Deconstructing Dinner
Deconstructing Dinner is a podcast/radio show that broadcast between 2006 through 2011 with a brief return of a handful of episodes in 2014. Almost 200 episodes are available on topics ranging from corporate consolidation, animal welfare, urban food production and the local and good food movements. With host Jon Steinman.
President Bush on Food Security / Cross-Canada Trike Tour I

President Bush on Food Security
On May 1, 2008, President Bush addressed the latest global food crisis in a press conference from the White House. We'll listen in on this speech and the US foreign policy definition of 'food security'. While global efforts to respond to the food crisis may indeed be providing much-needed aid, it is this very aid and its accompanying policies that is suggested will only further push this food crisis to even more damaging proportions. In the end, the food aid effort is the very same one that has persisted for decades, and let's face it, it hasn't worked.

Lending their voice to help critically examine Bush's speech, will be Anuradha Mittal of the Oakland Institute.

Cross-Canada Trike Tour I
On May 7, 2008, Darrick Hahn and Sinisa Grgic departed Victoria from the 0-Mile mark of the Trans-Canada Highway and embarked on a cross-Canada journey to raise awareness of Deconstructing Dinner. The pair will be travelling by recumbent tricycles (or trikes).

In the summer of 2007, Hahn stumbled across Producer/Host Jon Steinman and it didn't take long for Hahn to become a fan of the show. "After listening to Deconstructing Dinner more and more, I felt compelled to spread the word about the show," says Hahn. "So as we cross the country, we will encourage everyone to listen to the show and learn more about the state of our food system."

Hahn and Grgic believe that many of our current health problems are directly, or indirectly a result of an unsustainable food system that is built primarily upon profit. The trip will be focused on raising awareness and not money. "You keep your money, and with more awareness, you can choose what to do with it," says Grgic. "We hope you use it to buy healthier food from local farms in your community, or support Deconstructing Dinner, a voice that is not yet well-represented in the mainstream media today.

En route, the two cyclists will stop in at farms and markets and explore Canada's food and farming culture. "We hope to eat as locally as possible along the way, and wild plants are not off-limits," says Hahn!

Hahn and Grgic will be periodically updating a blog with photos and a journal and weekly updates through phone interviews will be airing on Deconstructing Dinner each week.

On this episode, we hear from correspondent Andrea Langlois interviewing the cyclists as they departed Victoria, and we listen in on segments of a phone interview between Host Jon Steinman and cyclist Darrick Hahn. Hahn spoke to Jon from inside the cheese-making facility of Jerseyland Organics in Grand Forks, BC.

Guests/Voices

Darrick Hahn and Sinisa Grgic - Cross-Canada Cyclists Deconstructing Dinner Cross-Canada Trike Tour (Monkton, ON / London, ON) - Cyclists Sinisa Grgic and Darrick Hahn are old high-school friends based in Southwestern Ontario and are the proprietors of Fresh Entertainment. Darrick grew up on a farm in Monkton, Ontario and Sinisa, who is originally from Croatia, moved to Canada 17 years ago.

Anuradha Mittal - Executive Director Oakland Institute (Oakland, CA) - Anuradha Mittal, a native of India, is an internationally renowned expert on trade, development, human rights and agriculture issues. After working as the co-director of Food First/ Institute for Food and Development Policy, Mittal established the Oakland Institute, a progressive policy think tank, in 2004.

George W. Bush - President United States of America (Washington, D.C.)

Duane Clarridge - ex CIA (1955-1987) (USA)

John Pilger - Journalist (London, UK)

 

Direct download: DD051508.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 7:45pm EDT

Heritage Foods: Preserving Diversity II - Gardens of Destiny

The diversity in the varieties of crops being grown in Canada has dwindled significantly. Virtually all of the fruits, vegetables, grains, livestock and pretty much every ingredient found on grocery store shelves, is of a variety that has purely been bred for profit. At no time has the importance of maintaining diversity or flavour and nutrition ever been a concern for the powerful industrial food system that has taken hold of the North American diet.

This series will explore what risks accompany the loss of such diversity and will expose the many farmers and organizations who are preserving Canada's heritage varieties of food and protecting our food supply from the exclusive control of multinational interests.

Part II - Gardens of Destiny
On Part II, we meet with heritage seed saver Dan Jason of Salt Spring Seeds. Jason is exalted as a Canadian food security hero and icon in Gardens of Destiny - the recently released film by Vancouver filmmaker Jocelyn Demers.

Gardens of Destiny investigates many important issues related to pollution and health. These include genetic engineering, Terminator seeds and the pitfalls of industrial agriculture. Additionally, it examines how organic food has proven to be protective against cancer. The film weaves the viewer through Jason's seed sanctuary on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, and sprinkled throughout the film are interviews with well-known food security and organic advocates. This episode features a selection of audio segments from the film.

To help introduce the importance of Jason's work, Host Jon Steinman provides commentary on the role of the media in covering the recent global food crisis.

Guests/Voices

Jocelyn Demers - Producer/Director, Gardens of Destiny, (Vancouver, BC) - Jocelyn is a radio journalist-turned-filmmaker who, after becoming exhausted with the lack of interest by his employer to accommodate critical environmental pieces, embarked on a journey into independent filmmaking.

Dan Jason, Seed Saver, Salt Spring Seeds (Salt Spring Island, BC) - Dan is an organic gardener with a fantastic selection of seeds, vegetables, grains, medicinal plants and flowers. He is also the head of the grassroots organization the Seed and Plant Sanctuary for Canada, a network of Canadian gardeners who are preserving as much plant diversity as is possible. Dan has been a long time critic of the non-organic food system in North America.

Herb Barbolet - Associate, Simon Fraser University's Centre for Sustainable Community Development (CSCD) (Vancouver, BC) - The CSCD is a teaching and research unit of Simon Fraser University, established in 1989. The Centre uses the resources and talents of the University to teach and encourage accountable and sustainable community development. As Associate since 2003, Herb has co-authored food assessment studies for provincial health authorities and a guide to food assessments for the provincial health services authority. Herb farmed organically for ten years and was co-founder of FarmFolk/CityFolk, a nonprofit that works to create local, sustainable food systems. He appears frequently on radio, in print, and on television. He remains an active food consultant.

Guy Dauncey - Speaker/Author/Organizer, Earth Future (Victoria, BC) Guy Dauncey is a speaker, author, and organizer who works to develop a positive vision of a sustainable future, and to translate that vision into action. He is author of the award-winning book Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change; Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic, and 9 other titles. He is President of the BC Sustainable Energy Association, Co-chair of Prevent Cancer Now; Executive Director of The Solutions Project; and Publisher of EcoNews, a monthly newsletter that promotes the vision of a sustainable Vancouver Island.

 

Direct download: DD050108.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 3:43pm EDT