No Meat Required: Alicia Kennedy | Ep. 60

Alicia Kennedy's No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating, delves into the subcultures and politics that have defined vegan and vegetarian cuisine in the United States—from tempeh production to vegan punk cafes. In this episode, Alicia talks to Anna Lappé about the feminist origins of her own veganism, how she eats in Puerto Rico, and how the cultural signifiers of meat and plant-based eating have shifted over time. SHOW NOTES: 3:18 | Alicia’s love of okra 4:28 | What Alicia hopes people will take away from her book about veganism and vegetarian politics 6:00 | Meat eating in the US culture wars 7:06 | The abundance of meat tied to United States as US as an “exceptional nation”; political tolerance for injustices like child labor in the meat industry; meat eating linked to ideas like masculine virility 8:40 | Link between vegetarianism and the feminist movement 10:10 | Lagusta’s Luscious’ vegan “Furious Vulva” chocolate 11:55 | Alicia on corporate fake meat alternatives, and coming back to the original veggie burger 14:59 | The PR dollars behind pushing fake meat as a “solution” 15:57 | The dangerous focus on, and obsession with, protein 18:07 | The misconception of that veganism is mostly white and middle class; the radical, BIPOC lineages of veganism and the contributions of Bryant Terry and others. 22:32 | Re-politicizing veganism and vegetarianism 23:17 | Making the food and climate connection; what difference do individual food choices make? 24:42 | Parallels between consuming food and clothes; “fast fashion” 27:00 | Individual choices as “tiny bricks thrown against the window of tyranny” 27:24 | How much the meat industry pours into public relations 29:50 | Anna and Alicia talk about Aubrey Plaza’s “wood milking” bit for the Dairy Council DIG DEEPER: Preorder the book (out 8/15/23), http://www.beacon.org/No-Meat-Required-P1938.aspx From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy on Substack, https://www.aliciakennedy.news/ “How the US Dictates what Puerto Rico Eats” by Israel Meléndez Ayala and Alicia Kennedy, The New York Times (from 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/opinion/puerto-rico-jones-act.html For episode transcript and more, visit: https://realfoodmedia.org/portfolio/no-meat-required-the-cultural-history-and-culinary-future-of-plant-based-eating/ Join the Real Food Reads book club: https://realfoodmedia.org/programs/real-food-reads/ EPISODE CREDITS: Host: Anna Lappé Co-producers: Tanya Kerssen and Tiffani Patton Editor: Claire Reynolds