It’s All About Food

Fran Costigan, Your Oven is Lying to You! Are Veggies Safe to Eat? Long-time friends catching up on the news.
 
Fran Costigan, culinary instructor, cookbook author, pastry chef, consultant, and the Director of Vegan Pastry at Rouxbe Culinary School, is internationally renowned as the authority on vegan desserts. Professionally trained, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 25 years ago. Her unapologetically luscious confections lack nothing — except dairy, eggs, white sugar, and cholesterol. Fran’s vegan desserts are appropriate for everyone who loves dessert, whether or not dietary restrictions are an issue. She developed and leads the 90-day Essential Vegan Desserts Course at Rouxbe, the world’s leading online Culinary School, where she mentors international students of all skill levels, from beginners to professionals.
 
Fran’s cookbook, Vegan Chocolate Dessert: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts, is available in German, French and Italian editions, and follows the classic, More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts. A native New Yorker, Fran moved to Philadelphia, PA and is enthusiastically visiting Philly’s many renowned plant-forward restaurants. (Go Birds!) A sought-after speaker, you can find Fran sharing her passion across North America and Europe, at schools, conferences, festivals, and corporations such as Google, at resorts, spas and on cruise ships too. A professional member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, ACF: American Culinary Federation, and Les Dames d’Escoffier, Fran is proud to serve on the advisory boards of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Foods, and Main Street Vegan Academy.

Kirk Charles is on a mission to get America in tip-top shape. A NASM Certified Personal Trainer since 2010 with over 13,000 sessions under his belt, Kirk credits 30+ years of plant-based eating for his success. In 2021 he founded Fit Beyond 40, coaching the mature generation through exercise and plant-based nutrition. He's the author of two books, a former Men's Health columnist, and creator of Bike America, a 1,000-mile annual ride promoting cardio health. Kirk is a Rutgers graduate based in Montclair, New Jersey. More at https://www.kirkcharles.com/.

This episode looks at four food stories through one lens — who decides what counts as "good" food. It covers how hot dogs are made and their real cancer risk, plus vegan and carrot-based alternatives; the Coney Island eating contest and what it says about our relationship with unhealthy food; a critique of the National Food Museum's diet scorecard, which penalizes skipping dairy/fish and eating more produce; and Europe's falling meat consumption alongside its fight over labeling plant-based "burgers" and "sausages."

The podcast explores the gap between Costa Rica’s celebrated green reputation and the more complicated reality on the ground, using two personal observations as entry points: noticing less organic food in stores than 20 years ago, and experiencing a water shutoff in San Isidro. It traces the history of organic agriculture in Costa Rica — how it boomed in the late 90s but was largely export-driven, leaving little for local consumers — and explains how agroecological farming and domestic markets are now quietly growing as alternatives. It confronts the uncomfortable fact that despite its environmental image, Costa Rica is one of the world’s heaviest pesticide users per hectare, driven by industrial pineapple and banana monocultures. The water crisis is unpacked through four layers: climate variability and El Niño, aging infrastructure, growing demand, and policy gaps. A livestock segment examines how cattle ranching drove massive deforestation historically, how it still occupies over a third of the country’s land, and how silvopastoral and low-carbon farming practices are trying to change that. Everything is tied together by showing that food systems, land use, and water security are deeply interconnected — and closes with practical things listeners can do, whether they’re in Costa Rica or not.

Caryn is in Costa Rica and talks about her 21-year journey which started with buying property in the rainforest and wanting to have a farm.

Élise Desaulniers is an author, consultant and independent researcher based in Montréal. From 2017 to 2022, she was Executive Director of the Montreal SPCA. She has published several essays on food ethics and animal rights — including Je mange avec ma tête, Vache à lait (translated into English as Cash Cow) and Le défi végane 21 jours — translated into several languages. In 2015, she received Quebec’s Grand Prix du journalisme indépendant in the Opinion category for an essay on feminism and antispeciesism. In 2022, she became an anonymous (non-directed) kidney donor and has since been actively involved in advocating for organ donation. She serves on the board of directors of the Kidney Foundation of Canada (Quebec branch) and on the Advanced Donation Steering Committee of Canadian Blood Services. She is an editor at L’Amorce and writes regularly on Substack. Her Wikipedia entry covers part of her work. Together with Éline Bonin (Patate & Cornichon), she is co-spokesperson of the Festival végane de Montréal. The event will take place on October 17 and 18, 2026.
 
Read the article by Élise Desaulniers on Substack: Xenotransplantation and the Animal Question

You're paying 25% more for groceries than you were before the pandemic — and that's probably permanent. But the reasons behind each item in your plant-food cart are completely different. Droughts, wars, tariffs, TikTok, and corporate profits: we follow the money, all the way from the farm to your register.

This episode features Caryn Hartglass and Gary De Mattei covering three big cultural flashpoints through an uncompromising, no-nonsense lens. Billie Eilish's viral callout of meat-eaters — her blunt Instagram post, the predictable backlash, and what the ugly comments reveal about where we are as a society. A look at Suffs, the Broadway musical bringing the women's suffrage movement back into the spotlight, and the hard-fought history behind the 19th Amendment and its connection to the animal rights movement. From there, the conversation shifts to the Equal Rights Amendment — still not enshrined in the Constitution over a century after it was first introduced, despite hitting the 38-state ratification threshold. After a discussion on rejuvenation and recharging when tired and frustrated with the long game of activism, they conclude with a segment on addiction, culture, and marketing. No softening, no sponsors to protect, just honest talk.

TITLE: Melanie Joy, PhD, Practice Integrity
Melanie Joy, PhD, is a Harvard-educated psychologist, international trainer, and author of eight books, including the award-winning Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, Beyond Beliefs: A Guide to Improving Relationships and Communication for Vegans, Vegetarians, and Meat Eaters, and How to End Injustice Everywhere. She is the eighth recipient of the Institute of Jainology’s Ahimsa Award, which was previously given to Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. Her work has been featured by media outlets around the world, and she is also the founding president of the nonprofit organization Beyond Carnism. You can learn more about her work at carnism.org. Melanie has also recently published her debut novel, A Half-Hearted Death Wish. The book reflects the same values of compassion and awareness that underpin her other work, and it weaves in powerful themes of justice, connection, and empathy.
 

TITLE: Gardening: Nature Always Finds a Way In
DESCRIPTION: Caryn Hartglass and Gary De Mattei discuss their 2026 container gardening experiences on their NYC terrace, focusing on persistent wildlife challenges (squirrels and pigeons) and the broader context of food security, organic farming, and glyphosate's ongoing legal and health controversies. The conversation emphasizes the importance of home gardening as food prices rise and agricultural systems face mounting pressures.