S9 Ep1: Cultivating Change: A Look Into the Biggest and Best Season Yet
“I wanted to share a look at what's to come in the biggest and the best season of essential ingredients yet!” —Justine Reichman
The wait is over! Season 9 of Essential Ingredients is finally here, and it's the most impactful and eye-opening season yet, and we can't wait to share it with you!
This season, we're pulling out all the stops to bring you the most captivating, thought-provoking, and downright inspiring stories from the frontlines of the food revolution.
Get ready to meet the visionary entrepreneurs, passionate activists, and pioneering innovators who are transforming our food systems in remarkable ways. But it's not just about the latest breakthroughs— we're also diving deep into the critical issues that are transforming our food systems, from the fight for food access and worker dignity to the quest for true environmental sustainability, and more.
Prepare to be informed, inspired, and galvanized into action as we explore these vital topics through the lens of real people creating real change.
The future of food has never looked brighter! Tune in.
Meet our Host!
Justine Reichman, the founder of NextGen Purpose, is excited to introduce their media platform, which aims to bring knowledge and resources to a diverse audience. Whether one is a founder, entrepreneur, restaurateur, chef, farmer, physician, scientist, researcher, or simply someone who loves good food, there is something for everyone. NextGen Purpose’s mission is straightforward: to make food that is better for individuals and the planet more accessible. By sharing information and resources, they believe they can help everyone make healthier and more sustainable choices. NextGen Purpose supports its audience with valuable insights, stories, and tips, aiming to inspire and empower individuals to create positive changes in their lives and communities. Together, they strive to build a better future with food that nourishes both people and the earth. The team at NextGen Purpose thanks everyone for being part of their journey and looks forward to learning and growing together.
Episode Highlights:
00:23 The Biggest and Best Season Yet!
02:03 Sneak Peek: Biodiversity and Organic Farming Practices
03:58 Sneak Peek: Carbon-Negative Flooring
05:13 Sneak Peek: Edible School Yard
06:15 Sneak Peek: Rice Intensification Impact
08:52 Sneak Peek: Community Building and Personal Groth
10:17 Sneak Peek: Agriculture
Tweets:
Essential Ingredients is back for an incredible Season 9! Get a taste of the diverse voices and fascinating topics coming your way as @jreichman gives a special preview of the biggest and best season yet. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #Season9 #NewSeason #EdibleSchoolyards #OrganicFarming #FarmWorkerDignity #CommunityBuilding #agriculture #WorldFoodDay
Inspirational Quotes:
00:27 “I wanted to share a look at what's to come in the biggest and the best season of essential ingredients yet!” —Justine Reichman
02:04 “I had access in so many ways, but I was also denied access in many ways.”
03:20 “There's more to this ecosystem—it really is a system. When we have bad practices, it's not only bad for farmers… We need to improve these systems, instead of just going by the same old way that we've been doing things.”
04:01 “We're the only true carbon negative flooring material in the world, and that's because we use our waste as our energy source for the mill. Our bio burner uses our waste hemp to create our thermal energy, and then we have hydro and solar electric to power the mill.”
05:40 “We think about two things: we think about access and we think about agency.”
06:37 “Just by changing how rice is grown, we could actually have social, environmental, and economic impacts.”
07:39 “We all care about the land, and we need to take care of the people who are feeding us and who are stewarding our lands.”
08:11 “Suffering doesn't have to be part of the food we eat… Everyone, everywhere should do something to make sure that farm workers have the same ability to feed their families with dignity and respect.”
09:06 “Some people, loving people first. If your spirit of support and engagement is around truly caring for other people, then that transcends the business piece of things.”
10:35 “Agricultural industry was founded on slavery, it was founded on stolen land… We had always been involved in this generational poverty cycle because we were farm workers.”
Transcriptions:
Justine Reichman: Hello, and welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm your host, Justine Reichman. This week, we have another special episode for you. It's the beginning of Season 9, and I'm super excited. I wanted to share a look at what's to come in the biggest and the best season of Essential Ingredients yet. This season, we're speaking with community organizers, entrepreneurs, activists and a few special guests that you won't be expecting. We're taking an in depth look at topics from edible schoolyards, at the evolution of food based beauty products and so much more. So please enjoy the new look. Get comfortable and enjoy a brief preview of what Season 9 has in store
Sachi Singh: We went out with pretty broad messaging. We were like, anyone can benefit from the health benefits that seaweed provides. And then we started to see customer, after customer, after customer coming in with these really heavy, big, compelling testimonials of how the bites were making them feel. And it wasn't just, I have a boost of energy, or I'm less dry. It wasn't kind of like a functional benefit. In that way, I am less tired so I can insert activity here. I am less tired so I can work out more so I lost five pounds. I am less tired so I can work my shift at the ER. I'm less tired so I'm sleeping better. I'm less tired so I'm swapping out my second cup of coffee a day. And I'm less dry, these bites have cured my perimenopausal acne. These bites have melted the weight off of my body. So all of these interesting things started to come through. I was only able to access entrepreneurship after I got my green card, which took me over a decade to get. There's a lot of gates, and communities are gated. I went to an Ivy League School. I had access in so many ways, but I was also denied access in many ways.
