It’s All About Food

It's All About Food - Kim Stallwood, Growl - 03/25/14

Kim Stallwood is an independent scholar and author on animal rights. For almost 40 years he has demonstrated personal commitment and professional experience in leadership positions with some of the world’s foremost animal advocacy organisations in the U.K. and U.S.A. This includes Compassion In World Farming, British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and The Animals’ Agenda magazine. He co-founded the Animals and Society Institute in 2005. He is ASI’s European Director. He is also Executive Director of Minding Animals International. His client organisations include CIWF, GREY2K USA Worldwide, and League Against Cruel Sports. He became a vegetarian in 1974 after working in a chicken slaughterhouse. He has been a vegan since 1976. He holds dual citizenship in the U.K. and U.S. His book, Growl: Life Lessons, Hard Truths, and Bold Strategies from an Animal Advocate, will be published by Lantern Books in 2014.

It's All About Food - Michael Farrell, Lisa McComsey & Amy Cramer - 03/18/14

Part I: Michael Farrell, Walnut and Birch Tree SyrupsMichael Farrell joined the Department of Natural Resources in 2004. His educational background includes a BS from Hamilton College in economics/environmental studies and an MPS in forest and natural resource management from SUNY-College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He currently serves as Director of the Uihlein Forest- Cornell`s Sugar Maple Research & Extension Field Station in Lake Placid, NY.Part II: Lisa McComsey and Amy Cramer, The Vegan Cheat SheetAmy Cramer: Following a five-year stint as a marketing executive at People magazine (1989–1994), co-author Amy Cramer founded a fitness-based direct-marketing company, Highpoint Communications, which she sold in 1998. When she and her husband converted to veganism in 2007 to combat Ken’s chronically high cholesterol, Amy retreated to her favorite room in the house—the kitchen—to drum up some tasty recipes.Already an accomplished gourmet chef whose lasagna and meatballs could make Mario Batali weep with joy, she took on the new challenge with gusto and imagination: There would be no cardboard-tasting food in this household. Soon, no one missed her famous paella or steak au poivre, as she conjured up dozens of new recipes that even her meat-eating friends savored—and began requesting.It was just a matter of time before her next entrepreneurial venture was born—the Cleveland-based Dinners Done Now. As owner and head chef, Amy prepared weekly vegan meals for more than 300 clients, among them the Esselstyn family (Rip Esselstyn is author of the vegan bestseller, The Engine 2 Diet; his father, Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D., penned Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease and wrote the forward to The Vegan Cheat Sheet).After moving to Boulder, Colorado, in July 2011, she founded Vegan Eats, which produces a line of grab-and‑go vegan meals for supermarket chains—and will soon be available for consumer purchase online.Amy has taught private vegan classes throughout Ohio, and in New York City and Westchester County, New York, and has been a guest lecturer at Bronx Community College. She also offers one‑on‑one vegan coaching to those who need more guidance and handholding. Whole Foods Market frequently invites her as a guest instructor. A rising vegan culinary celebrity, Amy is frequently cited in food and health blogs and has been touted in the local press. She lives with her husband and three children—Cai, Liv, and Cam—in Boulder.Lisa McComsey: An award-winning copywriter, co-author Lisa McComsey graduated from Bucknell University with an art history degree and has worked on staff and as a freelance copywriter for a variety of publications, includingVogue, People, Life, Real Simple, Vanity Fair, Bon Appétit,GQ, House & Garden, Brides, Condé Nast Traveler, InStyle, the New York Times, and Every Day with Rachael Ray. She currently serves as copy director for Allure magazine. Lisa co‑owned a marketing company for seven years before venturing off on her own as a freelance writer and marketing consultant in early 2010.A two-time recipient of the Time Inc. President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement, Lisa is also an award-winning Toastmasters speaker. She cultivated a love for rice and beans while living in Costa Rica and Baja, Mexico, during a three-year volunteer teaching stint—giving her a taste of what was to come when she decided to go vegan in 2009.An avid bicyclist and runner, Lisa has completed twenty-five marathons (five of them plant powered), several century rides, and a handful of triathlons. After growing up at the Jersey Shore and vowing “never to go back” once graduated from high school, Lisa returned to her roots and happily resides a few miles from the ocean.

