We throw around a lot of the same jargon each Wednesday evening on Great Taste.  There's constant references to "kitchen empowerment"-as we urge the listeners to use their cooktops to fix fresh food.  We banter back and forth about CSA's, GMO's, organic, traceability, bio-dynamic, locavores, globavores, Slow Food, polyphenols, and a host of other food-savvy terms and topics.  What it comes down to is espousing a philosophy of healthy cooking and eating centered around using fresh, local foods. 

What are the main challenges facing food-related small businesses that would like to or already integrate the principles of sustainability/organic/bio-dynamic into their models?  We'll talk with individuals who operate a broad spectrum of business types-a subscription run greenhouse and wholesale produce operation-Dean Goodale, internet based sales and education-Eric Rusch, a retail artisan baker-Tim Freeberg-Renwick, and local culinary school director-Chef Gordon Rader. 

Come by the studio and join in the discussion as we explore how to grow (bad pun) a local food economy.  Of course, we'll have some food because what's Great Taste without any great tastes?

Wednesday, 7-8 PM, rebroadcast on Friday 7-8 AM.  Follow us on Twitter where we tweet the Daily Dish daily

Tom Newmark is the author of books on herbal and natural medicine, and is the co-founder of the Sacred Seeds Sanctuary in Costa Rica . His company, New Chapter, is working with the Missouri Botanical Garden and leading botanists, to create a network of living medicinal plant gardens around the world. There are now Sacred Seeds Sanctuaries in Costa Rica, the United States, Peru, Madagascar, and Vietnam, and it is Tom’s goal to have thousands of Sacred Seed gardens in life zones from the tundra to tropics.

Father Thomas Keating is a Trappist Monk and the former Abbot of St. Joseph’s Monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts. Father Keating is the author of several books. These include, Open Mind, Open Heart, The Mystery of Christ, Invitation to Love, Intimacy with God, The Human Condition, The Better Part, and the Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit, Manifesting God.

Guests, Great food, and lots of info this Wednesday, June 3, 7-8 PM

Jill Richardson, is the force behind the La Vida Locavore blog which, she characterizes as "the blog for anyone whose crazy life includes planting, growing,
weeding, fertilizing, raising, picking, harvesting, processing,
cooking, baking, making, serving, buying, selling, distributing,
transporting, composting, organizing around, lobbying about, writing
about, thinking about, talking about, playing with, and eating food!" Her first book, Recipe for America: Why Our Food System is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It will be published on July 1. She is a Commonweal Institute fellow & member of the Organic Consumers Association policy advisory board.

Francis Thicke owns the organically-certified Radiance Dairy in Fairfield. He'll join us in the studio to discuss the recent New York Times article spotlighting the plight of organic dairy farmers. Francis grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota. He earned a Ph.D. in Agronomy/Soil Fertility at the University of Illinois. In 1992, he returned to his farming roots and we are all thankful for that! He is currently seeking the office of Iowa Agriculture Secretary.

PLUS

Kathy is back and the heat will be on in the studio. Don't miss one second of an action-packed GREAT TASTE.

If you do, the rebro is Friday, June 5 from 7-8 AM.