Balance of Food

Tom Vilsack is not a good way for Biden-Harris to fight for improvement in the food supply

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" was meant to be a metaphor by Pete Townshend from The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again in 1971. Townshend likely couldn't imagine Tom Vilsack being invited to run the Department of Agriculture once again in the United States.

Vilsack was not an inspired choice even in 2009 under Barack Obama. He did fit the recent definition of having been a governor (Iowa) in an agricultural state. 

Vilsack's most significant act while as the Secretary of Agriculture is to endorse the use of "pink slime." Vilsack said pink slime was "safe, it contains less fat and historically it's been less expensive."

Colbert Report: Tom Vilsack and school lunches

Stephen Colbert calls out Tom Vilsack for ag policy contradictions

Vilsack will have an easier time since Stephen Colbert went out to do a regular talk show at CBS.

Vilsack is leaps and bounds ahead of Sonny Perdue, Mike Johanns, and Ed Schafer in the post.

As we noted during the campaign, the outgoing regime has done disturbing and disgusting work to reduce the safety standards for meat, poultry, and seafood.

Needing a radical 'New Deal' from the next Secretary of Agriculture

If the United States has a benign or progressive food policy that factored in nutrition and American consumers, Vilsack might be able to sail the ship and not crash into an iceberg. Stephen Colbert did more to advance the concerns over the U.S. food supply in the 9 years on the Colbert Report than any Secretary of Agriculture has done in decades.

Michael Pollan turned down a proverbial request for the position after the 2008 election. Pollan did offer these words of wisdom.

"What Obama needs to do, if he indeed wants to make change in this area — and that isn't clear yet that he does, at least in his first term — I think we need a food policy czar in the White House because the challenge is not just what we do with agriculture, it's connecting the dots between agriculture and public health, between agriculture and energy and climate change, agriculture and education."

Substitute "Biden" for "Obama" and that advice is still helpful.

Vote for a better food policy on Election Day

Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump: Who will be better on food policy

The American people did vote for a better food policy on Election Day with the election of former Vice President Joe Biden and outgoing Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). They will be sworn in tomorrow midday as the new U.S. president and vice president, respectively.

Biden and Harris will be arms in deep in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic amplified the growing food insecurity in the United States. The pathetic financial supplement further exasperated a widening gap in a struggling to feed a family or even an individual.

Children who weren't in school struggled to get fed where school breakfasts and lunches had been the difference for many kids.

Celebrating the Michelle Obama legacy for food and nutrition

Biden could pick a nutrition czar, something that Barack Obama did during his time in office. Sam Kass and Debra Eschmeyer filled that role under President Obama. Michelle Obama might be available once again. Unlike Vilsack, that is a retread Americans can get behind.

5 questions you should ask presidential candidates about U.S. food policy

BalanceofFood.com school lunch coverage

President Obama placed a priority on increasing the money spent on school lunches. Conservative Democratic senators helped water that down to a 6¢ increase in 2010, the first such non-inflationary increase since 1974.

Expectations are low and since the food supply didn't come up, no promises to be broken. Here's to hoping to find solutions in the next 4-8 years.

photo credit: Colbert Report/Comedy Central

Hard to Stomach brings home the ongoing concern of food insecurity

Years ago, we ventured into podcasts on various food topics. We may return to that format in the future.

Hard to Stomach is a podcast devoted to food insecurity issues and the use of food banks. The podcast is from CBC Radio in Canada and focuses on Ontario.

The podcast started out in 2019 with Season 1 host Nana Aba Duncan. The podcast features people on the giving and receiving ends of the food bank transactions.

Season 1 came out well before the pandemic. The contrast between northern and southern Ontario is vast given the difficulty of getting food into Canada's north. As an example, a 2018 paper from the Northern Policy Institute noted that for northern districts such as Kenora, a family of 4 would have to pay out $160 more per month than a similar family from Toronto.

The Hard to Shake podcast episode covered the ignorance and misunderstanding of why people use food banks. The That One Thing podcast episode asked the common question: "what would have helped you when you needed it" in terms of help and food security.

BalanceofFood.com Canada food policy coverage

Season 1 has 4 episodes that gives the basics of food insecurity. Season 2, hosted by Jason D'Souza, has 3 episodes that delve more into economic uncertainty and affordable housing.

Season 2 comes out well into the pandemic. The podcast noted that while 4.5 million Canadians were food insecure before the pandemic, those numbers grew by by 39%, adding 1.7 million into the food insecure column in the first 2 months.