It's All About Food - Patti Breitman, Carol Adams, Ginny Messina - 03/11/14

Part I – Carol Adams, Patti Breitman and Ginny Messina, Never Too Late To Go VeganPatti Breitman is an advocate for health and animals, a writer and an expert public speaker. She teaches vegetarian cooking classes in Marin County, CA, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area. Patti is the director of The Marin Vegetarian Education Group and a former food columnist for VegNews Magazine. Her writing is often published on VegSource.com. Patti is the co-author (with Connie Hatch) of How to Say No Without Feeling Guilty and (with Carol J.Adams) of How To Eat Like a Vegetarian, Even If You Never Want to Be One.    Virginia Messina, MPH, RD is a dietitian and public health nutritionist specializing in vegan nutrition. She has a degree in nutrition from Douglass College of Rutgers University and a master’s degree in public health nutrition from the University of Michigan.Ginny publishes widely on topics related to vegan diets for both health professionals and the public. She has worked as a dietitian for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), taught nutrition to dietetics students at the university level, and was the director of nutrition services for a group of medical clinics serving 50,000 patients in Washington, D.C.She serves on scientific advisory boards to both vegetarian and professional nutrition organizations. Ginny has twice co-authored the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetic’s Position on Vegetarian Diets, and is co-author of a textbook on vegetarianism written for health professionals and nutrition students.A long-time vegan herself, she seeks to share the best and most up-to-date information on vegan nutrition and to make ethical eating an easy and realistic option for everyone. She writes about a variety of issues related to health and animal rights on her blog www.TheVeganRD.com and at www.VeganForHer.com. She is also a regular contributor to www.OurHenHouse.org and www.OneGreenPlanet.org.In addition to her work as a vegan dietitian, Ginny volunteers at the local animal shelter, serves as a board member of a local spay/neuter outreach organization and of the national advocacy group Alley Cat Rescue, and spends her leisure time feeding feral cats, reading, gardening, and learning piano.Carol Adams: I’m the author of The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory. It’s been called “ground-breaking” and “pioneering” (interesting how our description of books draws from our invasive relationship to the land). Many say it is an underground classic, which I guess means that lots of people know and love it, but it goes unnoticed by the dominant media. Of course, when it first came out, that was slightly different. Then, right-wing reviewers held it up as the latest example of academic excess and political correctness, which was funny to me, because I am not an academic. I used to teach a course I developed at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University on “Sexual and Domestic Violence: Theological and Pastoral Issues” — but very infrequently. Basically, for as long as I have been an adult, I have been an advocate, an activist, someone trying to figure out how do we transform this d*#! world that is built on inequality.I have published more than 100 articles in journals, books, and magazines on the issues of vegetarianism and veganism, animal advocacy, domestic violence and sexual abuse. I am particularly interested in the interconnections among forms of violence against human and nonhuman animals, writing, for instance, about why woman-batterers harm animals and the implications of this (it’s in my book Animals and Women). Besides advancing scholarship and developing theory in the area of interlocking oppressions, I have created a series of books that address the vegetarian/vegan experience: Living Among Meat Eaters: The Vegetarian Survival Guide, Help! My Child Stopped Eating Meat! and The Inner Art of Vegetarianism.I’ve worked to bring back into print Howard Williams’s nineteenth-century classic text on vegetarianism, The Ethics of Diet. I have contributed prefaces to important vegetarian, vegan, and animal defense books and discovered an eighteenth-century vegetarian work that had never entered the vegetarian tradition.Because I am so deeply moved by my relationship with animals, I have authored books of prayers for animals for both adults and children.I am excited that the 20th anniversary edition of The Sexual Politics of Meat will be published next February.I also write about literary topics, including two “Bedside” books: one on Frankenstein and one on Jane Austen. I am finishing a memoir on caregiving and reading.

