Podcast Review: A CRISPR Bite

The United States has an unfortunate relationship with food. I know this from experience, I lived in Spain for long enough to say that our relationship with food is vastly different. It was the first time I realized nutritional guidelines across the world were not the same and we know that it's not always based on health. Food is odd to think about. We need it, and yet we can have unhealthy relationships with it, and unsustainable practices when it comes to growing it.

Which is where CRISPR comes in. CRISPR is a gene-editing tool, and in A CRISPR Bite host, Dr Lauren Crossland-Marr takes a look at how this tool is changing food. In the first few episodes, we are taken through the history of GMOs and how we first reacted to them, and into some of the research is going. Where are the first CRISPR-edited foods being sold? How do people feel about them?

Episodes sit between 20 and 30 minutes for this interesting podcast. We have an engaging host, but a style that feels like this might be supplemental for a college course, rather than casual listening. It can be a podcast for casual listening, it’s easy enough to understand informationally and production-wise. I have a feeling that people listening to this podcast are already interested in where their food comes from, and what’s happening to it - rather than people stumbling upon this one for a first-time foray into the ethics and thoughts behind food. Especially because this comes from the more scientific side of questioning food, rather than the influencer “granola style” or “crunchy” Instagram reels of this conversation.

Which is to say, hey, maybe we should care more about what’s happening with our food on the scientific level - and maybe this podcast could be a part of figuring that out for a few of us. Is CRISPR the solution to making food that can be grown in more places, making food more nutrient-dense, or even adding extra compounds to help us destress? Some people are concerned because gene editing almost reflects what’s in nature but isn’t a one-to-one comparison for natural evolution. It’s humans, instead of making drastic changes to an industrialized system for food, making drastic changes to the very genetics of food. It feels weird, but not always bad. It could be a multi-pronged attack, or might it not be?

Listen to A CRISPR Bite to make your own assumptions. Dr Lauren Crossland-Marr helps us sink through these questions in a way that lets us make our own assumptions. This is one of those podcasts you might find if you use your podcatcher almost like a search engine, which I really think you should try. You never know what you might find!

Listen to A CRISPR Bite Here

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