It’s All About Food

Simon Lester, Pascha Chocolate, a REAL Favorite!Simon Lester is an Entrepreneurial CEO & strategist who focuses on consumer facing industries & investment opportunities. He founded PASCHA born from a desire to create the simplest, purest and most delicious chocolate, without any of the additives or ingredients that might trigger allergic reactions for those with food allergies or intolerances. More at PaschaChocolate.com.   Listen to the IT’S ALL ABOUT FOOD interview with Simon Lester from 2015 for more on how Pascha Chocolate started and is made. We created the The Chocolate Report in 2015. Some of the information has been updated since we made the report but all the issues highlighted in this program are important and things we all need to be aware of, including Child Slavery, Allergens, and Toxic Metals like Cadmium and Lead. There are a number of class actions suits going on at the moment regarding Consumer Reports claims about toxic metals in chocolate. Recently, “a lawsuit accusing Trader Joe’s of failing to disclose that its dark chocolate products contain dangerous “heavy metals” was mostly dismissed by a judge. We will report on the cadmium and lead in chocolate issue once all these class action suits have ended.

Vlad Grinberg. Vlad opened Organic Grill in 2000, one of the first organic restaurants in New York City. Rory Lutz. Rory is the founder and host of The Laughing Pad and cofounder and cohost of @laststopcomedy.    Comedy Kitchen at the Organic Grill, April 17, 8pm.GET TICKETSComics will be ditching their material for a more interactive personable night of laughter. Join Rory Lutz your host for the evening with a lineup of comics from Comedy Central CBS Amazon Prime Netflix Hulu and streaming services from around the globe! Some of the silliest humans we could find. This line up includes Sharon Simon (Comedy Central), Alexis Bradby (Netflix), Johnny Macdonald (NYCC), Erik Angel (@comedy_for_peace) and Rob O’toole (Grisly Pear). Amazing vegan food available for the full show minimum order $20. The $5 ticket price can be used as a discount for food, buy a ticket for $5 and you get $5 off of your food. Simple. Come have fun with us as we build the silliest comedy show around.

Mel Weinstein is a retired chemist currently living in Central Illinois. During the course of his professional career, he has taught chemistry at the community college level, spent 20 years as an analytical chemist in a research center for a multinational food ingredients manufacturer, studied food science, and pursued a lifelong interest in examining the ingredients in industrial foods and their impacts on human health. In 2016, he started a podcast called “Food Labels Revealed” to share knowledge of the processed food industry and to highlight the ever-growing trend of artificial foods appearing in the American food supply. More at Food Labels Revealed.

Emma Schwarz, International Vegan Film FestivalEmma Schwarz is an award-winning filmmaker, animal photographer, author, and dedicated vegan activist. Since becoming vegan in 2017, she has committed herself to using art as activism to advocate for the animals, the planet, and a more sustainable future for humanity. In addition to her role at the International Vegan Film Festival, Emma is the Co-Founder of Veganography, a film production and media company dedicated to creating content which inspires the public to embrace a vegan lifestyle and empowers vegans in their own activism. Veganography specializes in 3D animation; their work synthesizes traditional filmmaking and 3D animation to create uniquely engaging content that advocates for a kinder world for all. Veganography’s films have been screened at dozens of international film festivals, and have garnered 10+ awards including “Best Documentary Short,” “Special Jury Changemaker,” and “Audience Choice.” Veganography’s work has also been featured on prominent streaming platforms and social media channels such as PBS, UnChainedTV, and Vegan FTA. Previously, Emma served as the Director of Advancement for a large farmed animal sanctuary, where she oversaw the organization’s educational programming and contributed to fundraising strategy and donor stewardship. Before finding her true passion in vegan advocacy, Emma began her professional career as a classical cellist. In addition to advanced degrees in cello performance and pedagogy, Emma holds the Plant Based Nutrition Certificate from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornell University and has completed the Solutionary Micro-Credential Program from the Institute for Humane Education at Antioch University. Driven by a passion to amplify the voices advocating for change, Emma is honored to serve her fellow filmmakers and artists at IVFF. Her passion lies in supporting innovative, creative approaches to advocacy, firmly believing that all forms of activism work synergistically to effect meaningful, lasting change. More at the International Vegan Film Festival.