It's All About Food - Tom Lieber & Lee Hall - 03/04/14

Part I: Tom Lieber, Organic Food & GMO’s, An Artist’s Perspective“I lived on Kauai from 2002-2011 and began to split my time between L.A. and Hawaii in 2011. The Hawaiian life has had a strong effect on my paintings……i.e. the energy and the way the vines grow, the jungle tangles. And, so, organic gardening became a big part of my life while on Kauai. Things grow like crazy there.As I lived there, I noticed that each year the bio-chemical companies crops were taking more and more land with their ‘perfect’ GMO/PESTICIDE riddled crops and that ROUND-UP was being sprayed more and more along the roads instead of mowing along the roadsides. Many people on the island were feeling the same oppression. Residents on the westside of the island were getting the worst of it. Schools were getting hit by clouds of overspray. People were getting sick (many still are).Through many people’s efforts Bill 2491 was written and passed. Bill 2491 makes all the bio-ag companies report and limit their spraying of pesticides and creates boundaries between the GMO fields and populated areas. It also calls for an EPA report on the effects of the spraying on the air, the rivers, the reefs, and the people.I am in the process, along with Mel Bell-Grey, of creating a documentary about Ron Finley visiting Kauai and all of the positive and negative realities he (and all of us) witnessed during his stay. I curated an exhibition for Galerie 103 on the south side of Kauai, that artists donated works for and the profits went to five organizations that educate and take action concerning organic life and opposition to GMOs. I also organized a dinner/mini concert at Common Ground (an organic farm and restaurant) with Jackson Browne, Donavon Frankenreiter, Mike Cambell and Graham Nash that also benefited the same organizations. Money was made, but the greatest thing that occurred was connections that people made at the dinner. Three Pentagon lawyers attended as well as local council members and a sprinkling of celebrities…..Bette Midler, Julia Roberts, among others, exchanged ideas and contact information. Connections that will ripple on and on.”Tom Lieber (born 1949 Saint Louis, MO –) is an abstract painter and printmaker. Lieber’s large-scale abstractions are notable for their bold, natural colors and fluid marks placed against a layered, neutral background. Informed by nature and meditations, Lieber’s work reflects his efforts to channel his interior life onto the canvas.Lieber’s use of gesture stems from post WWII abstract painting. His subtle color and tonal variations and marks reveal an affinity to the unique and painterly specificity of Georgio Morandi, Alberto Giacometti, Philip Guston and Joan Mitchel. The early canvases from the 1970s consist of expansive, monochromatic color zones that, over time, take on increasingly explicit and more painterly gestures. Lieber’s later work represents a more physical and powerful approach. Oftentimes, a single brushstroke or gesture anchors the painting, allowing the underlying color fields and tonal variations to recede and advance across the ground.Lieber uses a variety of techniques to achieve his effects, most notably monotype printing rollers. By interposing a mechanical device into an intuitive act, he arrives at a form of deep expression that is unforced, in which the paint becomes raw and direct. Lieber believes that the human body is more equipped than the mind to invent. He treats the act of painting as a full-body experience, open to unpredictable and challenging imagery.Tom Lieber is a recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts Grant and has exhibited extensively since 1974. His work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Tate Gallery, London among others.Those familiar with Lieber’s past work will recognize his calligraphic mark-making, the supple flow and arc of his line, and the dynamic rhythm of his abstract compositions. In these new paintings, however, the dense, dark paint prominent in work of the 1980s and ‘90s has given way to a lighter, more buoyant, palette which is thinly applied to a stripped surface.The strong horizon line of the Hawaiian landscape and the elegant shapes of the tropical leaves and flowers Lieber sees from his windows have sent his work in new and enticing directions.Part II: Lee Hall, Animals, Environment & the LawLee Hall, an author who’s taken on subjects from anti-terrorism law to vegan cooking, wrote the “Vegetarianism” entry in the Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice. Lee has taught Animal Law and Immigration and Refugee Law, and is today working on a second law degree—a legal masters in Environmental Law with a focus on climate change from Vermont Law School. Lee’s work is a bridge between environmentalism and our personal relationships with agriculture, confronting the way animal farming usurps habitat. For years, animal-rights advocates have operated under the belief that at least pasture-based or organic ranching represents a “step” in the humane direction—but only looking at how domesticated animals seem to be affected. Lee champions the animal communities displaced by farm sprawl, and explains how our chosen cookbooks can offer a genuine humane response for all animals, reduce greenhouse emissions, and even stop extinctions. 

