Edible Empire

This episode is a supplementary full interview with Professor Jennifer Clapp from Episode 2 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we explore how an increasingly monopolised system of multinational corporations operates as de facto states within the global food system, exercising power over land, labour, trade, and policy in ways that rival or exceed nation-states.
If empires once flew flags, today they file annual reports. This episode examines how large agrifood corporations increasingly function as sovereign actors within global food systems. From controlling vast transnational supply chains and shaping trade rules, to influencing national policy and disciplining labour across borders, corporations now wield powers historically associated with states. Focusing on agribusiness, food traders, and retailers, the episode asks how corporate concentration has reconfigured food imperialism, turning companies into the new “nations” of food empires, and what this means for accountability, democracy, and food sovereignty.
Professor Jennifer Clapp highlights how mega-mergers in the agricultural inputs sector allow a small cartel to exercise immense structural power, locking in an industrial model that dictates what society views as "normal" food practices, while trapping countries in the Global South in dependency loops that prioritise luxury exports over local food security. Despite the immense political and economic inertia behind this consolidation, we close with a message of hope, emphasising that because this extractive system was constructed by humans, it can be dismantled through active political engagement and collective action.
Resources from this interview:
https://uwaterloo.ca/scholar/jclapp/home
https://ipes-food.org/people/jennifer-clapp/
https://uwaterloo.ca/environment-resources-and-sustainability/profiles/jennifer-clapp
To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Professor Phil Howard from Episode 2 of the Edible Empire podcast series.
Here, we explore how an increasingly monopolised system of multinational corporations operates as de facto states within the global food system, exercising power over land, labour, trade, and policy in ways that rival or exceed nation-states.
If empires once flew flags, today they file annual reports. This episode examines how large agrifood corporations increasingly function as sovereign actors within global food systems. From controlling vast transnational supply chains and shaping trade rules, to influencing national policy and disciplining labour across borders, corporations now wield powers historically associated with states. Focusing on agribusiness, food traders, and retailers, the episode asks how corporate concentration has reconfigured food imperialism, turning companies into the new “nations” of food empires, and what this means for accountability, democracy, and food sovereignty.
Professor Phil Howard unpacks how intense corporate concentration has transformed global agriculture into a system dominated by a few powerful transnational firms that operate much like sovereign states. Using the analogy of an hourglass, Phil illustrates how millions of farmers and billions of consumers are squeezed through a dangerously narrow bottleneck controlled by these massive agribusinesses, which deploy specific power plays to manipulate trade rules, capture government subsidies, and avoid accountability for environmental and labour exploitation. Despite the immense political and economic inertia behind this consolidation, we close with a message of hope, emphasising that because this extractive system was constructed by humans, it can be dismantled through active political engagement and collective action.
Resources from this interview:
https://philhoward.net/ 
https://ipes-food.org/people/phil-howard/ 
To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Professor Harriet Friedmann from Episode 1 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we explore how global food systems are shaped by historical power structures and capitalist mechanisms that prioritise corporate profit and "cheap food" over the health of ecosystems and human communities.
Where does our food come from? Who works in the fields that produce our fruit and vegetables? Who is making profit from the food we eat? This episode sets the scene for the series, introducing the concept of food supply chains—the intricate trade routes that keep supermarket shelves stocked with produce all year round. But how did these global networks come to be? Tracing the history of our globalised food systems, we uncover why our food systems look the way they do today. 
Professor Harriet Friedmann begins by tracing how global power shifted from a British-led system to one dominated by the US dollar. She explains that this change transformed how the world eats, replacing diverse, sustainable local farming with industrial monocultures like wheat and palm oil. This shift prioritised international profit over local cultures and environmental health.
Resources from this interview:
https://harrietfriedmann.ca 
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Harriet-Friedmann
https://www.sociology.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/harriet-friedmann
To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This episode is a supplementary full interview with Professor Raj Patel from Episode 1 of the Edible Empire podcast series. Here, we explore how global food systems are shaped by historical power structures and capitalist mechanisms that prioritise corporate profit and "cheap food" over the health of ecosystems and human communities.
Where does our food come from? Who works in the fields that produce our fruit and vegetables? Who is making profit from the food we eat? This episode sets the scene for the series, introducing the concept of food supply chains—the intricate trade routes that keep supermarket shelves stocked with produce all year round. But how did these global networks come to be? Tracing the history of our globalised food systems, we uncover why our food systems look the way they do today. 
Professor Raj Patel exposes the deception of "cheap" food. He argues that low prices are only possible by pushing the true costs onto the planet and underpaid workers. According to Patel, the global food system isn't broken; it is designed to make hunger profitable. He concludes with a call for food sovereignty, demanding we return power to the people who actually grow and harvest our food.
Resources from this interview:
https://rajpatel.org/
https://www.antsandgrasshopper.org/
https://rajpatel.org/2009/10/27/stuffed-and-starved/
To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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This is the epilogue of a six-part series on food imperialism. Welcome to Edible Empire, a podcast by Planet Pulse Pacific about the hidden cost of our food.
This episode explores the systemic hidden costs of the global food system by reflecting on the core themes of the Edible Empire series, examining how modern corporate power and historical food imperialism drive global resource extraction and labour exploitation. Hosts Ben, Neal, and Emma look back across the series to dismantle the complex mechanisms that keep consumers blind to the true human and environmental price of the food on their plates.
Welcome to the epilogue episode of our podcast series. As we bring this journey to a close, we return to the questions that started it all: what are the true costs of our food, and who pays them? Can we imagine a fairer world where the food on our plates doesn’t cost the Earth?
This podcast series has traced the hidden links of food imperialism from New Zealand dairy backed by Western Saharan "blood phosphate" to West African palm oil on modern supermarket shelves. Today's food empire is driven by corporate power and annual reports rather than national flags, relying on a playbook of resource extraction and labour exploitation. A few massive multinational corporations dominate the global supply chain, creating an "hourglass squeeze" that exploits both producers and consumers whilst masking the true ecological and human costs of cheap, intensively produced food.
A fairer future demands that we challenge these corporate middlemen and rebuild transparency through concepts like food sovereignty, degrowth, and stronger protections for small-scale farmers and workers. This journey requires reclaiming our relationship with food, moving away from a system that treats the consumer as just another commodity. As several of our wonderful guests noted, our current food system was constructed by humans, meaning that we can be the ones who change it!
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Resources from this episode:
https://www.thesalmonandthetomato.org 
To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.

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