The Complex Question of Food Innovation: Larissa Zimberoff
In the ever-evolving world of food tech, Larissa Zimberoff is a uniquely thoughtful, well-informed and rigorous writer who cares about health, nutrition, innovation, taste, climate and soil. On this episode, host Dana Cowin learns about the Silicon Valley startups that are making new foods and trying to solve problems that we may one day encounter. Listen in to learn about the spectrum of tech food innovations that range from very unsettling to very promising.
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33:51
Designing with Community, Trouble and Impermanence in Mind: LinYee Yuan
LinYee Yuan is the founder of Mold, a platform that "hopes to inspire designers to improve food systems through creative, human-centric solutions." For Yuan, the role of "design" is to ask questions, and on the Progressive Hedonist podcast, she posits several thought-provoking ones: Can we build and power our future using agricultural waste products? Why does something have to last forever to be considered successful? Can we create a food forest in an urban setting? Listen in to hear the riveting answers and to understand how we can become "creative collaborators" in determining our edible future. Credit to Vincent Tullo for today's cover art.
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38:29
Longevity Lessons from the Blue Zones: Dan Buettner
Bestselling author Dan Buettner has unlocked the secrets of longevity by studying Blue Zones, regions in the world where people live beyond the age of 80. Host Dana Cowin asks Buettner what we can learn from these communities now, and how we can lead long and healthy lives when confronted by environmental chaos. Listen in to hear Buettner’s skeptical response about the power of the individual to effect change and his socially-oriented solutions to our problems.
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29:44
The Restaurant Quest for Well-Being: Johanna Hellrigl
How are restaurants contributing to health issues for people and planet? That is one of the motivating questions for Johanna Hellrigl, chef and co-owner of Ama in Washington, DC. On the Progressive Hedonist podcast, Hellrigl shares how her own difficult health journey and the death of her talented chef father led her to create "meals that not only taste good but also feel good." For her Northern Italian restaurant, “It's slow-living, it's slow-cooking, slow-food movement. I wanted to go back to our roots.” Listen in to hear about the intersection of restaurants and delicious, nourishing foods, as well as excellent advice about complex topics including everything from plastics in the kitchen to compostable cups.
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39:09
Life on the Water, Unfiltered: Imani Black
Imani Black, founder of Minorities in Aquaculture (MIA), discusses the history—and the future—of Black watermen and demystifies the American aquaculture industry in this episode of Progressive Hedonist with Dana Cowin. Growing up on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Imani is drawn to work on the water, and along the way discovers her family’s own connection to the challenging local seafood industry. As she pursues her degree in Marine Biology and becomes an oyster farmer, Imani recognizes a need to encourage more women and people of color to join this environmentally sustainable work. In 2020, she launched MIA, a job training program and has single-handedly doubled the amount of African Americans working in the maritime industry. A self-proclaimed “seafood girly”, Imani also provides great recs on picking the best seafood and dishes on her favorite oysters.
After two decades as the Editor in Chief of Food & Wine magazine, Dana Cowin launched Progressive Hedonist, a platform to bring joy, connection and uplift through food and gathering while tackling one of the seemingly impossible challenges of our lifetime: healing the natural world. On this podcast, Cowin interviews people who also believe in the powerful potential for food to bring change and fuel community.