Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy

Meera & Ashok Vasudevan
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Nutrition
  • Updated Biweekly

Meera & Ashok Vasudevan bring 50+ years of experience as leaders in the Plant-based & Natural Food industry. Their entrepreneurial journey continues with the recent acquisition of 2 heritage brands- Annapurna & Captain CookIn this timely podcast series titled "Pay the farmer, Not the Pharmacy" they show you how to unleash the magic in your kitchen with evidence-based tips & tricks that improve digestion, enhance gut health, build immunity and provide simple solutions to affordable wellness. Pay the Farmer, Not the pharmacy. Brought to you by CSAW, the Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness.   Also, included are other talks, interviews and discussions of Ashok Vasudevan on a range of issues, not only related to food to wellness 

  1. 5d ago

    Cyclospora: The Salad that bit back. Ep 1/2

    Share your thoughts As always in this series, co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan pull up two chairs for a fireside chat — evidence-based, a little cheeky, and firmly in the kitchen, never the clinic. This is Part 1 of a two-part special, timed to the 2026 Cyclospora outbreak. First, the basics done properly: what cyclosporiasis is, and how you actually get it — no biology lecture, just the one thing that matters, which is that it rides in on raw food. Then the outbreak: since May, U.S. authorities have confirmed more than 1,600 cases across dozens of states, with thousands more under investigation, traced to shredded iceberg lettuce from one big processor. But the heart of this episode is the part most Western coverage misses. America counts a few thousand cases and the whole machine lights up — headlines, recalls, a share price falls. Meanwhile Cyclospora is endemic across the tropics — India, Nepal, Latin America, Southeast Asia — where it rises and falls with the rains and the real numbers are staggering, year after year, with no headlines at all. The problem is global; the noise is American. So the lesson is a global one: eat salads carefully — only the ones that actually nourish you, and only the ones that haven’t travelled like Columbus. In this episode ·       Cyclosporiasis, defined — and, more usefully, how you actually get it: on raw produce and contaminated water, never off the person next to you ·       Meet the parasite — a protozoan, a bit bigger and stranger than an ordinary germ ·       Prevalence and proportion: America’s few thousand cases made the noise; the tropics carry the staggering numbers quietly ·       The iceberg question, done properly: it’s not the water (watermelon and a tomato are water too) — it’s the empty 5%, and why romaine and arugula run rings around it ·       Why washing won’t save you and heat will — and why the villain is industrial scale, not the vegetable Thanks for tuning in to "Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy"! Hosted by Meera & Ashok Vasudevan Stay Connected #PayTheFarmerNotThePharmacy #PlantBasedWellness #NaturalFood #AffordableWellness #GutHealth #ImmunityBoost #NutritionTips #CSAW (Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness) #Meeravasudevan #Ashokvasudevan https://umaglobalfoods.com/ https://csaw.co https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/pay-the-farmer-not-the-pharmacy/id1512934794 https://open.spotify.com/show/34nzNQQ62O8tygMaut2h8V

  2. Jul 20

    Pharma, Food & the Fluent Consumer- Ep.4/4

    Share your thoughts We read our lunch like a lab report — and feel virtuous about a bar built in a factory while waving off dal and rice as “just carbs.” In the finale of “Off the Treadmill,” co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan take the third corner of the triangle — us — and show how our own fluency makes us the perfect customer. Then they step off. As always in this series, co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan pull up two chairs for a fireside chat — evidence-based, a little cheeky, and firmly in the kitchen, never the clinic. The first two corners of the triangle were about them — Pharma and the food industry. This one is about us. For most of history, we judged food by taste, smell, and satiety. Then we learned the language of nutrients, and that vocabulary now sits on every packet. It's useful — and it's also exactly what makes us easy to sell to. The moment a population learns a word, an industry can sell to that word without changing the product at all. In this episode •    Information vs. fluency: how knowing the vocabulary turns you into a target •    “Pork. The Other White Meat” — moving the word instead of the product •    Eating the scorecard: the protein bar vs. the plate of dal and rice •    The “nutrient of the decade” treadmill — and why last year's hero ends up on the discount shelf •    Stepping off: the simple, old-fashioned prescription that closes the series Thanks for tuning in to "Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy"! Hosted by Meera & Ashok Vasudevan Stay Connected #PayTheFarmerNotThePharmacy #PlantBasedWellness #NaturalFood #AffordableWellness #GutHealth #ImmunityBoost #NutritionTips #CSAW (Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness) #Meeravasudevan #Ashokvasudevan https://umaglobalfoods.com/ https://csaw.co https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/pay-the-farmer-not-the-pharmacy/id1512934794 https://open.spotify.com/show/34nzNQQ62O8tygMaut2h8V

