On a special edition of The Main Course, Patrick Martins sits down with food titan Michel Nischan to celebrate his week as guest editor on Food Republic. Tune in to hear a spirited conversation about our food system and the various ways in which we can improve it. Should Wall-Mart be criticized or embraced for going green? How can subsidies be re purposed to promote local and fresh produce? Find out some of the sustainable companies and restaurants that inspire Michel and learn more about everything from Victory Gardens to the role shareholders play in sustainable food. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.

"A lot of subsidies that have been given to processed foods give the products an unfair price advantage which is why you can buy fast food much more inexpensively than fresh produce, which we should have 5 servings of a day."

"In 1949, at least half of the fresh food consumed in the United States came from victory gardens. Then it became more convenient to buy from supermarkets."

"The only way to get returns at the level shareholders expect is to drive down the cost of goods and labor."

"I'm not freaked out Wall Mart saying they want to go green. I'm cautious, but if they put 1-2 million dollars a year into food access issues and trying to make local more affordable you have keep an eye on it."

--Michel Nischan of Wholesome Wave on The Main Course

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Justin Warner, Pabulum Director of Do or Dine, an “American Izakaya” restaurant in Bed-Stuy, comes to the show to wax poetic about “haute munchies”, and literally rap about wine (eg Chateauneuf du Pape to Snoop Dogg’s Drop It Like It’s Hot, Alsace to Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind). This episode is sponsored by

Finger On The Pulse are joined by AC Slater & Phillip Gilmour.