Season 6 Episode 3

Hey Kids, What’s for Dinner?

Food is medicine that makes us feel renewed, food is a medium for community, food is the sandwich I made last night for dinner, and food is everywhere. Continuing on this season’s trend of ‘things that are everywhere but have undervalued benefits,’ this episode of PHPod discusses food, and more specifically, food systems.

A food system includes how food is grown, harvested, processed, packaged, transported, stored, purchased, prepared, and ultimately eaten. Different grocery stores may offer the same produce options, but the process to get that produce on your dinner table may be entirely different and can influence the quality of our food. For example, an apple picked from a local apple orchard versus one shipped from across the country is likely to taste much better and fresher because the transportation methods to get it onto your plate is much less extensive. But all levels of the food system intersect with one another, which determines not only the quality of the food but also its influence on our health. 

In this episode of PHPod, host Jack Mellom talks with Ashlyn Anderson, who has her master’s in public health nutrition and is currently an intern at the Food and Agriculture Organization. They discuss global food systems, agriculture, public health, and how getting involved in one means getting involved in all.