Episode Details

This episode is something a little different: a roundtable with three journalists who've been deep in this moment in food policy, talking frankly about what they're seeing as MAHA's promises meet the reality of governing in Washington.

Tal Kopan, deputy Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe, has been reporting on the politics and also the money behind MAHA. Deena Shanker covers food for Bloomberg Businessweek and recently wrote about MAHA's school lunch ambitions colliding with funding cuts. Lisa Held is a senior reporter at Civil Eats, where she runs the Food Policy Tracker and just finished a four-part investigative series on what USDA cuts have meant for small farms and local food systems.

We go behind the scenes on what it’s like to cover MAHA in this moment — and what comes next.

Highlights:

– How food dyes became the issue that pulled MAHA into the mainstream

– The political and financial infrastructure being built behind MAHA, and what it suggests about Kennedy's long-term ambitions

– Why MAHA's vision for school meals is running headlong into the administration's own budget cuts

– What USDA's cuts to local food programs mean for small farms, and why those cuts are seen as anti-MAHA

– The tension between MAHA as a federal policy driver versus MAHA as a growing grassroots movement at the state level

– What reporters are watching next: Iowa's governor's race, Vani Hari's next political move, and whether MAHA survives its own contradictions

Where to find our guests:

Tal Kopan's reporting at The Boston Globe | @TalKopan on X | @TalKopan on Bluesky

Deena Shanker's reporting at Bloomberg | @deenashanker.bsky.social on Bluesky | LinkedIn

Lisa Held's reporting at Civil Eats | @lisaelaineh on X | Civil Eats Food Policy Tracker | @lisaelaineh on Instagram

Mentioned in this episode:

Meet Tony Lyons, the man building RFK Jr.'s MAHA empire — Tal Kopan, The Boston Globe

Group that supports RFK Jr. wants to change media messages on public health — Tal Kopan, The Boston Globe

MAHA's Hopes for Healthier School Lunches Collide With Trump's Spending Cuts — Deena Shanker, Bloomberg

Losing Ground: How Trump Is Setting Back Local Food and Small Farms — Lisa Held, Civil Eats

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