What Food Can Teach Us About Power, Land, and Belonging

What Food Can Teach Us About Power, Land, and Belonging

Author: Sarah & Beth July 7, 2026 Duration: 49:34
Sarah's on summer break this week, so Beth sits down with chef, culinary historian, and seventh-grade history teacher Mica Chavez to trace how food actually built the world we live in — from the Columbian Exchange and the science behind corn, to slavery, immigration, and the industrial food system we're stuck with today. Topics discussed: The Columbian Exchange: how corn, chili, potatoes, and tomatoes reshaped diets on both sides of the Atlantic The science of nixtamalization — why New World corn didn't wreck teeth the way Old World wheat did How chili peppers spread across the globe via birds The Irish potato famine's surprising link to New Mexico settlement history Indigenous and Spanish foodways merging in the Southwest: acequias, sheep, and companion planting How mechanization and post-WWII food policy created the mass-produced, processed food system Precision farming, AI, and the tension between efficiency and sustainability What to cook this summer (hint: it's pie) Speaking of good food and good company — the Minneapolis live show after party has both! Get your tickets here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a media landscape often defined by shouting matches and partisan trenches, Pantsuit Politics offers a different kind of conversation. Hosts Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers, two friends from Kentucky, built this independent podcast on a simple but radical premise: you can discuss the news and culture of the day with both conviction and genuine curiosity. What you’ll hear here isn’t debate for its own sake, but a sustained effort to understand the complexities behind the headlines. Sarah and Beth approach each topic with a blend of thorough research and personal reflection, modeling how to engage with difficult subjects without surrendering to outrage or anxiety. Their dialogue proves that thoughtful disagreement and common ground aren't mutually exclusive. This podcast provides a consistent, calming space for listeners who feel exhausted by the usual political noise but still want to stay meaningfully informed. New episodes arrive every Tuesday and Friday, offering regular check-ins that prioritize nuance over kneejerk reactions. It’s the kind of compelling listening that doesn’t just analyze the world, but quietly suggests a better way to talk about it.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Pantsuit Politics
Podcast Episodes
Nobody Trained AI on a Soul [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:34
After a weekend when an Anthropic researcher quit and warned AI could wipe out humanity within a decade, Sarah and Beth take on the questions listeners sent them about artificial intelligence, starting with what is actua…
Bush Wasn't a Bad Man. He Was a Bad President. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:19:43
Twenty-five years ago today, and Sarah and Beth close out the re-share of their 2018 series on September 11 with the two hardest parts. First, the road from 9/11 to Iraq, from "we will wipe terrorism off the face of the…
9/11 Wasn't Unimaginable. It Was Unprocessed. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:56:38
This week marks twenty-five years since the September 11 attacks, and Sarah and Beth are re-sharing the five-part series they made in 2018 to do what they felt the country never quite did: process it. Today's episode hol…
Meta's $17 Billion Settlement and Flock Cameras [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:37
Meta just settled with 47 states for roughly $17 billion over claims it built a product designed to addict teenagers, and Flock cameras are facing a backlash that runs from Lexington's city council all the way to Capitol…
Make America Unvaccinated Again [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:52
Sarah and Beth dig into the new executive order on childhood vaccines and the request for information the Department of Health and Human Services issued on August 24 — what "shared clinical decision making" actually mean…
Dolly Parton Was Never Afraid of Change [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:02
Sarah opens by calling it what it is — a national day of mourning — and she and Beth spend the hour on the only thing anybody's feed is showing them: Dolly Parton, dead at 80. They trace the fork in the road that turned…
Why Everything Feels Unhinged for Women [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:20
Sarah opens with a simple question — what's going on with the ladies? — and she and Beth spend the hour discovering that you can't answer it without first describing the sexism everyone is swimming in. They walk through…
Was This Summer the Worst? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:52
Sarah and Beth are back together after summer break, and they're starting with the question everyone seems to be asking: was this summer the worst? They work through the cyclospora outbreak and what it means to not trust…