The Lorano Long Conference brought many great thinkers and activists to the campus of The University of Texas in February to talk about, “New Perspectives on the Contemporary Food System in Latin America.” The Secret Ingredient Podcast’s Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy took that opportunity to talk with Dr. Alexis Racelis from the...

James Baldwin said, “the purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.” When considering this sentiment in relationship to “nutritionism” one might look at Aya Kimura‘s book, Hidden Hunger: Gender and the Politics of Smarter Foods, as a work of “art” as she explores the questions that...

“Life begins with the seed germinating…we depend on seed and most of the seed is the seed we will produce, have it, save and use in the next planting season. That’s what most of the farmers in Tanzania still do… It was inherited for generations and generations.” –Janet Maro The seed exchange system that Maro...

“Strawberries is kind of the quintessence of industrial agriculture in California. It’s the fifth highest value crop in the state. It also got the most heavy pesticide regime, by far, of any other crop in the state. And it kind of captures so much of the dynamics of what’s going on in California.“-Julie Guthman In...

“We have to do something to take us off this treadmill of ratcheting up land prices.” -Suzan Erem, The Sustainable Iowa Land Trust On the latest edition of The Secret Ingredient Raj Patel, Tom Philpott, and Rebecca McInroy talk with Suzan Erem about the future of US farming. Erum is the president and co-founder of...

“Most of all I would like more coming to terms with what happened…I think what needs to be done is for all of my fellow citizens in this country to understand what happened and to be able to say, this is what was done and now we must think about how to make the playing...

“The work we do is too important to the nation. We are the people who make it possible for every meal to exist. We feed the nation and we ask, have always asked, for the possibility to feed our own families in a dignified way without having to be in a vulnerable position all the...

“[Reparation Ecology] is an invitation to observe these big transformations as reparation. Moving away from capitalism moving toward something much better…it is a deeper way of engaging with the  politics of possibility after capitalism.” -Raj Patel On this edition of The Secret Ingredient hosts Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy turn the tables on Raj Patel...

“Our enemy is apathy.” –Yanis Varoufakis In 2015 today’s guests were propelled onto the global stage by their efforts to take on the European banking establishment and restructure the Greek government’s financial system.  For 5 months they worked to negotiate alternatives to further austerity measures; trying to extend loans while moving Greece toward a more solvent state.  Their efforts to confront the Eurozone and proceed democratically to carry...

This is just a note to let you know what we’re up to with the podcast. We have a three-part piece on the herbicide glyphosate coming out soon, and then we’ll be back on track for the bi-monthly shows. Until then, check out The Secret Ingredient Podcast page at Facebook, and listen back to our...

In the 1970s Monsanto unveiled a miracle herbicide–Glyphosate. The pitch: it was as safe as table salt for people, but could flatten even the peskiest weeds. Farmers and homeowners alike have used the product ever since. Now, it shows up in detectable levels in many foods, and almost every American has some in their bodies....

“We can’t even talk about decolonizing our medicine until we talk about decolonizing our food.”  –Rupa Marya On this edition of The Secret Ingredient hosts Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy talk with Dr. Rupa Marya. Marya teaches and practices medicine in San Francisco, she is also the lead singer with Rupa and The...

Hosts Rebecca McInroy and Tom Philpott of The Secret Ingredient Podcast talk with restaurateurs Adam Orman from L’Oca d’Oro, Jodi Mozeika from Black Star, and Jam from Thai Fresh about why they’ve eliminated tipping at their restaurants, how they make it work for their businesses, and why it’s an important move in terms of social...

“We just assume our everyday normal consciousness is the one and the most accurate…there are unseen worlds, there are unseen forces, and you can look them in a religious sense, but you don’t have to.” –Michael Pollan On the latest Secret Ingredient Podcast Raj Patel and Tom Philpott talk with Michael Pollan about his new...

Dr. Joshua Eisenman author of Red China’s Green Revolution: Technological Innovation, Institutional Change, and Economic Development Under the Commune is our guest on this edition of The Secret Ingredient with Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy. Join us as we explore the hidden history of communes in China.  

The Secret Ingredient is “Solidarity.” Listen back as Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebeca McInroy talk with organizers Hodaliz Borrayes, Diana Sierra, and Andrea Schmid from The Pioneer Vally Workers Center, about their profound backgrounds and how they come together to educate, inform, and support immigrant workers.

The Secret Ingredient is “Prison Labor on Farms.” You might not expect where prison-produced food may show up! Listen back as agriculture farmer and former inmate Jahi Ellis guides the conversation on food production in prison along with Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy.

The Secret Ingredient is “Economic Man.” Swedish economist Katrine Marçal, author of “Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner?” guides the conversation on the role of gender in economics and food politics along with Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy.

Season 3 of The Secret Ingredient will focus on The Green New Deal (GND). Listen this season as Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy discuss the future of agriculture, climate change, economic inequality and what it will take to create The Green New Deal in an effort to save the planet!

The Secret Ingredient with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy, Raj Patel, author of A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, and food and agriculture correspondent for Mother Jones, Tom Philpott to talk about what the Green New Deal is, what it could mean for the future of agriculture, and what it will take to revive...

The Secret Ingredient with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy, Raj Patel, author of A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, and food and agriculture correspondent for Mother Jones, Tom Philpott explore the future of the Green New Deal with  Naomi Klein, author of “On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal.”

