- Social:
food writer and author
Food writer and blogger at PoliticsOfThePlate.com; authorof Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed our Most Alluring Fruit and Pig Tales: An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat
PROFILE
Barry Estabrook
Guest
FROM Barry Estabrook
To the Point
The Emotional Intelligence of Your Bacon They stink. They're force-fed drugs that are creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria and, a lot of the time they don't even taste that good. But it's not their fault. In fact, according to Barry Estabrook's new book, Pig Tales: An Omnivore's Quest for Sustainable Meat , pigs are so smart they can work the thermostats in their pens and beat young children at computer games. So should we eat them? Estabrook has spent a lot of time investigating the question.
Which Way, L.A.?
Blah Chicken, Bland Tomatoes and the Food Revolution There's a growing backlash against industrialized food production, including tomatoes and chickens that don't taste right and aren't genuinely nutritious. But not everybody can afford to buy the real things. We speak with food writer Barry Estabrook, whose scathing new book is Tomatoland : How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit, and others about the Good Food movement.
To the Point
Will America See a Food Revolution? One-third of America's tomato crop is infused with pesticides, picked green and turned red artificially. The US State Department admits some is produced by slave labor. Factory-raised chickens grow too fast and get too big; they taste like rubber and threaten the future of traditional breeds. Evidence against the abuses of modern agriculture is creating a new movement of people who don't want to eat industrialized food any more. But better tasting, more nutritional food is expensive, and the movement may be limited to the favored few.
Recommended
To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.