From Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” to Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign, America is in the midst of a food and nutrition policy awakening. Why are diet-related disease rates so high in the U.S.? What are the potential solutions? What does the science say? Award-winning journalist Helena Bottemiller Evich cuts through the noise to help us understand what’s really happening with our food system and our plates.
American Dish
Claim This Podcastby Helena Bottemiller Evich
5.0(24 reviews)
12 episodes
Updated Daily
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Podcast Overview
From Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” to Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign, America is in the midst of a food and nutrition policy awakening. Why are diet-related disease rates so high in the U.S.? What are the potential solutions? What does the science say? Award-winning journalist Helena Bottemiller Evich cuts through the noise to help us understand what’s really happening with our food system and our plates.
Language
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Publishing Since
2/25/2026
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Recent Episodes
June 10, 2026
Media roundtable: Covering MAHA with Tal Kopan, Deena Shanker, and Lisa Held
Journalists Tal Kopan, Deena Shanker, and Lisa Held discuss the realities of covering MAHA's promises versus governing in Washington, offering insights into its political infrastructure and impact.
May 27, 2026
Meet the billionaire trying to clean up the food supply: Todd Wagner.
<p>Todd Wagner, a tech billionaire and Hollywood mogul best known for co-founding Broadcast.com with Mark Cuban, isn’t particularly well known in food world — but he’s increasingly having a big impact.</p><p>Wagner first got interested in American food policy after noticing his migraines would all but disappear when he traveled to Europe. He did some research and realized that the U.S. was letting thousands of food additives onto the market without regulatory oversight. In 2023, Wagner and film producer Lori McCreary launched FoodFight USA, a non-partisan non-profit aimed at cleaning up the U.S. food supply. Since then, Wagner and his team have played an integral role in passing historic state food additive bans and are also pressing Washington to revamp food additive oversight nationwide. In this conversation, Wagner shares some behind-the-scenes details from meeting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.</p><p>He sees the fight against ultra-processed foods as similar to the fight against Big Tobacco: long, messy, and ultimately winnable.</p><p></p><p>Highlights:</p><p>– The inside story of urging Governor Newsom to sign the California Food Safety Act</p><p>– What GRAS actually is, why Wagner calls it the linchpin of America's food crisis, and why no other country has an equivalent</p><p>– The fight over New York's GRAS disclosure bill and what it would actually require of food companies</p><p>– Why Wagner thinks the Big Tobacco playbook maps almost perfectly onto ultra-processed foods</p><p>– Using AI to triage tens of thousands of food chemicals for post-market safety review</p><p>– Front-of-pack labeling, the black octagon, and why warning labels matter even if they can't fix everything</p><p>– The "real cost" of a can of Coke: subsidies, SNAP, downstream healthcare, and margin-stacking against smaller, healthier brands</p><p></p><p>Where to find Todd Wagner:</p><p><a href="https://foodfightusa.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Food Fight USA</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/foodfight_usa/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Food Fight USA on Instagram</a></p><p><a href="https://x.com/food_fight_usa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Food Fight USA on X</a></p><p></p><p>Mentioned in this episode:</p><p><a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB418" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">California Food Safety Act</a></p><p><a href="https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/A1556/amendment/F" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">New York Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act</a></p><p><a href="https://yuka.io/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yuka food scanning app</a></p><p><a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451300/ultra-processed-people-by-tulleken-chris-van/9781529160222" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ultra-Processed People</a><a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451300/ultra-processed-people-by-tulleken-chris-van/9781529160222" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> by Chris van Tulleken</a></p><p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016268/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room</a><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016268/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> (documentary)</a></p><p></p><p>Stay in touch:</p><p>Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: <a href="https://foodfix.co/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Food Fix</a>.</p><p>Follow American Dish on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americandishpodcast/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanDishPodcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">YouTube</a>.</p><p>Send ideas and feedback to <a href="mailto:info@foodfix.co" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">info@foodfix.co</a></p><p>Check out <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/forked-presented-by-reap-sow/id1821950125" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Forked</a>, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.</p><p></p><p>Credits: This episode was edited by <a href="https://adriennecruz.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Adrienne Cruz</a>. Original music by David Bottemiller.</p>
May 13, 2026
What Big Food wants in the ultra-processed foods debate, with Rocco Renaldi
<p>The debate about ultra-processed foods is loud in America right now, but zoom out, and it's everywhere. Governments around the world are trying to figure out what to do about diet-related disease, and the food and beverage industry is under pressure at every turn.</p><p>Rocco Renaldi is secretary general of the International Food and Beverage Alliance, the group that brings together some of the world's biggest multinational food companies — Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Mondelēz — for coordinated action on nutrition and public health. He's also an executive at Edelman and is based in Brussels, which gives him a vantage point on these debates that we don’t hear as much stateside.</p><p></p><p>Highlights:</p><p>– Why the industry sees the UPF debate as a threat to the work already done on product reformulation</p><p>– What the science does and doesn't tell us about processing as a health risk</p><p>– Whether a workable, science-based UPF definition is even possible, and who's likely to define it first</p><p>– How voluntary commitments like global trans fat elimination and salt reduction are going</p><p>– What MAHA and RFK Jr.'s rhetoric look like from Brussels</p><p>– GLP-1 drugs as a market force versus warning labels as a policy tool</p><p></p><p>Where to find Rocco Renaldi:</p><p><a href="https://www.ifballiance.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA)</a></p><p></p><p>Mentioned in this episode:</p><p><a href="https://educhange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NOVA-Food-Classification-EduChange.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NOVA food classification system</a> — the processing-based framework at the center of the UPF debate</p><p><a href="https://pod.link/1880072578/episode/NjAwNjIzOWItZDhiOC00OGM1LTkxYTItNzE4NDNhZmQ2ZDEw?view=apps&sort=popularity" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">What we still don't know about ultra-processed foods with Julia Belluz & Kevin Hall</a> — my earlier conversation with the NIH researcher who studied ultra-processed foods in controlled settings</p><p><a href="https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2025/10/california-enacts-an-ultra-processed-food-law-but-only-for-public-school-meals/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">California's work on UPF definitions in school meals</a> — the state's ongoing effort to restrict the most harmful ultra-processed foods from school food programs</p><p></p><p>Stay in touch:</p><p>Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: <a href="https://foodfix.co/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Food Fix</a>.</p><p>Follow American Dish on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/americandishpodcast/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanDishPodcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">YouTube</a>.</p><p>Send ideas and feedback to <a href="mailto:info@foodfix.co" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">info@foodfix.co</a></p><p>Check out <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/forked-presented-by-reap-sow/id1821950125" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Forked</a>, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.</p><p></p><p>Credits: This episode was edited by <a href="https://adriennecruz.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Adrienne Cruz</a>. Original music by David Bottemiller.</p>
12 total episodes available with 1 transcripts
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Tal Kopan
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