Jackets may not be necessary many days in a Texas December — but a warm bowl of soup can feel welcome even when the temperatures don’t require it. That was the inspiration behind this listener request!
food
Hope: Frances Moore Lappé
“[Hope] is a key source of energy to enable us to seek solutions together.” -Frances Moore Lappé
Hope is different from faith in that we need to act in hope as opposed to just having faith that everything will be okay. But in acting, when it comes to food, we are doing so and operating in a system where we know too much about food and the pesticides in our food system, the inequity, and injustice. So how can we have hope and what is hope?
For the ancient Greeks, “Hope” was a type of self-deception; one of the evils of Pandora’s box. To the Christians, it was one of the 3 virtues. Kant asked, ‘what may I hope?’ whilst Nietzsche thought of “Hope” as the worst of all evils prolonging the torment of man. Yet even for those critical of hope like Camus, who said “hope is tantamount to resignation and to live is to not be resigned,” there was agreement that life was impossible without it.
In the reissue of Diet For A Small Planet, 50 years on our guest today Frances Moore Lappé turns to “Hope” as an antidote to many of the ills and devastating problems we face.
In this edition of The Secret Ingredient, Raj Patel of the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, Tom Phillpot of Mother Jones Magazine, and Rebecca McInroy of KUT Radio will ask her, why?
In 1971, “Diet for a Small Planet” broke new ground, revealing how our everyday acts are a form of power to create health for ourselves and our planet. This extraordinary book first exposed the needless waste built into a meat-centered diet. Now, in a special edition for its 50th anniversary, world-renowned food expert Frances Moore Lappé goes even deeper, showing us how plant-centered eating can help restore our damaged ecology, address the climate crisis, and move us toward real democracy. Sharing her personal journey and how this revolutionary book shaped her own life, Lappé offers a fascinating philosophy on changing yourself—and the world—that can start with changing the way we eat.
Frances Moore Lappé is the author or co-author of twenty books about world hunger, living democracy, and the environment, that all started with Diet for a Small Planet that has now sold over three million copies. The revised and updated version is out now from Penguin Random House and features eighty-five updated plant-centered recipes, including more than a dozen new delights from celebrity chefs including Mark Bittman, Padma Lakshmi, Alice Waters, José Andrés, Bryant Terry, Mollie Katzen, and Sean Sherman.
Trailer: Tacos of Texas
Have you ever wondered why Birria tacos are so popular? Or how tacos are saving Texas, even during the pandemic? Or which Texas city has the tastiest tacos? If you find yourself dreaming of tacos, this is the podcast for you.
Texas Standard: June 4, 2021
It is being described as one of the most important elections in Mexico’s history and the implications for Texas could be enormous. We’ll have more on the stakes for Texas as voters go to the polls this weekend in Mexico. Also, a major energy pipeline as a target for hackers? Foreseeable. But why was a slaughterhouse hit by a cyberattack, and what are the lessons for Texas? We’ll take a closer look. Plus the lone Black freshman representative in the Texas House on lessons learned from the just concluded session, and what comes next. Those stories and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Sugar and The Brain (Rebroadcast)
Why is it hard to have just one of those delicious slices of pound cake over the holidays? It turns out it has less to do with the creamy butter and more to do with the way our brains react to those white sweet grains of sugar.
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke discuss the ways our brains respond to sugar by releasing a nice amount of dopamine.
While we may think this dopamine is supposed to make us feel good, what the chemicals in our brains are trying to do is to teach us that this sugar is a good thing and that we want more of it for our survival.
This might have been beneficial to us a hundred and fifty thousand years ago, but with sweets in every candy dish, gas station, and coffee shop around the corner, craving sugar has its consequences.
Texas Standard: April 29, 2021
From guns to immigration, green jobs and more, an historic speech by President Biden with big implications for Texas and the nation. Todd Gillman of the Dallas Morning News with more on the President’s speech to congress. Also a supreme court case on how far public schools can go in trying to control off-campus speech by students. And the outgoing mayor of Fort Worth on policing, the pandemic, and changes to the city she’s governed for the past decade. Plus upsetting the Apple cart: facebook pushing back big time over a new feature on iPhones. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: February 22, 2021
Stop right there: an order from the public utility commission to put the brakes on outrageous power bills after the winter storm. As lawmakers step in to get answers to ongoing questions about who and what’s to blame for the meltdown in utilities statewide, another long term ripple effect looms: the impact to Texas’s reputation. We’ll hear more. Also hurricanes, pandemic, then a winter storm… what compounding natural disasters can do to mental health in Texas, and what to look out for, yourself. Plus with the power back on for most, many Texans still dealing with water issues. We’ll have expert advice on tap and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: January 4, 2021
A Texas senator joins almost 11 colleagues in a pledge not to certify the electoral college results. Political theatre or something more? We’ll explore. Also, demand at food banks has doubled since the pandemic. What happens now with cuts to a critical fresh food program? How the pandemic has accelerated the widening of the gap between rich and poor. Also a federal crackdown on the marketing of CBD and what it might mean for Texas. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: November 23, 2020
Cars line up for miles outside food banks in our big cities. On this Thanksgiving week, the state of food insecurity in the state of Texas. As many Texans prepare for a big Thanksgiving dinner, others struggle with the choice of whether to leave the lights on or put food on the table. We’ll explore. Meanwhile health officials worry that holiday gatherings could become super spreader events. We’ll hear about the push for safety precautions to combat COVID-19 as case numbers rise statewide. Plus as national media focuses on the Latino vote, the case that the Tejano vote could be a better indicator. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Each Others: Rita Valencia and Charlotte Sáenz
“How do we build these understandings from a decolonial, antiracist and antipatriarchal basis? How do we build real solidarity bridges that do not replicate patronising structures of power? How can we learn and build with those who have resisted and re(x)isted, in order to open new imaginaries to heal mother earth, the other, and ourselves?” Rita Valencia and Charlotte Sáenz
These are just some of the questions we explore with Rita Valencia and Charlotte Sáenz on this edition of The Secret Ingredient with Raj Patel, Tom Philpott, and Rebecca McInroy.