A Complex Puzzle podcast episode from Season 2 pointed out the great help that Canadians go through CERB and other government help. This will be a contrast to the great lack of help offered up by the U.S. government, thanks mostly to the GOP Senate members.

CERB offered $500/week until late September. The benefits were transferred over to enhanced EI (Employment Insurance) even though some lost benefits in the transfer.

The podcast noted that the Ontario government gave $8 million to Feed Ontario at the beginning of COVID-19. The federal government $200 million to organizations across the country. This was in significant contrast to what has happened in the United States.

Season 2 also talks about food sovereignty within communities so they aren't always at the whims of what food banks provide. This also helps communities get better nutrition.

Season 1 is a lot more helpful to explain the impact of food insecurity. Season 2 doesn't really add to the conversation too much. This was a lost opportunity, given how much worse food insecurity has grown in the COVID-19 pandemic. Both seasons will draw a basic map if you know absolutely nothing on the topic.

BalanceofFood.com Canada podcasts coverage

The podcast episodes are not very long. Season 1 has 92 minutes in 4 episodes with Season 2 with 3 episodes that take up 42 minutes combined.

The focus is limited to Ontario within Canada yet the issues discussed could be anywhere in North America.

You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. You can read more about the podcast.

photo credit: Hard to Stomach podcast/CBC Radio

Vote for a better food policy on Election Day

Today is Election Day in the United States. A chance to get a conversation going on food policy. A chance to have a reasonable, likely useless Secretary of Agriculture. A chance to get food processing back into the United States instead of sending previously live animals to China for processing.

We discussed a lot of that last Tuesday between the presidential candidates. The pundits often say the vice presidential candidates are really important but isn't always so. Fair to say in 2020, for once, they might be right.

Age and/or COVID-19 risk make Mike Pence and Kamala Harris a lot more relevant.

The picture (above) and video (below) is from a September 22 campaign stop in Flint, MI where Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) were touring a farmers market. If there is any major politician on a major party ticket who gets the need for good food, Kamala Harris is that politician. 

Harris is from Oakland in the East Bay where they have access to some amazing food at markets in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley. The area around the Bay Area has amazing soil and growing seasons. I know this from many visits and meals.

The farmers market visit in Flint is also more significant because of the fight to get access to poor communities and communities of color. Harris understands this plight.

Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump: Who will be better on food policy

We would love this to be a reasonably balanced battle. Republicans arguing for increased nutrition but asking how that gets paid for out of the budget. Dems responding with creative solutions to do both. We are not there.

We would like to get equal time with Mike Pence. Pence was a Congressman and Governor of Indiana, a state definitely into farms. The side of the political equation that is into babies being born aren't as concerned about their nutrition factors once they are in school.

BalanceofFood.com school lunch coverage

We've seen the divisive and petty squabbles over making kids eat for cheaper and with lesser nutrition standards in school lunch. They are the people who will lead our country in the future. They will be better people with school breakfasts and lunches.

Republicans are into large farms, corporate farms where cows are closer together than people piled into a Volkswagen in the late 1960s. Small farms are being bought out by larger farms since farmer debt has climbed in the last 4 years.

5 questions you should ask presidential candidates about U.S. food policy

There is only a single VP debate as opposed to 3 (scheduled) presidential debates. We do have a good sense of how Pence and Harris approach food policy if they get a promotion. 

As we've noted, your job isn't done once you voted. Good that you voted but you have to continue the fight for a better food policy. Our future will be better shaped with an improved food policy.

photo and video credit: MLive

Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump: Who will be better on food policy

The U.S. election is on November 3. Many have voted early. Hope that voting democracy isn't too damaged where you live.

Food policy hasn't come up in the campaign. We don't know where Joe Biden stands on food policy or how he thinks about food. We do know he isn't Donald Trump and won't make things worse.

• Earlier this year, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service allowed the sale of chicken meat made from birds that have had diseases for human consumption.
• The U.S. sends meat and seafood to be processed in China and the food comes back to the United States.
• Rollbacks on the nutrition standards of school lunches from where they were under Barack Obama.
• The horrible tariffs that impacted farmers for no logical reason. The American Farm Bureau points out that debt in the farm sector is projected to increase by 4 percent to a record $434 billion. Farm bankruptcies continue to rise.

This is not the whole list by a long shot. This would be a 30-minute read with the whole list and the Internet does not want a 30-minute read.

