Podcast
A Pragmatic Guide to a Better Food System with Sam Kass
The S2G Podcast • Ep. 24
A Pragmatic Guide to a Better Food System with Sam Kass
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How to describe 
Sam Kass? He’s a Michelin-star restaurant-trained chef, a White House Senior Policy Advisor, an investor, an author, and that’s just the shortlist. We’re always talking about bringing industry-spanning stakeholders together, and when it comes to the food system, Sam has sat at so many of those tables. He brings this holistic perspective grounded in pragmatism and cautious optimism to everything he does — including this wide-ranging, eye-opening conversation.
In this episode, Chuck Templeton chats with Sam about his unusual career arc, his moment of nutritional revelation as a young chef, how he went from cooking for the Obamas to a Senior Policy Advisor, the reality check you get from working in policy, why there is so much opportunity in the food and ag sector, what a Thanksgiving version of a Last Supper might look like, and how we all can make simple and smart food choices.
Key Takeaways
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Sam highlights how making better food choices can profoundly impact our health and that of the planet. He also offers advice on the decisions that can have the biggest effect on both of those outcomes.
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For Sam, working in policy was a major awakening as to what it takes to move the needle. It can be easy to critique the system, but to actually change it, you have to root yourself in reality and work from there.
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Sam emphasizes that while the agricultural sector is the second biggest driver of emissions, it also has an immense capacity to store carbon. This leaves us with an incredible opportunity to make food choices and utilize technologies that turn agriculture from a climate liability into a critical tool.
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According to Sam, making buying decisions based on market attributes sends important market signals both to companies and to policymakers that this is what consumers care about. Even if we don’t have the ability right now to assess every environmental claim a company makes, thoughtful buying decisions are still a key first step.
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Sam Shares how we can model a Thanksgiving Dinner around his Last Supper concept, using a meal to highlight foods that are in danger of climate change and foods that can boost climate resilience.