John E. Lewis, Ph.D., Nutrition, Supplements and Brain Care John E. Lewis, Ph.D. is the Founder and President of Dr Lewis Nutrition™ and past full-time Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He has been the principal investigator of over 30 different studies in his research career. During that time, he either directly raised or indirectly supported raising over $23 million in grants, gifts, and contracts for research studies and clinical trials and educational programs for medical students. Much of his research has focused on evaluating the effects of nutrition, dietary supplementation, and exercise on various aspects of human health and disease. In addition to his research, Dr. Lewis has been an invited national and international lecturer at conferences and workshops and as a guest on television shows, where he discusses the findings of his research and provides guidance and recommendations as an expert in the field of health and wellness. He has over 180 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, where his work has first appeared in print, including some of the leading scientific journals, such as AIDS and Behavior, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of the International AIDS Society, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Nutrition and Cancer: An International Journal, Sports Medicine, Stroke, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, and The Gerontologist. He has also mentored many different students, from undergraduates to post-doctoral trainees, in how to conduct clinical research and how to apply the principles of health promotion into daily practice. His seminal publication in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease from his Alzheimer’s study not only spurred him to leave academics and pursue a science-based business career, but also enabled him to be selected for a widely-acclaimed TEDxMiami talk about how dietary supplementation can improve brain health. Dr. Lewis earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Tennessee in business administration and human physiology, respectively, and he has a Ph.D. from the University of Miami in educational and psychological studies. His Medical Wellness Training Expert Specialty areas and Speaking topics include: plant-based (vegan/vegetarian) nutrition; optimal nutrition for health, wellness, and performance; exercise programming – from weekend warriors to athletes; dietary supplementation for health and disease prevention; designing and conducting clinical research interventions; technical writing and professional publishing and presentation; and evaluation of research studies and data. In addition to his professional accomplishments, he is a former athlete and competitive body builder, who maintains a very rigorous exercise training regimen, takes certain important dietary supplements, and has eaten a whole-food, plant-based diet for over 26 years.    Links mentioned in the post: Raw Pecan Pie RecipeGena Hamshaw, Choosing Raw

Annabel Abbs-Streets, SLEEPLESS, Unleashing the Subversive Power of the Night SelfAnnabel Abbs-Streets is a writer of highly researched, award-winning fiction as well as both narrative and practical non-fiction. Her non-fiction includes Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women, 52 Ways to Walk, and The Age Well Project. Abbs-Streets also wrote the novels The Joyce Girl, the story of James Joyce’s daughter Lucia, and Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen, an international bestseller optioned by CBS Studios. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. She lives in London and Sussex with her family. Links mentioned in the program: Remembering Steve Wise.Steve Wise was Founder and President of the Nonhuman Rights Project, NhRP. The NhRP is the only civil rights organization in the United States dedicated solely to securing rights for nonhuman animals. He passed away on February 15th after a long illness. The NhRP posted about this sad loss. Here are three interviews with Steve Wise on IT’S ALL ABOUT FOOD.Steven M. Wise, An American TrilogySteven M. Wise, Nonhuman Rights ProjectSteven M. Wise, Nonhuman Rights Project, Expanding Mission and Work Beyond the Courtroom

Yecenia Currie: Sweet & Savory Life, Simple, Flavor-Filled Plant-Based Recipes to Nourish Mind, Body, & Spirit Yecenia Currie has followed a plant-based diet for over 13 years. Her heart for healthy living is modeled by her commitment to honoring her temple and treating it with the utmost care and reverence in order to live a full, vibrant, “Sweet & Savory Life”! Yecenia successfully completed a holistic nutrition and culinary training to further her knowledge and incorporate the healing benefits of conscious cooking. In 2014, she became a certified yoga instructor to deepen her daily practice and help support others on their mind-body wellness journey. She and her husband, Roger, have traveled to over 45 countries to date, and those travels have inspired many of her creations in the kitchen. Yecenia is from Upstate New York and currently resides in Los Angeles. Sweet & Savory Life is her first cookbook. For more info, visit her website, YeceniaCurrie.com

