Politics of Food

In this episode of The Politics of Food, Ben Ferguson investigates the UK’s growing illegal trade in "smokies,” a West African delicacy that has been outlawed in Europe since 1987. Journeying through an underground economy that operates between rural Welsh farmers and urban African communities, he uncovers how black market traders are risking prison to buy and sell blowtorched sheep carcasses.

The Grapple is an apple that tastes like a grape. Created in Wenatchee Valley, WA, (“The Apple Capital of the World”), the Grapple is now a commercial success available at Walmarts and big-box stores the world over.

You’ve probably read, watched, or heard something controversial about the Guantanamo Bay detention camp since it started housing suspected terrorists in 2002. This past year, most media has centered around hunger strikes—which is one of the most well-known ways that prisoners protest their indefinite detainment—and the subsequent force-feeding they endure. Last year, there were over 100 detainees on hunger strike. But what about the detainees that are eating?

We recently traveled to Cyprus to learn more about why the largest massacre of songbirds anywhere in the world is happening on British sovereign territory.

In 2012, the State of California successfully banned foie gras, citing animal welfare and health concerns. Though that ban was just recently overturned, the debate continues to rage on from both sides.

Sushi has become a staple of nearly every American’s diet—yet most of us have no clue about the economics and environmental impact involved in getting fish from the sea to our plates. From Los Angeles to Japan, host Sasha Issenberg—journalist and author of The Sushi Economy—follows the trail of the threatened Pacific bluefin tuna to find out if our appetite for sushi just might end up devouring this diamond of the sea.

The Canadian seal hunt has been a controversial issue for decades. Animal rights groups clamor for its end while families in Nunavut, Newfoundland, and the Magdalen Islands are fighting to preserve their hunting traditions. The European Union and the United States have banned the sale