Obama signs school lunch bill, still waiting on food safety bill

Blanche Lincoln, who worked hard to cut school lunch increase, lost her Senate race

BalanceofFood.com school lunch coverage

The Democratic Party has had control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House for 4 years between 1981 and the present. Bill Clinton had that level of control from 1993-1995 and Barack Obama from 2009-2011. During the Obama time, there was a lot of political work that went into a 6¢ school lunch increase, the first such non-inflationary increase to school lunches since 1974.

Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) worked so hard to reduce the increase to 6¢.

The Dems taking back the Senate is possible but will be a difficult task. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris might get elected but without the Senate, they won't be able to get much done, especially on the food supply.

We would love to have a policy debate with a pair of parties that cared about the impact of nutrition and food policy. We barely have one at times.

Celebrating the Michelle Obama legacy for food and nutrition

BalanceofFood.com endorses Michelle Obama to be First Lady for 4 more years

We don't make endorsements here at BalanceofFood.com. Our "endorsement" of Michelle Obama in 2012 was more about her efforts than her husband's efforts.

We know the famous rose garden in the White House was destroyed recently. We don't know what happened to Michelle Obama's organic food garden on the White House property.

If Biden and Kamala Harris get elected, perhaps Dr. Jill Biden will incorporate Michelle Obama's help once again.

Daily Show addresses increased junk food in school lunches

We mentioned in May 2019 that Higher Ground, Barack and Michelle Obama's production company, is working on a half-hour series for Netflix called Listen to Your Vegetables & Eat Your Parents. The program will “take young children and their families around the globe on an adventure that tells us the story of our food.”

That program is still in development. As we have noted, government can do some good but other forces need to be part of the process. We hope some adults learn along with children about the value of vegetables.

Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump on how they approach food

5 questions you should ask presidential candidates about U.S. food policy

The Obama Administration brought in a "nutrition czar." Sam Kass served as a senior policy adviser for nutrition policy and executive director of Let’s Move! Kass was there from the administration start until December 2014. Debra Eschmeyer, co-founder of Food Corps replaced Kass in those roles.

Eater through Civil Eats covered a lot on Dems work on climate change and agriculture.

Biden served as vice president in the Obama Administration. A "secretary of nutrition" would be a vital resource as opposed to a secretary of agriculture. The United States hasn't had a significant secretary of agriculture in a positive sense in a very long time.

We hope to have more positive coverage of school lunches and overall food policy in the next 4-8 years.

photo credit: Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad City Times
video credit: McDonald's

Canada milk producers threatened with invasion of cheaper American milk

Being a classic regular milk drinker, if you suddenly had a milk option come into your local market that was significantly cheaper, would you automatically switch to the cheaper milk?

Milk is already pretty cheap in the United States. The cost level depends on your interest in organic, regular, UHT, shelf-stable milk.

Canadians have rather good milk. They pay a hefty price for milk, but they get quality milk.

The newest trade deal between the United States, Canada, and Mexico (CUSMA | USMCA) means Canadians will get access to cheap American milk. Depending on the import costs, the savings could be $1-$2 for 4 liters (slightly more than 1 gallon).

UHT milk provides longer shelf life but nutrition and taste are lost

Farmers benefit more than consumers with Canada supply management

There is one distinct difference between the standard milk in both countries: recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), the artificial growth hormone allowed in American milk but banned for Canadian milk.

Canadian milk is already very good milk. Unfortunately, as we've noted in other stories, food budgets in the two countries are tight thanks to wage shrinkage and job growth in certain industries.

If you live in Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes, your milk could come in a bag. The individual liter-sized bags are placed in a pitcher; the user cuts a diagonal slice into the top corner closest to the spout in the pitcher. The process (pronounced PRO-cess in Canada) is easier than it sounds. You won't find American milk in a bag.

The American milk will need to be labeled in English and French, since Canada requires bilingual food labeling.

American dairy companies might try to get around this by shipping its products to be used in cheese, yogurt (yoghurt in Canada), and butter. The milk products should be identified as American; as we've seen from meat classification between United States and Canada, country of origin labeling has been a concern. Consumers should know where their food comes from, especially with rBST.

CUSMA passes through U.S. Congress

NAFTA 2.0, er, USMCA is a nightmarish trade deal for Canada

Canadian milk is more expensive because Canadian dairy farmers get better compensation. The U.S. government encourages overproduction of American milk so trade deals are engineered to dump cheap American milk onto other countries, such as Canada.

The supply management system in Canada is politically protected. Liberal, Conservative, NDP: all behind supply management.