Sid Garza-Hillman, Ultrarunning for Normal People, Life Lessons Learned On and Off the TrailSid Garza-Hillman is the author of published works, Approaching the Natural: A Health Manifesto; Raising Healthy Parents: Small Steps, Less Stress, and a Thriving Family; and Six Truths: Live by These Truths and Be Happy. Don’t, and You Won’t. He is a public speaker, podcaster, certified nutritionist and running coach, and an Oxygen Advantage® breathing instructor. He is the Stanford Inn & Resort’s wellness programs director, founder of Small Steppers, and race director of the Mendocino Coast 50K trail ultramarathon. Links mentioned in the program:Baked Falafel Burger recipe

Joel Fuhrman, M.D. is a board-certified family physician, seven-time New York Times best-selling author and internationally recognized expert on nutrition and natural healing. He specializes in preventing and reversing disease through nutritional methods. Dr. Fuhrman is the President of the Nutritional Research Foundation and on the faculty of Northern Arizona University, Health Sciences division. He coined the term “Nutritarian” to describe a nutrient-dense eating style, designed to prevent cancer, slow aging, and extend lifespan. For over 30 years, Dr. Fuhrman has shown that it is possible to achieve sustainable weight loss and reverse heart disease, diabetes and many other illnesses using smart nutrition. In his medical practice, and through his books and television specials, he continues to bring this life-saving message to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Other IT’S ALL ABOUT FOOD interviews with Dr. Fuhrman:Joel Fuhrman, Fast Food GenocideJoel Fuhrman, MD, The End of Heart DiseaseJoel Fuhrman, MD, The End Of DiabetesJoel Fuhrman, MD, Eat to Live RetreatJoel Fuhrman, Eat To Live

In 2011, Susan and Dave Kenney are the founders of Emergo Academy. They saw a need and opened a private residential recovery and wellness program. This innovative program centered around a brain-first approach to lasting recovery. Leading a team of nearly thirty professionals they worked with and impacted more than two thousand families. They are putting out a new book in February 2024, Actualized Recovery – It’s Not About the 12 Steps – Recovery is a Brain Thing. Emergo Academy’s mission is to continue to provide the gold standard in Recovery and Crisis Coach Certification and education programs worldwide. The academy is committed to transforming the lives of one million people by inspiring and supporting a thousand coaches, each impacting a thousand clients. This ambitious goal is set to be achieved by 2026.

Featured on Today, CNN, FOX, and other major media outlets, Ruby Roth is the leading author-illustrator of a series of vegan books for kids. Her media clips have garnered millions of views and her books have been translated into multiple languages and are distributed around the world. Ruby Roth’s work today is defined by the female form and depicts the inner lives of women through emotionally visceral representations of the bodies they inhabit. For the past several years, amidst a radical transition from a decade of familial life as a best-selling children’s book author-illustrator to self-determined independence as a single female artist, Roth has explored the deep end of the feminine spectrum and its archetypes. Roth’s work often features solitary women navigating inner and outer wildernesses. In vast emptiness, surrounded by hints of nature, her wild women and “girl gods” find their way through physical and spiritual dimensions of darkness and light, bondage and freedom, apocalypse and utopia, life and death, transmuting nourishing or toxic forces into usable means. Roth has been a keen observer of the body since childhood, having been diagnosed with scoliosis, which required 13 years of aggressive and painful treatment. Rooted in academic anatomy and pop surrealism, her artwork——often created in live-model sessions——exaggerates and distorts female forms to reflect them as vessels of powerful, feminine processing. Roth is based in Los Angeles, CA. More at RubyRoth.co and RubyRoth.art.

