Downstream: How the Democrats Abandoned Working People w/ Eric Schlosser

Downstream: How the Democrats Abandoned Working People w/ Eric Schlosser

Author: Novara Media February 23, 2026 Duration: 1:10:53

In 2001, Eric Schlosser published Fast Food Nation: an investigation into the toxic depths of America’s food industry.  Twenty five years later, the book remains an urgent intervention, as much for what it says about workers’ rights as for our agricultural systems and dietary health.

On Downstream this week, Ash Sarkar talks to Eric Schlosser about what’s changed since 2001, and what remains unreformed. How have we developed one food system for the rich and another for everyone else? Could the food industry operate – and America eat – without migrant workers? And did Eric foresee that marijuana edibles would become the new fast food?


Tune in to Novara Media for a distinct and probing take on the world as it is, and as it could be. This independent podcast offers a necessary space for the conversations often sidelined elsewhere, weaving together sharp analysis of current affairs with deeper explorations of culture, philosophy and power. Each episode naturally delves into the interconnected crises shaping our time-be it the fraying edges of our economic system, the urgent fight for climate justice, or the enduring struggles against structural inequality. The discussions are built on a foundation of radical thought and a commitment to imagining alternatives, moving beyond the day's headlines to examine the root causes and potential futures. Hosted by the team at Novara Media, the audio format brings a direct, engaging and often challenging perspective, featuring interviews, panel debates and solo commentaries that refuse simplistic answers. It’s for anyone who finds mainstream narratives insufficient and is looking for a podcast that treats politics, society and culture as the complex, urgent and deeply human matters they truly are.
Author: Language: en-gb Episodes: 100

Novara Media
Podcast Episodes
ACFM Microdose: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:06:55
The ACFM crew gather for a close reading of Walter Benjamin’s foundational contribution to 20th century cultural and media theory. Download the short text and follow along as Nadia, Keir and Jem consider The Work of Art…
ACFM Trip 60: Shock! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:00:41
Jem, Nadia and Keir apply their weird-left lens to the power and potential of shock. Starting with an investigation into economic shock therapy and the way that Trumpism models the concept of shock doctrine, they move on…