Given the number of U.S. dairy farms that are going under, Americans should consider a smarter dairy management system with better compensation.

Consumer cost of milk, cheese, butter, and other dairy products needs to be weighed (whey-ed) against the quality of the product and the compensation for farmers.

Canada election 2019 is underway and food policy should be discussed

BalanceofFood.com Canada food policy coverage

The new trade deal is expected to go through on July 1.

photo credit: Dairy Farmers of Canada
video credit: YouTube/pincstuff

Film review: Meat the Future

One innovation that we would love to see is cloned meat. The goodness of meat without the animal sacrifice. The primary drawback has been availability and cost. Meat is expensive in most of the world with the United States as a grand exception.

Meat the Future takes us into the world of cloned meat, mostly by following Memphis Meats over the last few years. The film specifically follows Memphis Meats CEO Uma Valeti, a cardiologist turned entrepreneur. We even go back to India, where Dr. Valeti is from. He tells a story about chickens being slaughtered at a child's birthday party when he was young.

“If I practice cardiology for another 30 years, I would probably save two or three thousand lives. But there is very little, in the form of any idea, that even comes close to the level of impact of what this could impact on billions of humans lives and trillions of animal lives,” Valeti said.

We spend part of the film looking at the company expanding to larger spaces. Nice but not relevant to the subject.

The film also covers the agency alphabet soup battle between the FDA vs. the USDA. We see the nuance of what to call the end product: clean meat as opposed to cultured meat or lab-grown meat.

The film feels like a business case study in general instead of a conversation about cloned meat.

At one point, they talked about growing corn and soy to feed the cells. "Why wouldn't you use grass?" was my logical question. Cloned meat isn't going to work well if the cells are eating cheap filler. Cloned meat should be glyphosate-free.

They did talk a bit about how the meat is grown in a sterile environment with a reduced chance of pathogens to sneak in. Mainstream meat production is sadly full of antibiotics.

The cost of the meat starts out at $17,000/lb. at the beginning of the film and falls to under $50/lb. at the end of the film. That does sound great. The final drop in price may be the most difficult step.

There are a couple of tastings in the film. You can taste through a film. The Beyond and Impossible non-meat products supposed taste like meat. Does the cloned meat taste like good meat or just meat? Did the taste improve between the first and second testing? We don't know.

BalanceofFood.com film coverage

Meat the Future is a good introduction to clean meat / cloned meat but doesn't cover the topic all that well. The person behind the meat is important but the meat is the future.

Meat the Future was scheduled to be a part of the 2020 Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto. The film aired as part of Hot Docs at home on CBC television and the documentary Channel in Canada.

video and photos credit: Meat the Future film

Farmers markets in the new normal in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Depending on where you are in North America, some areas have had farmers markets going all along in a limited form. For most of North America, May brings the farmers market season. Outdoor farmers markets will bloom though not in the same way or the same speed thanks to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Patience and patience will help the process along. Keeping distance and having to wait to get into the farmers market are some of the changes in 2020.

We've seen some markets go to a delivery option where you order online and pick up your food at a designated spot. That takes away the charm of a conversation with your farmer and choosing your own produce. Safety triumphs over the usual nuances of a farmers market.

Your local farmers market will have its own rules and guidelines. Be careful to follow them. The farmers and vendors are also trying to be careful.

Some DC markets ran into issues over social distancing. Seattle farmers markets were closed for a large chunk of time. The start of Chicago farmers markets has been delayed without a plan in place for opening the markets.

Farmers markets have been considered essential similar to grocery stores. Figuring out how to make that work has been a concern. Places that have year-round markets have been the canaries in the coal mine. Others can learn the good and bad from those markets.

Those places that are starting their farmers markets in May don't have much of an excuse for not starting. Hard to plan during a pandemic but you've had 7 weeks to come up with a plan. Limit people inside the market, letting people in as others are leaving.

We aren't asking for farmers markets to be what they were in 2019. Create a new normal for 2020. You will find in a Venn diagram that the people who go to farmers markets are those most likely to conform to protecting themselves with masks and face coverings.

The delay or uncertainty for the farmers markets produces one difficult problem for farmers. If the markets are uncertain, they might not show up in 2020.

Farmers have a certain rhythm to doing multiple markets during the week to justify making those trips. If they can only travel to half or a third of those markets, they may not make trips at all. The farmers and consumers both lose in that exchange.