It's All About Food - Dan Ladermann, Cherie Soria & Catherine Cuello - 02/18/14

PART I: Dan Ladermann and Cherie Soria, Living Light Culinary InstituteRaw food revolutionary, Cherie Soria, is the founder and director of Living Light Culinary Institute, and has been teaching the art of gourmet raw foods to individuals, chefs, and instructors for more than 20 years and vegetarian culinary arts for 40 years. Cherie has personally trained many of the world’s top raw food chefs and instructors and is often referred to as the Mother of Gourmet Raw Vegan Cuisine. She is the author of four books, including Raw Food Revolution Diet and Raw Food for Dummies. Cherie has been a popular speaker at many international health events for the past 20 years and at over 66 years young, she is a vibrant, energetic and inspiring example of the raw food lifestyle.Dan Ladermann was a pioneer in the internet revolution in the late 70’s and has been pioneering the raw food revolution and its impact on health for the past 18 years. He is coauthor Raw Food for Dummies and co-director of Living Light International along with his wife Cherie Soria. Dan is also president of the Institute for Vibrant Living, a non-profit organization dedicated to global education about raw organic plant-strong foods and their role in health and vitality and a certified Hippocrates Health Educator.Together, Dan and Cherie have built a family of award winning businesses united in their commitment to sharing the benefits of an organic, sustainable, raw food lifestyle with people around the world. This includes the prestigious Living Light Culinary Institute, the Living Light Café, Living Light Marketplace and the Eco-friendly Living Light Inn.Contact www.RawFoodChef.com.PART II: Catherine Cuello, Green HoppingCatherine Cuello is originally from the Dominican Republic and moved to New York in 2010. She is passionate about food advocacy, labeling GMOs, and more organic produce availability. Her professional background is rooted in political and corporate communications, having worked on the Obama reelection campaign and for fortune 500 companies such as General Motors. She holds a BA in politics, history and journalism from Coventry University, England.

It's All About Food - Will Potter, Green is the New Red - 02/11/14

Will Potter, Green Is The New RedWill Potter is an award-winning independent journalist based in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Green Is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege.greenisthenewred.com is about how animal rights and environmental activists are being targeted as “eco-terrorists,” and what that means for our safety and freedom. First time visiting? Here’s an introduction to the Green Scare.

It's All About Food - Caryn Hartglass, World Cancer Day - 02/04/14

Today is World Cancer Day. Caryn will cover numerous topics today on It’s All About Food including what she learned during her journey with cancer.