  3. Jul 13

    Pharma, Food & the Fluent Consumer Ep.3/4

    Share your thoughts How many eggs are you allowed this week? Depends what year you ask. In Episode 3 of 4 in thos series  co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan take the second corner of the triangle — the food industry — and the verdicts that flip a full 180 degrees within a decade. Eggs, butter, coconut oil… and the peanut reversal whose bill was paid by children.  In this episode •    The egg: 47 years rationed to three a week — on a cholesterol cap with no clinical-trial evidence •    Butter → margarine → trans-fat ban → “butter-style spread”: the consumer left keeping score •    Coconut oil's three verdicts, red wine, and the MSG myth — same molecules, flipped opinions •    Why guidelines outlive the science by a generation •    Peanuts and the LEAP trial: the reversal whose cost was paid by children Thanks for tuning in to "Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy"! Hosted by Meera & Ashok Vasudevan Stay Connected #PayTheFarmerNotThePharmacy #PlantBasedWellness #NaturalFood #AffordableWellness #GutHealth #ImmunityBoost #NutritionTips #CSAW (Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness) #Meeravasudevan #Ashokvasudevan https://umaglobalfoods.com/ https://csaw.co https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/pay-the-farmer-not-the-pharmacy/id1512934794 https://open.spotify.com/show/34nzNQQ62O8tygMaut2h8V

  4. Jul 6

    Pharma, Food & the Fluent Consumer Ep.2/4

    Share your thoughts In this episode 2/4, co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan pull up two chairs for a fireside chat — evidence-based, a little cheeky, and firmly in the kitchen, never the clinic. Medical thresholds move — and they almost always move in the direction that creates more patients. In this episode, they walk through the quiet downward drift in the levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and bone density, and then zero in on the cleanest example of all: vitamin D. In this episode •    Why diagnostic thresholds drift in only one direction — and turn healthy people into patients overnight •    The vitamin-D story: a Western-derived cut-off applied to sunny India, and the 70–90% “deficiency” that followed •    How a new diagnosis becomes a market: supplements on the counter, a test added to every panel •    The quiet 2024 reversal — and why the products never left the shelf •    A fair word for doctors: the line is moved upstream, not in the consulting room Thanks for tuning in to "Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy"! Hosted by Meera & Ashok Vasudevan Stay Connected #PayTheFarmerNotThePharmacy #PlantBasedWellness #NaturalFood #AffordableWellness #GutHealth #ImmunityBoost #NutritionTips #CSAW (Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness) #Meeravasudevan #Ashokvasudevan https://umaglobalfoods.com/ https://csaw.co https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/pay-the-farmer-not-the-pharmacy/id1512934794 https://open.spotify.com/show/34nzNQQ62O8tygMaut2h8V

  5. Jun 29

    Pharma, Food & the Fluent Consumer Ep.1/4

    Share your thoughts As always, in this series too, co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan pull up two chairs for a fireside chat — evidence-based, a little cheeky, and firmly in the kitchen, never the clinic. This is Episode 1 of their four-part series  adapted from Ashok's widely-shared essay “Pharma, Food, and the Fluent Consumer.” In this episode •    How the 2017 blood-pressure rule made ~31 million Americans “sick” overnight — with no change to their bodies •    The triangle that powers the treadmill: shifting medical goalposts, flip-flopping food verdicts, and our own fluency •    Information vs. awareness — why being well-informed is not the same as being well. •    A fair word for doctors: lifestyle first, drugs for the genuinely high-risk; the criticism belongs upstream •    The refreshingly old-fashioned way to step off the treadmill Thanks for tuning in to "Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy"! Hosted by Meera & Ashok Vasudevan Stay Connected #PayTheFarmerNotThePharmacy #PlantBasedWellness #NaturalFood #AffordableWellness #GutHealth #ImmunityBoost #NutritionTips #CSAW (Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness) #Meeravasudevan #Ashokvasudevan https://umaglobalfoods.com/ https://csaw.co https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/pay-the-farmer-not-the-pharmacy/id1512934794 https://open.spotify.com/show/34nzNQQ62O8tygMaut2h8V

