Life on the farm now has a whole new meaning. Join us to talk about all the farming being done right here in our city, from the growing going on in shipping containers, vacant lots, and the roof of a local CrossFit, to the creation of “green-collar jobs” and the benefits of scratch cooking. (Photo: [Homegrowndotorg](https://www.flickr.com/photos/homegrowndotorg/ "")/Flickr)
Award-winning food journalist and travel writer **Larry Olmsted** exposes this pervasive and dangerous fraud perpetrated on unsuspecting Americans. _Real Food/Fake Food_ brings readers into the unregulated food industry, revealing that this shocking deception extends from high-end foods like olive oil, wine, and Kobe beef to everyday staples such as coffee, honey, juice, and cheese. It’s a massive bait and switch where counterfeiting is rampant and where the consumer ultimately pays the price. But Olmsted does more than show us what foods to avoid. A bona fide gourmand, he travels to the sources of the real stuff, to help us recognize what to look for, eat, and savor: genuine Parmigiano-Reggiano from Italy, fresh-caught grouper from Florida, authentic port from Portugal. Real foods that are grown, raised, produced, and prepared with care by masters of their craft.
Climate change has forced us to rethink our options about many things, including how and where we grow our food. **James Miner**, Principal of urban design and planning at Sasaki Associates in Watertown, has focused much of his practice on creating more sustainable communities for future generations. **Jessie Banhazl**, founder and CEO of Green City Growers, helps to change people's perception of what is possible through her own rooftop farming revolution, growing fresh food in the most unlikely places. Miner, who lectures and writes extensively on how local food can be used to promote economic development, and Banhazl, who uses her work to prove that sustainable agriculture can be both healthy and profitable, discuss their opinions on the future of agriculture in an age where finding sustainable solutions for growing healthy food is paramount.
The future of food is on the menu. The _Improper Bostonian’s_ Managing Editor Matt Martinelli (@MattJMartinelli) gives us a taste of what’s to come in the local food scene and thought leader David Gracer (@TheDaveGuy) explains why the international entomophagy (bugs as food!) movement is in our not-so-distant future. WGBH News afternoon anchor and resident foodie Henry Santoro (@henrysantoro) hosts the event. Join Matt, David, and others for a look at the future of food. Be part of the #BostonTalks happy hour by tweeting with us! (Photo: ["Fried-silkworm-china"](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fried-silkworm-china.jpg#/media/File:Fried-silkworm-china.jpg "silkworms on a stick") by Steven G. Johnson/CC)
Cooking is a universal human practice, and a complex behavior that involves multiple cognitive skills—such as patience, self-control, and causal reasoning. But the evolutionary origins of cooking are unclear. Examining chimpanzees' cognitive skills can illuminate the emergence of this uniquely human behavior. Harvard researchers Alexandra Rosati and Felix Warneken will present new insights from a recent set of studies in which they found that chimpanzees possess many of the necessary skills for cooking, suggesting that cooking behaviors emerged soon after the control of fire in human evolution.
**Jessica Fechtor**, writer of the popular food blog [Sweet Amandine](http://www.sweetamandine.com/ ""), meets with James Beard Award-winning journalist **Kathy Gunst** for a discussion of Fechtor's new memoir _Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals That Brought Me Home._ At 28, Fechtor was happily immersed in graduate school and her young marriage, and thinking about starting a family. Then she went for a run and an aneurysm burst in her brain. She nearly died. She lost her sense of smell, the sight in her left eye, and was forced to the sidelines of the life she loved. Jessica’s journey to recovery began in the kitchen as soon as she was able to stand at the stovetop and stir. There, she drew strength from the restorative power of cooking and baking. Photo: www.sweetamandine.com/
Dr. Sheldon Krimsky addresses the long-term effects of genetically modified foods on health. Dr. Krimsky is Chairman of the Board for the Council for Responsible Genetics. Since 1983 the Council has had leading scientists, activists, science writers, and public health advocates researching and reporting on a broad spectrum of issues, including genetically engineered foods, biological weapons, genetic privacy and discrimi- nation, reproductive technologies, and human cloning. Dr. Krimsky is Lenore Stern Professor of Humanities & Social Sciences, Department of Urban & Environmental Policy & Planning, Tufts University; Adjunct Professor, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts School of Medicine. [Photo Credit: By: Harald Bischoff, No Changes Made](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calvados_Apfel_0596.jpg "")
A look at global food prospects, with a special focus on a community effort in Philadelphia where locally grown fruits and vegetables are made available in the inner city. Panelists also discussed the state of the global fish harvest.
Can 'diseases of affluence' ' cancer, diabetes, heart attacks, and obesity ' be controlled, or even reversed, by your diet? A panel discussion about the film *Forks Over Knives* explores the power of plants as medicine.
Bestselling author Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements: fire, water, air, and earth, to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink.
Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer. Each section of Cooked tracks Pollan's effort to master a single classic recipe using one of the four elements. A North Carolina barbecue pit master tutors him in the primal magic of fire; a Chez Panisse--trained cook schools him in the art of braising; a celebrated baker teaches him how air transforms grain and water into a fragrant loaf of bread; and finally, several mad-genius ""fermentos"" (a tribe that includes brewers, cheese makers, and all kinds of picklers) reveal how fungi and bacteria can perform the most amazing alchemies of all. The reader learns alongside Pollan, but the lessons move beyond the practical to become an investigation of how cooking involves us in a web of social and ecological relationships.
Cooking, above all, connects us. The effects of not cooking are similarly far reaching. Relying upon corporations to process our food means we consume large quantities of fat, sugar, and salt; disrupt an essential link to the natural world; and weaken our relationships with family and friends. In fact, Cooked argues, taking back control of cooking may be the single most important step anyone can take to help make the American food system healthier and more sustainable. Reclaiming cooking as an act of enjoyment and self-reliance, learning to perform the magic of these everyday transformations, opens the door to a more nourishing life.
