One Bite is Everything

This week on One Bite is Everything, we’re taking a look back over all the conversations we’ve had in 2025 with farmers, chefs, historians, entrepreneurs, policy thinkers, and food system insiders. Here, a quiet thread emerges: the future of food. Not as an abstract concept, but as something that’s already shaping our grocery carts, our communities, and the lives of the hardworking farmers at the center of it all.

In this episode, Dana breaks down the biggest forces that will shape what we eat in 2026 and beyond. She weaves together insights from this year’s interviews, data trends, policy shifts, and stories from the field to bring you a grounded, clear-eyed look at what’s coming—and what it means for all of us.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The major themes that surfaced across the 2025 season
• Five trends that will define the year ahead—from labor shortages to climate pressure to the rise of localism
• How policy changes and funding gaps will ripple through farms, restaurants, and grocery stores
• The bright spots: regenerative farming, and the power of community action
• What all of this means for you as an eater in 2026
• Practical ways to support small farmers and strengthen your local food system

This is your roadmap to the year ahead—one that connects your plate to the bigger world in the most real, immediate ways.

Each December I bring back this listener favorite because it captures the magic, the work, and the heart behind one of the season’s most beloved traditions. Today, we visit Ashley at Tuckaway Trees, a family-run Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania that has become an evergreen part of this show.

We talk about how long a Christmas tree takes to grow, what the holiday rush looks like behind the scenes, the varieties customers love most, and how small specialty farms like this anchor local economies in quiet but powerful ways.

We also explore a short history of why we bring trees indoors at all, a tradition that begins long before Christmas and now relies on farmers who spend nearly a decade growing each tree you bring home.

If you love seasonal farming, holiday rituals, or simply want a peek behind the scenes of a Christmas tree farm, this episode will make your season brighter.

Your morning coffee is sending you a message. Are you listening?

In this episode of One Bite is Everything, host Dana DiPrima explores how climate change is reshaping one of the most beloved daily rituals on the planet. Coffee may seem simple, but the story behind your cup spans deforestation, biodiversity loss, shifting growing zones, rising prices, farmer displacement, and the hard truth that Arabica is running out of the cool, stable climate it needs to survive.

Featuring insights from:

• Etelle Higonnet on coffee’s massive role in global deforestation and monoculture

• Toni Farmer on why the U.S. cannot grow its way out of a shrinking global supply

• Sam Kass on why coffee, wine, and chocolate may become luxury goods

• Nancy Matsumoto on how women-led cooperatives are building climate resilience

You will learn:

• Why half of all coffee-growing land may become unsuitable by 2050

• How climate change is pushing coffee production further uphill

• Why small increases in coffee prices trigger global food insecurity

• How women farmers are rewriting the future of coffee resilience

• What consumers can look for if they want to support more sustainable coffee

This is not just a story about coffee. It is a story about climate, farmers, and the everyday rituals that reveal how connected we are to the world that grows our food.

Support the farmers who make your food possible:

What if your dinner could change the world?

In this episode of One Bite is Everything, host Dana DiPrima sits down with Sam Kass, former White House chef, policy strategist, and author of The Last Supper, to explore how food lies at the heart of the climate crisis and could be one of our most powerful solutions.

They dive into Sam’s journey from the kitchen to the West Wing, the climate warning hidden in our everyday ingredients, and what it will really take to build a food movement that has staying power. Sam shares behind-the-scenes stories from global climate summits, candid reflections on the battles in Washington, and sharp insights into how culture, policy, and the food industry intersect.

You’ll learn:

• Why climate change is already reshaping what we eat—from chocolate to rice
• How the “Last Supper” dinners helped world leaders feel the climate crisis
• What role corporations, consumers, and voters each play in transforming the system
• The surprising story behind McDonald’s regenerative beef initiative
• How small daily choices—like what’s on your plate—can add up to systemic change

Last week, we talked about SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and how it shows up in real people’s lives. This week, we zoom out to the bigger picture: the Farm Bill, the massive piece of legislation that shapes what gets grown, what’s conserved, and who can afford to eat.

In this solo episode, host Dana DiPrima unpacks how and why SNAP ended up inside the Farm Bill, who’s fighting to separate them, and what’s really at stake for both farmers and families if that happens. From coalition politics to sugar subsidies, she traces the threads that tie our plates to our policies — and asks a powerful question:

If we disconnect farm policy from food policy, are we merely deepening the same disconnection that already plagues our food culture?

What You’ll Learn

• The origin story of the “food + farm” marriage — and why it was intentional.
• How much of the Farm Bill actually funds nutrition programs (hint: about 75%).
• Who wants to separate SNAP and the Farm Bill — and why.
• What would happen to farmers and eaters if they split.
• Why SNAP’s connection to farm policy keeps both sides politically strong.
• The quiet overlap between USDA sugar supports and SNAP purchase rules.
• How America’s cultural disconnection from food is showing up on the policy stage.

Quick Facts

• SNAP participation (FY 2024): ≈ 41.7 million people per month (12.3 % of U.S.).
• Average benefit: ≈ $187 per person per month.
• Total cost: ≈ $100 billion.
• Farm Bill budget share: ≈ 75 % nutrition programs (USDA ERS / CBO).
• First combined food + farm bill: 1973 Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act.
• 2013 precedent: House briefly passed split bills before recombining.
• USDA pilots: Testing limits on sugary drink purchases with SNAP.

(Sources: USDA ERS, CBO, CRS Reports R48167 & R47055, USDA FNS data, Heritage Foundation policy briefs, HealthEatingResearch 2025 snapshot.)

Key Question

If we split SNAP from the Farm Bill, are we fixing inefficiency or widening a cultural and political gap between the people who grow our food and the people who eat it?

Quote to Remember

“Splitting the Farm Bill and SNAP might look tidy on paper, but symbolically it says: what farmers do has nothing to do with what families eat. And that’s not true, it never has been.”

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