Feed: a food systems podcast

What if the future of plant-based food isn't about faking meat, but inventing something entirely new? We go inside a student hackathon at Wageningen University (WUR) and follow the winning concept from whiteboard sketch to test kitchen to campus cafeteria. Along the way, food scientists and student organizers weigh in on the potential for the food industry to not always try to imitate meat.
This episode was produced in collaboration with Wageningen Alt Protein Project (WAPP).
Want to share your reflections on the episode? Send us an email or voice memo to podcast@tabledebates.org
For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
episode106
Guest
Melania Zanforlin, Co-chair WAPP
Joaquin Fogel, Co-chair WAPP
Dr. Laurice Pouvreau, Senior Protein Scientist at WUR
Dr. Stacy Pyett, Program Manager at WUR
Andy Bingham, Senior Food Application Scientist and Executive Chef at Kalsec Europe
Dr. Raffaella Inchingolo, Lead Food Scientist at Kalsec Europe
Dr. Guido Sala, Researcher in food physics and Molecular Gastronomy at WUR
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Melania Zanforlin. Produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions.

After the 2018 African Swine Fever outbreak led to the culling of over a hundred million pigs, China moved toward larger, more biosecure, high-rise hog farms. Human geographer Ray Chan takes us inside these operations. He argues that biosecurity isn't only about preventing disease. He calls it a form of governance, deciding whose risk gets prioritized and how both people and animals are expected to behave.
For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
episode105
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Guest
Dr Ray Chan, Human Geographer at Royal Agricultural University
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions.

China's countryside isn't heading toward one future. Sociologist Forrest Zhang walks us through four different scenarios: suburbanizing villages turned tourist destinations, industrial-scale grain belts managed by smart phones, intensive vegetable farms facing a looming labor crisis, and aging villagers returning to subsistence farming. We explore the shift from socialist to capitalist agriculture, and ask whether the next era may take a "sustainability turn,” a door opened by a shrinking population, food oversupply, and a rising public health crisis.
For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
episode104
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Listen to China's Food Future (Part 1).
Guest
Prof Qian Forrest Zhang, Singapore Management University
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions.

China is currently the world's largest importer of agricultural products, buying 60% of globally traded soy. But a 2026 consultation paper by SystemIQ argues China may be approaching a turning point. In the coming decades, China could shift from being a net food importer to net food exporter of animal proteins. We dive into the analysis with the paper's authors to see how plausible that scenario might be, what it would take to get there including the role of alternative proteins in that future, and what might be the implications for global food systems.
For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
episode103
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Read the consultation paper: China's Food Future (SystemIQ, 2026)
Guests
Anna Morser, Director at SystemIQ
Alex Andreoli, Manager at SystemIQ
Fengwei Ina Liu, Director of FOLU China
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Music by Blue dot sessions.

In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping's government decided not to regulate its fishing sector. What grew out of that space was extraordinary. Today China produces 76 million tonnes of seafood a year, and a mounting environmental cost. This episode follows the small farms and the global infrastructure that connects them, and asks what happens when a government tries to course correct a system it deliberately set loose.
For more info, transcript and resources, visit: https://tabledebates.org/podcast/
episode102
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Guests
Han Han, Founder and director of NGO China Blue Sustainability Institute
Xuefei Shi, Researcher at Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway
James Keeley, Food and agricultural development consultant and China specialist
Episode written, hosted, produced and edited by Matthew Kessler. Sound mixing by Martin Palmqvist. Music by Blue dot sessions.