Make the move to bring containers to farmers markets

We had a marvelous suggestion last summer to bring containers to collect fruits to save their containers in a pro-environment way. A lot of pro-environment moves have been put on hold during the pandemic.

If you still believe in this, let them pour the fruit into the container that you bring. They don't want to touch your container. You don't want to touch their container.

Sadly, you might have to give this up for awhile. Know your farmer is still crucial. Ask questions. Good communication is always important.

Will COVID-19 play a role with farmers markets?

The sad reality is that liability is a factor. If you can set up delivery options that are practical for those with cars or higher incomes, you reduce your liability. We already know the social aspect of farmers markets will be minimized in 2020. No sampling. You can still ask your farmer if there is an actual market but those conversations will be with masks.

Farmers markets won't be casual outings for people who aren't familiar to learn more. Farmers markets in a pandemic means you have to know exactly what you want in advance of your shopping.

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

Grocery shopping has become more stressful but the basics of grocery shopping haven't changed, unless you count the one-way stickers in store aisles.

Farmers market shopping will look very different for those communities that have farmers markets. You may have to spend a lot more time online to try and get what you want.

Farmers markets are essential. We need structure in place to show that they are essential to nutrition for people at a most important time.

We found a local farmers market open tomorrow. We will have more on this encounter next week to get an inside perspective.

photos credit: EdiblePhoenix.com; me

How processing plants will affect meat in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

The number of the COVID-19 cases in meat processing plants in the United States is staggering. The Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota has had 783 workers testing positive and 2 fatalities.

The U.S. count is 2,200 confirmed cases among workers at 48 plants.

Even Canada has been hit with cases in the Cargill plant in High River, Alberta that closed. There has been a single death attributed to COVID-19 from that plant.

Instead of ramping up protection from workers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture relaxed safety and oversight, allowing 15 poultry plants to exceed federal limits on the number of birds processed per minute.

What's Eating America devotes cable news time to important food issues

Andrew Zimmern pointed out in his recent MSNBC series What's Eating America about the large presence of immigrants involved in meat processing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted in a 15-page memo that the workers at the Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls were getting information in English even though the workers speak about 40 languages.

There has also been tremendous pressure to keep the plants open. The workers felt pressure to show up, given how easily they could be fired from their low-paying jobs.

Food banks now more important than ever in COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Hitting a plateau in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Grocery store workers are the heroes during COVID-19 coronavirus

Consumers might experience a downturn in meat availability at some point, perhaps. The temptation to hoard meat like toilet paper should be resisted for a number of reasons.

Factor in that restaurants are using a lot less meat, even if they are open for to-go orders.

There may be a saving grace on the way, depending on which way the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic goes. May usually brings farmers markets to the United States and other Northern Hemisphere countries. Local farmers aren't dealing with those gigantic meat processing plants.

After all, the shortages might come from those plants. If you aren't buying your meat from those plants, the shortages won't be an issue. Buying local gives you a better product with little to no stress. Better raised meat has lots of advantages. In a pandemic, your friends might pay more than usual but you will have better meat.

If your community doesn't ease into farmers markets, you can likely deal with local farmers on meat CSAs (community supported agriculture) or sites where you can pick up meat from local farmers. Know your farmer! This is why we say that is so important.

We emphasize local but you could think about prosciutto from Italy or steaks from New Zealand.

You could switch to seafood for awhile. Seafood production may run into COVID-19 related issues but may not be as bad as the meat processing plants.

You can also eat less meat. This isn't what Americans want to hear. If you are making burgers, use mushrooms as 25% of your burger material. Figure instead of a pound of meat, use 3/4 pound of meat with 1/4 pound of sliced mushrooms. Similar meaty taste with more nutrition. Save that extra 1/4 pound of beef for Taco Tuesday night.

Cheaper cuts of beef that you might have ignored might become your friend. Cost is sadly important for a lot of people. You have less money but more time to figure out how to use those cuts to feed your family.

Embracing your stress eating during the COVID-19 coronavirus

Alternative foods if your grocery store has been raided due to COVID-19 coronavirus

Will COVID-19 play a role with farmers markets?

Meat has been seen as a standard of success at the dinner table for hundreds of years. This pandemic won't change that dynamic.

Eating plant-based burgers falls well within the spirit of Lent

Bacon goes well on everything, even a veggie burger

Unlike pandemics of the past, we are more aware of meatless alternatives. Meat doesn't have to be the star of the table. Think of meat as a character actor that can do so many different things well. An Oscar for Best Supporting Actor is still an Oscar.