It's All About Food - Mark Reinfeld, Jonathan Balcombe - 01/29/14

Mark Reinfeld, Soup’s OnMark Reinfeld is an award-winning chef and author or coauthor of six books, including Vegan Fusion World Cuisine, The 30 Minute Vegan, The 30 Minute Vegan’s Taste of the East, and The 30 Minute Vegan’s Taste of Europe—which both Vegetarian Timesand VegNews named to their “Top Cookbooks of 2012” lists. He offers culinary trainings and tours worldwide and online at VeganFusion.com. He lives in Miami Beach.Jonathan Balcombe PhD, Author, scientist and leading animal advocateAnimal behavior expert Jonathan Balcombe is a passionate advocate for animals and their living spaces. Born in England and raised in Canada and New Zealand, Balcombe showed an early interest in animals. His favorite place to visit at age three was the London Zoo and by six he was gazing at insects in the backyard. He studied biology at York University and Carleton University in Canada before getting a PhD in Ethology—the study of animal behavior—from the University of Tennessee in 1991, where he studied vocal recognition and mother pup reunion behavior in the Mexican Free-tailed Bat. He has published over 50 journal articles and book chapters ranging from turtle nesting behavior to the ethics of animal dissection. His 2006 book Pleasurable Kingdom is the first in-depth examination of animals’ capacity to enjoy life. His subsequent books Second Nature, and The Exultant Ark continue to present animals in a new light and presage a revolution in the human-animal relationship. He is currently writing a book on the inner lives of fishes. A popular speaker, Balcombe has given invited presentations on six continents (the penguins are still waiting for him to visit Antarctica). Balcombe is an Ambassador to The Pollination Project, and he serves on several advisory boards, including the National Museum of Animals and Society, the Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy, and Primates Incorporated. He is Executive Director of the newly-formed Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy, in Washington. In his spare time he enjoys biking, baking, birding, and Bach.As mentioned on the program, here is the link to theForthcoming Conference: Animal Thinking and Emotion (17-18 March 2014, Washington, DC)

It's All About Food - Robin Lamont, Richard Oppenlander - 1/21/2014

Part I: Robin Lamont, The ChainRobin Lamont worked as a Broadway actress and singer, playing lead roles in Godspell, Grease, and Working. Her original cast recording of “Day by “Day” and her film version of the song have drawn fans from around the world. Utilizing her acting experience she became an undercover investigator for a PI firm in New York City that specialized in investigations into counterfeiting. During that time she went to law school and later practiced as an Assistant District Attorney in New York.More recently, while continuing her writing Robin volunteers for animal welfare organizations, trying to raise awareness about the plight of animals throughout the world. Visit Robin’s website http://animalsuspense.comPART II: Richard Oppenlander, Food Choice and SustainabilityDr. Oppenlander is a consultant, researcher, and author whose award-winning book Comfortably Unaware has been endorsed as a must-read by Ellen DeGeneres, Dr. Jane Goodall and Neal Barnard, among many others. Dr. Oppenlander is a much sought after lecturer on the topic of food choice and how it relates to sustainability, all within the framework of fresh perspectives and critical insights.He has been a key note speaker for several conferences and festivals and has presented lectures and workshops at numerous universities and corporations. Dr. Oppenlander also serves as an advisor to municipalities in the U.S. and to a number of world hunger projects that are designing programs from his multidimensional model of sustainability.Dr. Oppenlander has spent 40 years studying the effects food choices have on our planter and on us. He started an organic, vegan food production company, operates an animal rescue sanctuary, and is the founder and president of the non-profit organization, Inspire Awareness Now.

It's All About Food - Vegetarian Historian, Rynn Berry, now part of Vegan History - 01/14/14

Sadly, we received the news that Rynn Berry passed away earlier today. In his memory I will be airing an interview I did with him in 2009 on vegetarian history on this Tuesday’s It’s All About Food. Rynn was witty and smart. I and many others enjoyed reading all of his books on vegetarian history. His Vegan Guide to New York City has been very useful, especially before smart phones and I always carry mine with me when in NYC. Rynn Berry specialized in the study of vegetarianism from an historical perspective. He is the author of six books on vegetarianism: The New Vegetarians, Famous Vegetarians, Food for the Gods: Vegetarianism and the World’s Religions, Hitler: Neither Vegetarian Nor Animal Lover, and The Vegan Guide to New York City. His sixth book—Becoming Raw, he co-authored with vegan nutritionists Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis. His many articles, as well as reviews of his books have appeared in Ahimsa,The American Vegan, Vegetarian Voice, Vegetarian Journal, Satya, Yoga Journal, and in newspapers such as The New York Times, The Toronto Star, The New York Daily News, The Los Angeles Times, The Times of London, The London Sunday Telegraph, and theWashington Post.