Kenneth Lee: When we first started, we were on that kind of a biodiversity journey exploring discovering new, they were actually ancient varieties, but they were new for who would be our customers. And so from there, the arc of our evolution was that we would work with farmers to move them from conventional practices to organic. And then when Carol mentioned Olivia Vent introducing this new way of growing rice, which was kind of a less is more paradigm, we realized that kind of a light bulb moment where we said, oh, it's not good enough just to be organic where you don't use a lot of chemicals in the field, synthetic fertilizers and that type of thing. But there's issues about water, because rice uses a tremendous amount of water in flooded fields. And when you can grow rice without flooding the fields in an aerobic environment, you mitigate methane emissions. And of course, methane is a realty greenhouse gas. It's 25 times more deleterious than CO2, and it also has a short half life. And when it dies off, it turns into CO2, which is around for another 100 years. So we've realized, well, there's more to this ecosystem, that it really is a system. And when we have bad practices, it's not only bad for farmers because they can't grow as much in flooded fields, because there aren't any crops that are designed to be grown in flooded fields. It's just they learn to survive. And then, of course, if there's methane emissions and there's more backbreaking work, it came to us as something that was like a moral imperative that we need to improve these systems instead of just going by the same old way that we've been doing things.
Gregory Wilson: So you can talk about the environment outdoors where we're the only true carbon negative flooring material in the world, and that's because we use our waste as our energy source for the mill. So our bio burner uses our waste hemp to create our thermal energy, and then we have hydro and solar electric to power the mill to the farming practices where you're not allowed to use fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides that you typically use in agriculture like row crops, corn, beans and wheat. Because actually, the government hasn't regulated it to allow any of the approved products on it, so you technically have to grow it organically because you're not allowed to spray it with anything. So the farming practices are regenerative, just in their inherent nature of being a net benefit for the soil and spraying anything on it using a plant based adhesive to replace petroleum with the soy. Is upcycling soy that after they squeeze out the oil for making biodiesel, we use the flour as our protein soy for our adhesive inside of the mill, not having any of our employees getting sick from being around dirty chemicals. Or the installers putting it into your home, as well as the people that are actually living in that home not having any VOCs, Volatile Organic Compounds, that leach out into people's homes whenever you have dirty chemicals in there. So it's literally the healthiest, most sustainable fluorine in the world.
Charlotte Steele: So with food, myself and also my organization, Edible Schoolyard New Orleans, we really think about two things. We think about access, and we think about agency. So often, there are barriers for young people to develop a holistic relationship with food, and that can range from any number of things. So our number one goal is to have fresh ingredients around kids that they can try in a way that they opt into.
Caryl Levine: In 2007, Olivia Vent from Cornell University introduced us to something called the system of rice intensification that we market as more crop per crop, but it was a new methodology. An agroecological methodology for changing how rice is grown that actually saved women's labor. It actually saved seeds and saved 50% water. So we learned very quickly that just by changing how rice is grown, we could actually have social, environmental and economic impacts, which is really what really got us excited and changed the trajectory of Lotus Foods as well.
Lily Verdone: I was working with the Nature Conservancy, and I was working internationally. I was working in the Gulf of Mexico, in the five Gulf States. I was working in Mexico and Cuba, and we were working on agricultural projects that had the same issues. Very narrow margins to make improvements on the land. Overworked family staff. And really, very minimal time to innovate or do practices that would then take them to the next level. So whether you're in California, whether you're in Texas, whether you're in central Mexico or Cuba, all these farmers and ranchers were having the same issue. Which is such a huge data point right there, and that we need to shift it because we all need to eat. We all care about the land, and we need to take care of the people who are feeding us and who are stewarding our lands.
Gerardo Reyes Chavez: The first step, I would say, is to know the stories of the people behind food, obviously. And to connect with them very often. When people talk about farm work, people assume that there's nothing that can be done. But our community has proven that that's not the case. Suffering doesn't have to be part of the food we eat. And when we see how people don't have to give up their dignity anymore. People are treated with dignity and respect, and how all of these can be expanded to more and more workers. I think that we all have an obligation. Because at the end, workers feed every family in this country. And I think that it is only fair that everyone, everywhere, should do something to make sure that farm workers have the same ability to feed their families with dignity and respect.
Jon Lambert: My approach to building and growing community really starts as sappy as it sounds to some people. Loving people first, right? So if your spirit of support and engagement is around you, truly caring for other people, then that transcends the business piece of things. And when you think about the evolution of a startup and growing a startup organization, the challenges that come with that, a lot of times, we get focused on business plans and raising funds, and those things are clearly important. But if you lose sight of you, the person, the founder, the person you know, and that transcends into wellness, how you take care of yourself and where your priorities are, you can run the best business in the world. But if you as an individual fail, the entire thing falls to pieces, what we try to do is address every element of the organizations and provide support at every level. And that a lot of times turns into conversations that don't have anything to do with the business and have more to do with, hey, I have other challenges that are stopping me from growing my business. Can you help me with those things? And so we provide whatever resource we can on that front as well.
Rosalinda Guillen: I learned at the Rimba Coalition that I was a farm worker, first and foremost. The value that I brought to the community and to society was my skills and my understanding of being a farm worker in the agricultural industry. And I learned what the agricultural industry was. I learned that the agricultural industry was founded on slavery. I learned that it was founded on stolen land, the production of food in the United States. I also learned that my family and other families as farm workers, we never had a chance to really realize what everybody calls, I guess, the American dream opportunities. We were in poverty, we were generated, we were involved. Had always been in this generational poverty cycle because we were farm workers.
Justine Reichman: That's it, everyone. I hope you enjoyed our sneak peek at the preview for Season 9. New episodes are coming to you each week, so be sure to subscribe to the podcast out of your choice. See you next week.