Hartglass & De Mattei, Happy Festivus, Let the Airing of Grievances BeginIn this end-of-the-year episode, Hartglass & De Mattie air their grievances in the Festivus spirit of the season. They review the films Chicken Run (2000) and the new sequel Chicken Run, Dawn of the Nugget and discuss the upcoming release of Christspiracy. Grievances include cashmere, whole milk, and food waste. They end on a sweet note, with cookies!

Caravan of Dreams was founded by Angel Moreno in 1991 as the place where the Spanish expat could combine his passions for food, health, music, arts, and community. Since then it has served the East Village in particular — and New York City in general — with all organic, all vegan, kosher verified, and extensive live food options, plus a fully stocked bar, nightly entertainment, and occasional educational seminars and events. Built plank-by-plank and brick-by-brick by Angel, Caravan of Dreams became the vanguard of a new mode of living, and has since become one of the established stalwarts of the East Village scene and a symbol of the Zeigeist. Caravan of Dreams is for people that appreciate the quality of things and — like Angel — have a deep respect for the elements. This can be found in the restaurants commitment to the freshest organic food ingredients, structured water, energy-saving lighting, and more. The purity of Angel’s vision and dedication fostered an on-going and evolving community of participants who embrace better living. The restaurant is now the home for that community, a place where Angel and others reach out to countless people to develop new ideas for a greater world based on the Caravan of Dreams tenet: good food and health, music and dance, friends, family and lovers. These are the indigents to the wellspring of happiness Angel has always envisioned and actively shares.

Rey Ortega is a pioneer in the plant-based sector with over 30 years of experience. In 1994, he founded the Alternative Baking Company, one of the first vegan cookie brands on the market, which generated $1 million in sales in 1995. In 1997, he founded Sun Flour Baking Company. to create new flavors, tastes, textures, and nutrition products with a longer shelf life and higher profit margins. Sun Flour Baking produces raw and baked gluten-free cookies free of animal products. It also provides co packing, product development, consulting, testing, nutrition facts, graphic design, and wrapping in small batches. Clients include Continental Airlines, Sodexo Marriott Food Service, and Whole Foods. The company supports Farm Sanctuary, the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), and In Defense of Animals (IDA). Rey owned Garden to Grill, a vegan restaurant, for five years. With extensive knowledge across the entire product life cycle, he is an experienced formulator within the industry, has designed three facilities, and has sold millions of vegan cookies, keeping eggs and dairy out of the mouths of many. Besides owning ‌five plant-based brands, he has also published two children’s books and is an expert at cannabis infusion for topical and edible products. More about Rey and how to start a vegan business here.  It’s Giving Tuesday! You can make a tax-deductible contribution to Responsible Eating And Living by clicking on this link.

Robert Grillo, Playing the Outside Game to Grow our Movement As an activist for all species (including the human ones), Robert Grillo has played the role of thought leader as well as front line activist, leading campaigns, large-scale protests and other creative actions since 2012. He has learned as much from academia as he has from the streets, from first-hand experience in grassroots activism. Most figures involved in social change are either academics on the theory side or activists on the practice side. Rarely do you find those who engage equally in both the theory and application, providing a unique perspective that bridges that gap between the two important sides of every movement. Grillo is also the founder and director of Free from Harm, a non profit dedicated to advancing a plant-based food system and challenging the dominance of animal agriculture since 2009. He founded Slaughter Free Network in 2018 with the intent of building a powerful grassroots base and carrying out dramatic and innovative actions to capture the attention of media, public and food industry powerholders.

