March 30, 2020
During the period of social distancing and isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic, many of you may be spending a lot of time at home pondering what to do with your food stores. Perhaps you’re worried about how to make your pantry supplies stretch into more meals, or perhaps you’re looking for ideas on how to reduce food waste. In this episode of Foodie Pharmacology, I chat with Dr. Julia Skinner, an expert on this very subject! Julia is the founder of Root, an Atlanta-based food history and fermentation organization. Her next book, Culture Begins Here: Fermentation and the History of How We Eat will be published by Storey in 2021.
#Fermentation #FoodWaste #Atlanta
March 17, 2020
We eat this delightful legume in so many forms, from tofu, to soymilk, edamame and more! But, did you know that in addition to serving as a great source of plant proteins for the diet, that soy has also shown a number of fascinating health benefits in cancer prevention? In this episode, I speak with Dr. Omer Kucuk, a cancer researcher and physician who also happens to be an expert on the therapeutic value of soy-based foods and supplements.
#Soy #Cancer #HealthyEating
March 9, 2020
The terms “herbarium” (singular) or “herbaria” (plural) may elicit visions of a lush tropical greenhouse… but in fact, herbaria are collections of dead plant specimens that have been collected over years, dried and pressed to large sheets of acid free paper for long-term storage in cabinets. These specimens are prepared and cared for using similar methods used for centuries by botanists and are important tools used for identifying various plants. In this episode, I met with Dr. Jordan Metzger on location at the Massey Herbarium of Virginia Tech University. We discuss the importance of herbarium collections in distinguishing edible from poisonous plants. Plus, we chat about an interesting and super dangerous member of the carrot family – the Giant Hogweed!
#Herbaria #Poisons #Hogweed
![Food Waste and Sustainability Initiatives with Dr. Peggy Barlett]()
March 2, 2020
Have you ever found yourself in the unfortunate position of having to toss some food from the fridge that had lingered too long and gone bad? How about food scraps or unconsumed leftovers from your plate after a meal? Food waste is a major issue in America, as well as across the globe. And guess what – it doesn’t just happen in your home kitchen! It happens in the fields, where not all foods are harvested, or on shipping lines, where only the prettiest produce is selected for resale. It happens in the production lines on school campuses from elementary schools to universities. What is most shocking is that even while 1 in 6 American children live in a state of food insecurity—not knowing where their next meal will come from—it is estimated that between 30 to 40 percent of the United States’ food supply is wasted. In this episode, I speak with Dr. Peggy Barlett, an expert who is making changes through major sustainability initiatives, about the issues of ethical eating and sustainability.
#EthicalEating #Sustainability #FoodWaste
