Episode 11: Joan Gussow

Evolutionaries

Joan Gussow is a professor, author, food policy expert, environmentalist and gardener. Hailed as the matriarch of the eat-locally-think-globally food movement, Joan Gussow is Professor emerita, and former chair of the Nutrition Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she has been a long-time analyst and critic of the U.S. food system. Joan is the author of numerous books, and she has delivered thousands of lectures, speeches and testimonies. A former art researcher at Time Magazine, Joan is now a celebrated homesteader, and currently lives and grows organic produce on the West Bank of the Hudson River. Her passion for speaking truth to power paved the way for today’s radical farmers, chefs, and those fighting for a just food system. Joan was born in 1928 in Alhambra, CA, and graduated in 1950 from Pomona College in Claremont, CA, majoring in Biology, before she landed a job at Time Magazine as a researcher. Tune-in to this week’s episode of Evolutionaries to hear from such an influential leader in the food movement, and make a difference today.

“I feel very touched that when I first came up with the notion of eating locally, I came to that conclusion on a purely theoretical basis. But it’s accepted now. There’s been a huge change.” [1:07]

“The biggest difference I noticed over the years – that message of Do For Yourself was really really big.” [17:30]

— Joan Gussow on Evolutionaries