John Beske and Marla Rose, Vegan Street’s 25th Birthday! JOHN BESKE is a long-time veteran of graphic design, advertising and marketing with stints at a series of large and small advertising agencies including Leo Burnett and Della Femina McNamee. During this time, he produced print, television, promotional and retail advertising and design for dozens of companies including such famous brands as General Mills, Sony, Popsicle, Miller Brewing and, yes, even McDonald’s. Eventually, he became disillusioned the advertising industry and left the agency scene to become an art director for brands he believed were doing good in the world. Shortly after, he co-founded a visionary marketing agency called Sustain that devoted all of its work to building the messaging of non-profits in the environmental and social justice sectors including campaigns for Sierra Club, Earthjustice and the Rainforest Action Network. During this same time, he teamed up with Marla to create the pioneering website Vegan Street in 1998, and open a Chicago chapter of EarthSave International in 1999.  In 2005, he left Sustain to form John Beske Communications, which has been building the brands of vegan and ecologically responsible companies and organizations for more than a decade. John Beske Communications has now been folded into Vegan Street Media. MARLA ROSE is an award-nominated journalist, columnist, public speaker, recipe developer and author as well as event planner. Since leaving her job in humane education in 1998, Marla has dedicated her life to building vegan culture and community and today she writes most of the content for Vegan Street. In 1999, Marla was the founding chairperson of EarthSave Chicago, which hosted dozens of monthly potlucks, each featuring speakers, and produced five major day-long vegan conferences called The Conference for Conscious Living, which ultimately evolved into  Chicago VeganMania, which was a popular free festival for ten years. In 2009, she and her partner John Beske were awarded Activists of the Year by Mercy for Animals and won Green America‘s People and Planet Award in 2015. For the past several years, she has been writing feature stories for magazines and has spoken at the Green Festival, Animal Rights Conference, Vegetarian Summerfest and many other conferences and festivals. She is a frequent writer for  VegNews  magazine, a writer of feature stories and author of several books.

Ed and Natasha Tatton, Bred, Sourdough Loaves, Small Breads, and Other Plant-Based Baking ED TATTON is a professional chef who has been to culinary college and worked in high-end kitchens in the UK, Australia, New Zealand as well as Canada, but now specializes in making organic naturally leavened sourdough. As co-owner of BReD–Organic Sourdough with his wife Natasha, Ed leads a small bakery team, making and baking bread, pizza dough, and other small baked goods. These days, Ed’s food is compassionately 100% plant-based, a movement he is passionately excited to be part of and help grow for the benefit of people, the planet, and animals. He lives in Whistler, BC. More on Ed on Instagram and Facebook: @eds_bred NATASHA TATTON is an English teacher turned bakery manager, animal rights advocate and co-founder of BReD–Organic Sourdough, a 100% plant-based café/bakery in Whistler, BC. Natasha has taught English all over the world but now leads a small front-of-house team of cashiers and baristas. She taught English and ventured into various food and beverage roles, nurturing her desire to establish a vegan eatery to provide more compassionate food choices for people. Get BReD now!

Zen Honeycutt, Fast Food and School Lunches: Toxin Dense, Nutrient PoorZen Honeycutt is the Founding Executive Director of the non-profit, Moms Across America, a National Coalition of Unstoppable Moms with the motto “Empowered Moms, Healthy Kids.” Moms Across America’s leaders created over 1,000 community events in all 50 states to raise awareness about GMOs, toxins in the food supply, and other environmental issues that pose risk to the health of our families. The organization’s mission is to educate and empower mothers and others with actions and solutions to create healthy communities. Zen Honeycutt and Moms Across America initiated the first glyphosate testing in America and successfully petitioned Costco to remove Roundup from their shelves. She is the author of UNSTOPPABLE, Transforming Sickness and Struggle into Triumph, Empowerment, and Celebration of Community, the director of a short film called Communities Rising and the co-founder of the recently launched program called The Neighborhood Food Network whose mission is to create a parallel food system, one street at a time.

Shawna Weaver, PhD, Climate Grief, From Coping to Resilience and Action Shawna Weaver is a career-long educator and mental health advocate. She spent her early career as a mental health therapist and school counselor. The climate crisis compelled her to return to graduate school to earn a PhD in Sustainability Education and explore the intersection of nature and human wellness. She has presented on environmental justice topics to audiences all over North America, Australia, and Europe. She is currently focused on education program development, household sustainability, and wellness advocacy. When she isn’t working or traveling, she is home in northern Minnesota, exploring trails with her three legged canine companion.