  6. Jun 22

    You are Not That Busy— Ep 4/4 of the Series The Kitcehn Defence

    Share your thoughts When did we decide a manicure is self-care but cooking is a burden? In the finale of The Kitchen Defence, Ashok and Meera take apart the last excuse standing — 'I'm too busy' — with affection and a straight face. We prep our work wardrobes and our beauty routines; we can prep dinner. One gives you shiny nails. The other keeps you alive and shining. You are not that busy — and here's the plan.  Thanks for tuning in to "Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy"! Hosted by Meera & Ashok Vasudevan Stay Connected #PayTheFarmerNotThePharmacy #PlantBasedWellness #NaturalFood #AffordableWellness #GutHealth #ImmunityBoost #NutritionTips #CSAW (Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness) #Meeravasudevan #Ashokvasudevan https://umaglobalfoods.com/ https://csaw.co https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/pay-the-farmer-not-the-pharmacy/id1512934794 https://open.spotify.com/show/34nzNQQ62O8tygMaut2h8V

  7. Jun 15

    The Masterchefs—Ep 3/4 of the Series The Kitchen Defence

    Share your thoughts Before paracetamol, before antibiotics, there was the spice rack. In episode 3 of The Kitchen Defence, Ashok and Meera pay tribute to our grandmothers — the original MasterChefs who were also the original pharmacists. They ran farms, families and a full healing lexicon of foods, with no Instapot and very little help. What did they know that we forgot — and how do we get it back?  #FoodAsMedicine #KitchenPharmacy #TraditionalFood #HomeCooking #KitchenDefence #PayTheFarmer Thanks for tuning in to "Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy"! Hosted by Meera & Ashok Vasudevan Stay Connected #PayTheFarmerNotThePharmacy #PlantBasedWellness #NaturalFood #AffordableWellness #GutHealth #ImmunityBoost #NutritionTips #CSAW (Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness) #Meeravasudevan #Ashokvasudevan https://umaglobalfoods.com/ https://csaw.co https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/pay-the-farmer-not-the-pharmacy/id1512934794 https://open.spotify.com/show/34nzNQQ62O8tygMaut2h8V

  8. Jun 8

    Sudoku with a Spatula— Ep 2/4 of the Series The Kitchen Defence

    Share your thoughts Turns out your stove is a gym for your brain. In episode 2 of The Kitchen Defence, Ashok and Meera dig into the real neuroscience of cooking — the studies where people who cooked literally improved their memory and executive function. It's planning, timing, multitasking, and improvisation all at once: left brain and right brain firing in unison. Skip the brain-training app. Cook dinner instead Thanks for tuning in to "Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy"! Hosted by Meera & Ashok Vasudevan Stay Connected #PayTheFarmerNotThePharmacy #PlantBasedWellness #NaturalFood #AffordableWellness #GutHealth #ImmunityBoost #NutritionTips #CSAW (Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness) #Meeravasudevan #Ashokvasudevan https://umaglobalfoods.com/ https://csaw.co https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/pay-the-farmer-not-the-pharmacy/id1512934794 https://open.spotify.com/show/34nzNQQ62O8tygMaut2h8V

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Meera & Ashok Vasudevan bring 50+ years of experience as leaders in the Plant-based & Natural Food industry. Their entrepreneurial journey continues with the recent acquisition of 2 heritage brands- Annapurna & Captain CookIn this timely podcast series titled "Pay the farmer, Not the Pharmacy" they show you how to unleash the magic in your kitchen with evidence-based tips & tricks that improve digestion, enhance gut health, build immunity and provide simple solutions to affordable wellness. Pay the Farmer, Not the pharmacy. Brought to you by CSAW, the Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness.   Also, included are other talks, interviews and discussions of Ashok Vasudevan on a range of issues, not only related to food to wellness 

Information

  • Creator
    Meera & Ashok Vasudevan
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    86
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy
  • Show Website
    Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy

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