Explore the future of the Green New Deal and what it means for Texas with Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez. Tzintzún is challenging John Cornyn for the 2020 US Senate seat for the State of Texas. She is the Co-founder of the Workers Defense Project and Jolt, and she talked with The Secret Ingredient team–Raj Patel, Tom...

“We need to change society so everybody can fit in and everyone can afford to live in a decarbonized society.” – Jim Goodman  In this episode of The Secret Ingredient host Raj Patel plays double-duty — he is not just a host, but joins Jim Goodman as a guest. The two discuss what A Green...

“The climate crisis is an emergency, it is a crisis and so we need to make major, major changes in our agriculture system.” Ben Lilliston is the Director of Climate Change and Rural strategies at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. He spoke with The Secret Ingredient team–Raj Patel, Tom Philpott, and Rebecca McInroy,...

The Secret Ingredient with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy, Raj Patel author of A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, and food and agriculture correspondent for Mother Jones, Tom Philpott welcome back Rob Wallace an evolutionary biologist for his take on the link between global outbreaks of infectious disease and global agriculture. Rob Wallace is...

Currently I’m in Cork, Ireland to present and perform at the International Sound in Science Technology and the Arts (ISSTA 2019) conference. This year on Thursday, October 31st I am scheduled to give a paper about a project I have … Continue reading →

Strands is the working title for a series of audiovisual compositions based on the idea of animated, generative, graphic scores. Last year I composed six of these scores written in Javascript for Parking Ramp Project, a performance installation in a … Continue reading →

Generator is the next piece in the Strands series. These audiovisual compositions illustrate the interpretation of animated, generative, graphic scores written in Javascript. Generator is made up of connected line segments that that go from left to right, up, or … Continue reading →

Drones is the next piece in the Strands series. These audiovisual compositions illustrate the interpretation of animated, generative, graphic scores written in JavaScript. Drones is made up of animated Bezier curves. Interpretation of this piece is more abstract than the … Continue reading →

The software I used to design the AudioCookbook REV2 Experimental Patch Bank has been refined and developed into a standalone application titled, REV2 Degrader™. It is currently in beta and will be available in early March, 2020. If you’re interested … Continue reading →

This video demonstrates a few of the features in REV2 Degrader™. Please visit the following links to purchase REV2 Degrader or read the documentation: https://audiocookbook.org/rev2-patch-degrader/ https://audiocookbook.org/rev2-degrader-documentation/

Saturday, March 28, 2020 I had the privilege of performing a solo, electronic, live-streaming set for Social Distance II with Corrector Records. I played first followed by live coder Mike Hodnick AKA Kindohm, and Carl Fisk AKA Mount Curve. The … Continue reading →

I’ve made so much music over the years and most of it is sitting on hard drives or gathering dust in neglected corners of the internet. Recently a listener reminded me of an album I made over 6 years ago … Continue reading →

During self-isolation due to COVID-19 my teaching has moved online affording me more time toward individual projects. I had already started a building a morphing editor for the Ashun Sound Machines Hydrasynth, so this is where I have been directing … Continue reading →

Eating healthfully can sometimes seem daunting.
"Who are they kidding?" a Lean Plate Club member from Frostburg, Md., complained in an e-mail soon after the latest U.S. Dietary Guidelines were released in January. "Two cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables [daily]!"

An exercise demonstrated that middle-age, out-of-shape women who wore pedometers and were instructed to take at least 10,000 steps daily walked more than those who were told to take a 30-minute walk.

It took 15 years to discover the link between oxygen and blindness -- 15 years in which a mysterious disease haunted America's best hospitals.

A new government study has concluded that obesity causes about 112,000 deaths each year in the United States, far fewer than a previous, highly publicized estimate by another part of the same agency.

The federal government should create a corps of AIDS specialists and deploy them in the hard-hit countries targeted by the Bush administration's five-year, $15-billion global AIDS program, according to a panel of experts.

The federal government unveiled a makeover of this well-known icon that emphasizes eating a variety of food, including healthful fat, and underscores physical activity.

The Bush administration issues guidelines advising physicians and hospitals that they are obligated to care for fetuses "born alive" naturally or in the process of an abortion.

A movement toward greater use of telemedicine is widening the spectrum of care doctors can provide from afar and enabling more outsourcing of services overseas.

PHILADELPHIA — Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Pennsylvania Department of Health now recommend we all wear face masks when going about essential tasks in public, as part of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Those types of masks have become a hot topic online during the ongoing outbreak, and are […]

The high hit 67 degrees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as of 4 p.m. Thursday, marking the warmest day since the area reached 69 degrees on Sept. 26, 2019. If you're tempted to go outside and enjoy the sunshine, remember to stay away from other people and wear the proper gear.

As we continue to quarantine under Gov. Jay Inslee's "stay at home" order, there are still lots of fun activities you can do this weekend. So, stay in, read a book, start a movie marathon and order some takeout.

Living through a pandemic will inevitably take a toll on our minds and bodies. Here are some tips for treating your mind and body well under quarantine.

Since humans are such social animals, this time of confinement and isolation makes it more crucial than ever to connect — with friends and family, but also with nature. Here’s why being around nature can help your mental health during this stressful time.

It sounds like a punch line, but experts say the problem is real: The coronavirus pandemic, by unmooring the daily lives of tens of millions of people, has made time itself feel distorted.

In these coronavirus pandemic times, online yoga has become as ubiquitous as online dating. But for some other kinds of fitness classes, the switch to virtual instruction has been more challenging.

Prescription drugs can cost a fortune. One reader wonders aloud about saving money on brand-name medicine.