Refrigeration: From Farm to Table

01/28/25 • 52 min

When refrigerators became commonplace in our kitchens, they changed the way we shopped, cooked and ate. But home refrigerators are just “the tip of the iceberg,” as they say — the last step in a long, cold, technologically impressive supply chain of refrigerated warehouses, trucks, trains, boats and planes that brings our produce, milk, meat and more from fields, factories and slaughterhouses to our supermarkets and homes. In this episode we talk about this cold chain with Nicola Twilley, host of the Gastropod podcast and author of the book Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves.

What You’re Eating is produced by Nathan Dalton and FoodPrint.org, which is a project of the GRACE Communications Foundation. You can find us at www.FoodPrint.org where we have this podcast as well as articles, reports, a Food Label Guide and more.

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Previous Episode

Cruel & Unusual: Veal, Foie Gras, Octopus

There are a lot of ways to raise animals for consumption — and while some would argue we shouldn’t be eating animals at all, others advocate rooting out the cruelest practices, the ones that cause the most suffering. But how do you measure cruelty? Do some animals deserve to suffer less than others because they’re especially cute or smart? And does your right to enjoy a fancy or delicious meal trump the right of an animal to not experience extreme cruelty? In this episode, we look at three controversial foods — veal, foie gras and octopus — and the campaigns launched by animal rights activists to stop their production and consumption. These foods and the animals they come from have a lot to teach us about the ethics of animal agriculture — and possibly about ourselves.

This episode features Daisy Freund, Vice President of Farm Animal Welfare at ASPCA; Cheryl Leahy, Executive Director of Animal Outlook; and Dr. Elena Lara, Senior Research and Public Affairs Advisor at Compassion in World Farming.

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Next Episode

What We Feed Our Pets

We love our pets — a lot. And there’s a booming business — around $136.8 billion worth of pet food, treats and more reflecting that deep love and connection. Of course, as our pets become more central to our families, we become more and more interested in feeding them well. Gone are the days when kibble and cans were the only foods on offer: Caring and concerned owners can now choose between a dizzying array of options, ranging from the familiar kibble and cans to monthly deliveries of human-grade prepared food and even home-cooked meals made from fresh ingredients. But is there any difference between any of these foods? Are the expensive ones worth it? And if you’re one of those people who thinks about your own food quite a bit, but hasn’t really thought about your pet’s food that much, should you bother trying to change?

This episode features Marion Nestle, professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York university, Susan Thixton, a pet food consumer advocate and founder of truthaboutpetfood.com, Daisy Freund, vice president of farm animal welfare at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Jacqueline Prehogan, Chief Brand Officer and co-founder of Open Farm Pet Food, Matt Halteman, professor of philosophy at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan and author of Hungry Beautiful Animals: The Joyful Case for Going Vegan and Alicia Kennedy, a food and culture writer and author of No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating.

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