. It’s about money. In order to truly end hunger, we have to overturn the traditional model of food distribution and attack the problem at its source. Robert Egger made a career of doing this very thing. He star...
Apr 14, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Rates of both poverty and hunger are rising in America. The statistics are dire. The number of people living below the federal poverty line in the United States remains stuck at recession-era record levels. Poverty rates have grown even higher since the pandemic hit last year. A Northwestern University study in June revealed that food needs have doubled nationally. For households with children, food insecurity tripled! One nonprofit in San Diego, California, Kitchens for Good, h...
Apr 07, 2021•46 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Two generations of Americans don’t know how to cook. We have to look back to our grandmothers and mothers to learn the recipes we grew up eating. In the current pandemic, people are returning to their kitchens. When mom or grandma are not around, who do we turn to for help? To the Internet--and to food bloggers like Lisa Lin. Her recipe site, Healthy Nibbles, features delicious recipes that turn farmers market crops into healthy meals. A few years ago, Lisa started including somethin...
Mar 31, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 6
This week's episode we talk to we talk to Alexandra Garcia, Chief Program Officer for the World Central Kitchen, a non-profit whose goal is to change the world through the power of food. She talks about building resilient, local food systems in countries like Haiti, Honduras and Costa Rica, and introduces us to Bread Fruit!
Mar 24, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Can our food teach us values? Can eating seasonally change you? How is fast food harming our kids? The Pioneer of both the farm-to-fork and farm-to-school movements, Chef Alice Waters, shares her insights on the deep connection between our climate and our farmers, and how school lunch offers a solution.
Mar 17, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 4
How does food connect to social justice? And what does that have to do with school lunch? This episodes looks at the connection between hunger, school lunch and food justice. Krystal Oriadha is the Senior Director of Programs and Policy for the National Farm to School Network, and served on President Barack Obama's Presidential campaign. She shares the harrowing personal stories that drove her to commit her life to social justice.
Mar 10, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Raising Kale’s premier episode starts in the kitchen. Cooking is a radical act in today’s fast food world. In fact, we have two generations of Americans who do not know how to cook from scratch. If we want to improve the health of Americans, we need to learn to cook again. For the large percentage of Americans who are still learning to cook, food blogs have become as popular as ever, with over two million to choose from online. Elise Bauer is one of the most successful food bloggers ...
Mar 10, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Increasing your knowledge about food is an act of Kale Raising. What we eat affects our health, the planet and our economy. What would happen if we knew the impacts of the food we eat on our planet and on our health. Would you make a different choice if you knew? In this episode, we talk with Ken Myska, a chef who worked in elite restaurants around the country, until he woke up along his culinary career path. That awakening caused a critical shift in the way he works with food, and led to his ne...
Mar 10, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Kale Raiser: /k?l/ /?r?z?r/ noun. A person who gets in good trouble, using food as a tool. Host Amber Stott speaks with Kale Raisers across the country. In Season One, we learn what a Chefarmer is, how to use breadfruit to build resilience, and how a recipe for oxtail stew turned into one of the biggest websites around! One Kale Raiser took her experiences as a Black youth in Texas to fuel a career of raising kale. Today, she’s pressuring the federal school lunch program to cre...
Mar 10, 2021•2 min