Rita Valencia has been working for several years with the Proceso de Liberación de la Madre Tierra movement in the Cauca region of the Nasa people in Colombia, and she along with Charlotte Sáenz talk with us about joy, the difference between translation and interpretation, reimagining liberation, time and social movements, and the paradigm shift that must take place today.
In our correspondence prior to this recording, Charlotte and Rita wrote: “It feels important for us to hear and learn from such pueblos en movimiento, that are doing things beyond the nation-state and reframing ways of doing, not only politics but also social and even ontological existence. This is particularly important because complex concepts such as Mandar Obedeciendo or Buen Vivir are being imported into English and other dominant languages and mindscapes as mere translations (bad ones for that matter), and not as grounded practices. This becomes even more urgent and necessary because extractivism, repression, and all climate change drivers are increasing and will continue to do so during the current global pandemic and economic recession.”
Read more about Rita and the Food March, the movement organized to feed the most dispossessed in the cities, in a piece published in La Jornada newspaper’s Ojarasca.
Texas Standard: July 10, 2020
As COVID-19 hospitalization rates hit new levels, an alarming trend spotted in Texas’ largest city: a rising number of at home deaths. We’ll have more on the new report from ProPublica and NBC news on at home deaths and Dr.Fred Campbell of UT Health San Antonio is back to take up more lister questions on the Coronavirus. And he was, for years, typecast as inmate number one. Now he’s embraced by kids and critics alike as a bonafide star. A new documentary on the rise of Danny Trejo. Our conversation with the actor, the week in Texas politics and more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: May 21, 2020
To vote by mail in Texas, or not? A familiar back and forth is playing out in the courts with enormous stakes in a presidential election year. If you call elections official and request a mail in ballot because you’re afraid of catching the Coronavirus, are you breaking the law? We’ll hear how the top election official in Texas’ capitol city is answering that question, among others. Also, questions raised about contracts awarded to get food that might otherwise be wasted to people in need. Plus a potential tsunami of evictions and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: April 20, 2020
Texas becomes one of the first states making moves toward a post COVID-19 lockdown. Too fast, too soon? Governor abbott, flanked by other top officials announces schools will remain closed in Texas, but a task force is working on getting back to business as usual. We’ll discuss what happens next with House speaker Dennis Bonnen. Also, the Texas engineers ramping up to help offset a shortage of hospital ventilators. And a book by a Texan who survived a pandemic 100 years ago that resonates today. All that and more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: April 6, 2020
Amid unprecedented scenes of empty cities and lines of cars stopped at the Louisiana border, the next front in the COVID-19 fight: finding food. As people who’ve never needed such assistance before join growing lines for food banks, we’ll talk with people who’re working to help feed Texans suddenly in need. Also in a holy week for Christians worldwide, many Texas congregants take to the cloud. And once a Go-Go, always a Go-Go? Texan Kathy Valentine’s lips are no longer sealed. Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: March 9, 2020
SXSW’s cancellation may be just the tip of the iceberg. The warning from economists: the world’s 10th largest economy should brace for impact, we’ll have the latest. Also, a discovery in Dallas county brings demands for a Super Tuesday recount. And a new state law designates all common spaces on public universities as public forums for free speech. Critics blame the new law for campus violence, we’ll have details. Plus acts of dissent south of the border over the weekend as millions of women declare a feminist spring. Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:
Avocados
They are trendy these days — but they have long been a Tex-Mex favorite. And they were the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.
Politics and The Green New Deal: Ben Lilliston
“The climate crisis is an emergency, it is a crisis and so we need to make major, major changes in our agriculture system.” Ben Lilliston is the Director of Climate Change and Rural strategies at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. He spoke with The Secret Ingredient team–Raj Patel, Tom Philpott, and Rebecca McInroy, about how the Green New Deal came about what has to happen in order for the GND to become a reality.
The Green New Deal for Agriculture: Jim Goodman and Raj Patel
“We need to change society so everybody can fit in and everyone can afford to live in a decarbonized society.” – Jim Goodman
In this episode of The Secret Ingredient host Raj Patel plays double-duty — he is not just a host, but joins Jim Goodman as a guest. The two discuss what A Green New Deal for Agriculture could look like with the rest of The Secret Ingredient team–Tom Philpott, and Rebecca McInroy.
Jim Goodman is an organic dairy farmer in Wisconsin and board member of Family Farm Defenders. He also blogs for the National Family Farm Coalition.
Texas Standard: December 31, 2019
Immigration, elections, new laws, challenges to natural resources. What were the top stories in Texas during 2019? That’s our focus for this hour. On this New Years Eve, we’re refocusing the rear view mirror on the year that was. We’ll hear from Victoria DeFrancesco Soto of the LBJ School at UT-Austin, Brandon Rottinghaus of the University of Houston and Lauren McGaughy of the Dallas Morning News as we begin an exploration of the topics that shaped Texas over the past year.
Texas Standard: December 11, 2019
The house moves closer to impeachment, but any closer to the removal of the commander in chief? We’ll do a breakdown of the next steps in the process. As members of the house prepare to vote on the removal of a president, they also hand him a political victory on trade. One that will have a real impact on the Lone Star State. Plus the eyes of Texas might be upon you more than you think. We’ll take a closer look at the state’s network of surveillance centers. And a surprising shift in the incarceration of minorities. Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard: