The Leading Voices in Food

Liberatory Agriculture in Afterlives of the Plantation

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1881, African American educator and political leader Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. The school's mission was...

E293: From Truffles to Trash - Lessons on Food Waste Prevention

19 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Over the last several years, I have been thinking about food waste and food loss a lot. It's been a topic that we've seen in many spaces in the US an...

The downstream effects of disasters on food supply chains

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It seems like the frequency of weather-related disasters is increasing. Across the US we're seeing wildfires, tropical storms and hurricanes, extreme ...

Pathway to Market is Complicated for Cell-Cultivated Protein

24 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As global demand for meat grows, this episode of Duke University's Leading Voices in Food podcast examines cell-cultivated protein—real meat grown ...

E290: Grading the Biggest US Grocery Stores on Healthy Offerings

15 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Do you ever wonder whether your grocery store cares about whether you have a healthy diet? Every time we shop or read advertisement flyers, food retai...

Posting calorie counts on menus should be just one strategy of many

16 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Leading Voices in Food podcast, Norbert Wilson of Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy speaks with researchers Je...

E288: Farmlink's responsive, logistical success preventing food waste

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're speaking with Aidan Reilly, co-founder and chief of External Affairs at the Farmlink Project, a national nonprofit connecting farmers with...

E287: Food policy insights from government agency insider Jerold Mande

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Kelly Brownell speaks with Jerold Mande, CEO of Nourish Science, adjunct professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, and forme...

E286: How 'least cost diet' models fuel food security policy

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of the Leading Voices in Food podcast, host Norbert Wilson is joined by food and nutrition policy economists Will Masters and Parke W...

E285: Gut instincts, food, and decision making

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The gut is in the news. It's really in the news. Catapulted there from exciting developments coming from laboratories all around the world. Links of g...

E284: The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us

16 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An avalanche of information besets us on what to eat. It comes from the news, from influencers of every ilk, from scientists, from government, and of ...

E283: Taylor Hanson's Food On The Move

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interview Summary You know I really like the innovative nature of Food On The Move, and I'm eager for you to tell us more about what it involves. But ...

E282: Are healthy, environmentally sustainable diets economically achievable for everyone?

19 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode, we're discussing the complex and urgent topic of global food demand. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, as...

E281: Is ultra-processed food still food?

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Lots of talk these days about ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Along with confusion about what in the heck they are or what they're not, how bad they are...

E280: Industry user fees could fix a food safety loophole for FDA

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Food and Drug Administration or FDA regulates roughly 78% of the US food supply. This includes packaged products, food additives, infant formula, ...

E279: Feed Us With Trees - the surprising importance of nuts

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every day, with few exceptions, I eat a handful of nuts. Usually a combination of almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, and pistachios. And they taste go...

E278: Here's how screen time affects our kids' eating, activity, and mental health

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interview Summary So, you two, along with a number of other people in the field, wrote a chapter for a recently published book called The Handbook of ...

E277: Food Fight - from plunder and profit to people and planet

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're talking with health and nutrition expert Dr. Stuart Gillespie, author of a new book entitled Food Fight: from Plunder and Profit to People...

E276: Climate Change - A little less beef is part of the solution

20 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Interest and grave concern have been mounting over the impact of agriculture and the food choices we all make on the environment, particularly on clim...

E275: Against the Grain - A Plea for Regenerative Ag

16 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I was at a professional meeting recently and I heard an inspiring and insightful and forward-looking talk by journalist and author Roger Thurow. Roger...

E274: Sweet and Deadly - Coca-Cola in the spotlight

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Recently I was asked to review a forthcoming book for American Scientist magazine. The book was entitled, Sweet and Deadly: How Coca-Cola Spreads Dis...

E273: Feeding innovation by taste testing alternative proteins

29 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As someone who's been mostly vegetarian for a number of years, I have tried a lot of plant-based foods and there's a variety of them. And so how do th...

E272: Why getting food date labeling right is so darn tough

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Do you pay attention to information printed on food labels? From eye-catching designs companies use to entice you to buy a product to nutrition facts ...

E271: Grappling with digital food and beverage marketing to youth

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

So even the people that follow the topic closely are stunned by the digital landscape that engulfs our children, how quickly it evolves, and the poten...

E270: Do food labels influence kids' snack shopping choices?

16 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As any parent knows, it is really important to help our children to make healthy food choices. I know as a father who cooks for my child, it is really...

E269: Children, screen time and wellbeing - many reasons for concern

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The amount of time children and adolescents spend with a screen is absolutely stunning. Lots of people, including parents, health leaders, educators, ...

E268: Why Corporate Control of Agriculture is Cause for Concern

26 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How big is too big? When it comes to corporate concentration many observers raise concerns about the tech industry. However, in the new book, Titans o...

E267: Nzatu uses bees and ancient grains to uplift African farmers

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The climate crisis is devastating the ability of African farmers to support themselves and their communities. Farmers struggle with a lack of running ...

E266: What's next for school meal quality?

13 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The food and nutrition landscape in our schools is really important. School meals affect the health, wellbeing, energy, vitality, and ability to learn...

E265: Exercise vital to quality of health - especially during weight loss

26 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone knows that it's a good idea to be physically active, but behind that basic knowledge lies a fascinating field of research on the role that ph...

E264: Citizen engagement in post-Brexit UK food and farming policy

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're exploring civil society's efforts to shape the food system and land use in the United Kingdom. Our guest today is Sue Pritchard, Chief Exe...

E263: Explore the Daily Table non profit grocery store model

05 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today, we're going to explore Daily Table, an innovative non profit grocery chain dedicated to providing fresh, convenient, and nutritious food afford...

E262: Impact of skimming and shimming fraud on SNAP recipients

30 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On our podcast, we have often talked about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. In many of those conversations, we've talked about ...

E261: Here's what you don't know about food safety

23 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For many years in talks that I gave, I showed a slide with an ingredient list from a food most people know. Just to see if the audience could guess wh...

E260: Food Recovery Network Urges Food Date Labeling Reform

14 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I don't know about you and your household, but in my home, we have a long history of opening the refrigerator and discovering pasta sauce or mayonnais...

E259: Your state of the science on weight loss drugs

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

About two years ago, we released a podcast with Dr. Thomas Wadden of the University of Pennsylvania describing work on a new generation of medications...

E258: Do 'market driven epidemics' drive your food choices?

19 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For much of history, the word 'epidemic' applied to infectious diseases. Large numbers of cases of disease caused by organisms such as bacteria and vi...

E257: Embracing convergence in the RECIPES Network

04 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2021, American University and 15 partner institutions across the U. S. launched the Multiscale RECIPES Research Network with the goal of transformi...

E256: ATNI - driving market change towards nutrition

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Now more than ever, it's important to challenge the world's food and beverage manufacturers to address nutrition issues like obesity and undernutritio...

E255: Reducing food waste - less seafood wasted than thought in US

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The U. S. is the largest importer of aquatic foods, which includes fresh and saltwater fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and aquatic plants served in resta...

E254: Why is food so expensive?

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you feel like your grocery budget just doesn't buy you as much as it once did, you're not alone. According to U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, foo...

E253: Learnings from No Kid Hungry in New York

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When we talk about problems with food insecurity and the food system, we tend to reference challenges at the national or international level. And of c...

E252: Is farm-level environmental impact reporting needed or even possible?

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In today's podcast, we're discussing Fast and Furious. But it's not the movie series starring Vin Diesel. Instead, the catchphrase describes rapidly i...

E251: The thoughtful transformation of Southern cooking

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today's podcast is a gastronomic treat. I'm talking with Chef William Dissen, James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of the restaurant, The Marketpl...

E250: Roots of Change: Successful, incentive-based food and farm policy advocacy

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Join Kelly Brownell in a conversation with Michael Dimock, Executive Director of Roots of Change, about transforming food systems through innovative ...

E249: History fact check - Impact of Corporate Influence on Research

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Study after study has shown that consumption of sugar sweetened beverages poses clear health risk. So how have the big soda companies, Coke and Pepsi ...

E248: Climate-smart strategies to sustain small-scale fishing communities

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Join host Norbert Wilson and co-host Kerilyn Schewel in the latest episode of the Leading Voices in Food podcast as they dive deep into the world of ...

E247: Cultivating food security and community stability in the Dry Corridor

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With food insecurity rising the world over, we cannot escape the reality that climate change is changing our food supply. This means people's liveliho...

E246: New Book: Learning food economics makes ALL economics easier

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

I'm Norbert Wilson, a professor of public policy at Duke university and director of the world food policy center. Now, I am an agricultural economi...

E245: Menus of Change Collaborative - shaping college student eating habits for life

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When you hear university dining, you likely have images in your mind of college students with trays and hand waiting in a line for a meal in a dining ...

E244: US Food History - food as a tool for oppression

04 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today we discuss a new and provocatively titled book written by Southwestern Law School professor Andrea Freeman, an expert on issues of race, food po...

E243: Uplifting women in agriculture: a pathway to agritech innovation

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Empowering Women in AgriFood Tech: A Conversation with Amy Wu of From Farms to Incubators - In this episode of the Leading Voices in Food podcast, hos...

E242: Revamping debt for nature swaps could support resilient food systems

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In today's discussion, we will explore the application of debt relief to large investments in environmental sustainability, which can also support loc...

E241: What is the connection between the gut and our brain?

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We've recorded a series of podcasts on the microbiome and its wide ranging impacts. But boy is this a field that moves rapidly. As soon as you think y...

E240: Do food companies manipulate us with sports sponsorships?

30 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Food companies market their products in a great many ways. Connecting their brands and products to sports and major sporting events is one such way an...

E239: National report on where the grocery stores are missing

16 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're talking about who has access to full-service supermarkets in America's cities, suburbs, small towns and rural communities. According to Th...

E238: Celebrating the Successes of the Alliance for a Health Generation

27 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nonprofit organizations can play a very important role in building healthy communities by providing services that contribute to community stability, ...

E237: Agriculture impacts climate change more than you think

24 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is it possible to decarbonize agriculture and make the food system more resilient to climate change? Today, I'm speaking with agricultural policy expe...

E236: Why we need a new food labeling system

02 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The first nutrition labels mandated by the Food and Drug Administration appeared on food packages in 1994. A key update occurred in 2016, informed by...

E235: A Successful Interactive Obesity Treatment Approach

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Traditional clinical weight loss interventions can be costly, time consuming, and inaccessible to low-income populations and people without adequate h...

E234: White Burgers, Black Cash - a history of fast food discrimination

08 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fast food is part of American life. As much a part of our background as the sky and the clouds. But it wasn't always that way, and over the decades, ...

E233: Grocery and meal insight from the Baby's First Year Study

01 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A growing number of research studies show that the cognitive and brain development of low-income children differs from that of children in higher inc...

E232: Carolina Farm Trust - creating healthy food system disruption

18 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today's podcast is a story of one man's personal journey to making a difference by building communities. Zach Wyatt grew up caretaking an old 300-acr...

E231: Insight from a national household food waste study

27 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If people knew how much food they threw away each week, would they change their food-wasting ways? That's a question scientists explore in the 2023 S...

E230: Results of a national consumer attitudes survey on Dollar Stores

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dollar stores are the fastest growing food retailer in the United States, both by sheer number of stores and consumer food purchases. Just two corpor...

E229: From label to table: Regulating Food in America

14 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How did the Nutrition Facts label come to appear on millions of food products in the U.S.? As Auburn University historian, Xaq Frohlich, reveals in h...

E228: Code for America's Summer EBT Playbook for State Implementation

05 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2022, Congress established Summer EBT, the first new permanent federal food assistance program in almost 50 years. The authorization of Summer EBT...

E227: Big wins through the North Carolina Farmers Market Network

31 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2022, more than 6 million people visited farmers markets across North Carolina. Today, we're talking with a team of people who are the driving for...

E226: Hope for regeneration - photographic documentary of rangeland conservation

24 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It has been said many times that a picture is worth a thousand words. Our guest today is documentary photographer Sally Thomson, the creative genius b...

E225: Efficient Food Rescue and Waste Prevention - a Business Strategy

17 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our guest today is Jasmine Crowe-Houston, social entrepreneur, and founder of Goodr.co. Jasmine started her journey cooking soul food for hungry unho...

E224: Mississippi Delta History Describes Food Power Against and For Blacks in US

16 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Stories from the past help us understand who we are and who we can be. In today's podcast, we will explore a gripping new book titled "Food Power Pol...

E223: Food Policy Lessons from Removing Trans Fats from our Diet

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In August of 2023, the Food and Drug Administration issued something known as a direct final rule, disregarded trans fats in the food supply. Consume...

E222: The Regenerative Ag Legacy of White Oak Farms

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

White Oak Pastures is a sixth generation, 156-year-old family farm in Bluffton, Georgia. It's also the home of Rancher Will Harris who runs an expans...

E221: Understanding Poverty, Wellbeing, and Food Security for US Children

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

 As the parent of a 12-year-old child, I know that raising a child is one of the most profound and rewarding experiences of a person's life. It is a...

E220: Largest study to date on Produce Prescription Program health impacts

06 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Diet-related disease such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes create a crushing burden on individuals, families, and the healthcare system in the U...

E219: Training Chefs for Food Advocacy Work

25 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Does the term Policy Advocate conjure up the image of a chef? Today we're speaking with Katherine Miller, Founding Executive Director of the Chef Acti...

E218: SNAP benefits still not enough for many families

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With record-breaking food prices in 2022, it has become more expensive for families to buy the foods that they need. The Supplemental Nutrition Assist...

E217: When babies inherit trauma-affected gut microbiomes from Moms

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A diversity of bacteria and microorganisms making up the gut microbiome supports both our physical and our mental health. Research has shown that stre...

E216: Who are the biggest beef eaters of all?

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I read a study recently featuring a term I had not heard or seen before: "disproportionate beef eaters." The study was done by Dr. Amelia Willits-Smit...

E215: When Kids Age Out of WIC Support

25 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The third largest food assistance program in the United States is the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC...

E214: USDA Food and Nutrition Service Director Caree Cotwright - Championing MyPlate

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our guest today is Dr. Caree Cotwright, director of Nutrition Security and Health Equity at the Food and Nutrition Service at the US Department of Ag...

E213: Righting the Wrongs of Heirs Property

25 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the United States, food insecurity is unevenly distributed. Recent data suggests that white households have nearly a third to one half the food ins...

E212: Do SNAP work requirements encourage self sufficiency, or hurt those who need help the most?

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is one of the largest poverty alleviation programs in the United States and provides help to around 14% ...

E210: Soil Wealth Areas: Tool to Spur Investment in Regenerative and Organic Ag

01 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There's much excitement out there about regenerative and organic agriculture, but how can they be financed and how can capital providers support these...

E210: Clinical trial evidence - Metabolic Effect of Sweeteners

24 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

 Sugar replacements, known generally as artificial sweeteners or non-nutritive sweeteners, have been in the news a lot. Rising concerns exist about ...

E209: Microbiome Research and a Vision of Precision Medicine

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The microbiome is fascinating and how diet affects it is something we all want to know. The work of today's guest, Dr. Abigail Johnson, tells us a lot...

E208: Improve your microbiome - Improve your Health

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you want to improve your digestion, your immune system, and your overall health, one might begin with a focus on a healthy gut microbiome. Today we...

E207: World Health Organization's Recommendations on Non-Sugar Sweeteners

28 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today's podcast is a continuation of our series exploring the safety of non-sugar sweeteners in both food and beverages. In 2022, the World Health Org...

E206: Results from a National Household Food Waste Survey

06 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

No one actually wants to waste food, right? And yet, a new national study on food waste at home shows we've become more wasteful recently. US families...

E205: Here's what sugar and zero calorie sweeteners do to your body

17 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today we speak with an expert on sugar and things meant to replace it. The stakes are high. Very high. Sugar consumption in the population is astronom...

E204: The troubling unknowns of non-caloric sweeteners

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As a society, we are eating and drinking low-calorie sweeteners more and more. Researchers are working to understand the long-term impact of such swe...

E203: It Works - Chilean Law on Food Labeling and Marketing

19 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2016, the Chilean government implemented a comprehensive set of obesity prevention policies aimed at improving the food environment for children. R...

E202: Impact of non-caloric sweeteners on the microbiome - what we know now

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With the widespread presence of artificial sweeteners in the food system, scientists and consumers want to know about their safety. Safety concerns ha...

E201: Junk Food Politics: the price of outsized corporate influence

10 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Processed food industries are thriving in developing countries, despite government commitment to eradicating non-communicable diseases, prevention pro...

E200: Learning which food waste reduction strategies people would actually do

29 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The average American family of four loses roughly $1,500 annually, not eating the foods they purchased. This uneaten food, at best, ends up in a compo...

E199: How USAID is working to reduce wasted food in developing countries

15 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're looking at food waste and loss on an international scale. Did you know that over 1/3 of the world's food is lost or wasted? In low- and mi...

E198: Here's why SNAP pandemic benefits for college students should continue

08 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There has been increasing attention to the issue of food insecurity among college students. Estimates vary, but to provide some perspective, one repor...

E197: USDA Plans for Online WIC Benefits

01 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In February, 2023, the US Department of Agriculture announced plans to streamline and modernize WIC - the Women Infants and Children Program focused ...

E196: Do we really need zero calorie sweeteners and are they safe

28 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Artificial sweeteners, known more recently as non-nutritive or low-calorie sweeteners, have been a source of great hope. What could be better than enj...

E195: How USDA is tackling food waste and loss

01 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the United States, over one third of all available food goes uneaten through loss or waste. That is a hard number to ignore when more than 10% of t...