Having more time to cook allows you to be more creative with where meat stands in your food lineup. You might even learn some new tricks for when the pandemic subsides.

photos credit: The Rachel Maddow Show/MSNBC; me

Will COVID-19 play a role with farmers markets?

In a new era of social distancing, farmers markets remain a personal way to get fresh produce and converse with the person who created the food.

New York is banning gatherings of more than 500 people. San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose all have bans of more than 1,000 people. Washington Governor Jay Inslee set the mark at 250 in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties (Seattle metro area). All the bans are tied to reducing the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Most of the country does not have to worry about a local farmers market reaching those proportions, even in good weather. The bans could become more significant as the weather warms if COVID-19 doesn't ease in its growth projection.

The Pike Place Market in Seattle covers a lot of ground. You can certainly find more than 250 people in nice weather. Pike Place has a lot of buildings as well as the open market so that might not be an issue under the Washington state ban.

The Ferry Building Farmers Market in San Francisco likely doesn't hit 1,000 but there are usually several hundred people across the front and south side of the building on Saturday mornings.

The Green City Market in Chicago doesn't go outdoors until May. Chicago's brand new mark is 1,000. The market draws a few hundred people at a time, nowhere near 1,000.

As the weather improves, markets might become a concern. Other Chicago markets start in May, especially in downtown Chicago.

Even if crowds are a concern, there could be bouncers, limiting access until other people leave.

Crowd bans reduced in size even further could impact farmers markets.

The farmers coming to the markets also have to deal with the potential of a coronavirus. That might unnerve some farmers from coming to markets.

BalanceofFood.com farmers market coverage

Here at BalanceofFood.com, we don't like scaring readers into something or away from something. That isn't our style. We worry about farmers and farmers markets. The hope is the conditions in North America will improve by May.

We also recognize that May is a long way away in terms of where the COVID-19 coronavirus will be in North America. We worry because farmers markets are a good habit that may be difficult to reclaim if lost due to a pandemic.

Short-term sacrifices are a concern. Long-term damage to farmers markets would be a greater concern.

photo credit: me

What's Eating America devotes cable news time to important food issues

What's Eating America with Andrew Zimmern is shining a light on food-related society issues. The 5-part series is running on MSNBC Sunday nights at 9 pm Eastern.

The opening episode devoted 2 hours to the ties between immigration and the food supply. Subsequent episodes covered climate change, addiction with voting rights and fresh food fail coming up.

The immigration and climate change episodes relate all too well to food supply concerns in the United States. Great to have a 5-part series, but wish all the episode were devoted to concerns in the food supply chain.

The addiction episode was more about Zimmern's addiction issues and the impact of alcohol and drugs in the bar and restaurant industry. The voting rights and voting suppression issue is crucial, but looks to be not really food-related.

The food system is also about who is involved in your food

In the immigration episode, you might have recognized Cristina Martinez, who runs a popular barbacoa restaurant in Philadelphia. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee profiled the impact of immigration on food in 2018.

Samantha Bee, a documented immigrant herself (she's from Canada), guided the audience through a path of undocumented immigrants in kitchens. Bee talked with Martinez at her popular barbacoa restaurant in Philadelphia as well as undocumented restaurant employees who didn't want their identity revealed.

Behind the jokes, Stephen Colbert shines light on plight of farm workers

'Colbert Report' to shine spotlight on farm workers and their sacrifices

Zimmern points out that these are skilled workers given the work that they are doing and that most Americans won't do. He notes that immigration reform would extend the use of food trucks to bring different cultures at lunchtime.

Watching Zimmern pick strawberries shows the need for immigrant workers. Watching that footage reminded us of Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report taking us through the arduous process of picking fruits and vegetables.

Zimmern's style is easygoing, curious, and relatable to people of all classes. The show bounces to all parts of the country whether that is the lack of perch in Lake Michigan to the dead oysters in Apalachicola Bay, Florida. Chef and humanitarian José Andrés helps out in the immigration episode.

168 hours in a week should be long enough for cable news to cover food-related topics. Sadly, that isn't true. Zimmern is a chef who does a lot of television and knows the impact of food in our society. 6 hours is not a long time to cover food issues. The show hopefully will inspire more food journalism on cable TV news.

What's Eating America with Andrew Zimmern runs Sunday nights at 9 pm Eastern on MSNBC. You can catch up (with authentication) on previous episodes.

photos credit: What's Eating America with Andrew Zimmern/MSNBC