Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy
Meera & Ashok Vasudevan bring 50+ years of experience as leaders in the Plant-based & Natural Food industry. Their entrepreneurial journey continues with the recent acquisition of 2 heritage brands- Annapurna & Captain Cook
In this timely podcast series titled "Pay the farmer, Not the Pharmacy" they show you how to unleash the magic in your kitchen with evidence-based tips & tricks that improve digestion, enhance gut health, build immunity and provide simple solutions to affordable wellness. Pay the Farmer, Not the pharmacy. Brought to you by CSAW, the Centre for the Spread of Affordable Wellness.
Also, included are other talks, interviews and discussions of Ashok Vasudevan on a range of issues, not only related to food to wellness
Episodes
94 episodes
READ THE LABEL — EPISODE 3 OF 4
Food Additives: Banned There, Allowed HereSame chemical, same evidence, opposite verdicts — and the global safety vote that passed sixty-nine to sixty-seven.The same additive is illegal in one country and perfectly...
READ THE LABEL: EPISODE 2 OF 4
CODEX: The Committee That Feeds the WorldA committee in Rome decides what goes into your food — and it was never asked whether any of it makes you well.Last week we turned a packet over. This week we go to Rome — t...
READ THE LABEL — EPISODE 1 of 4
Food Labels: What’s Really in Your Food?The ice cream that wouldn’t melt — and the question nobody is asking about what you eat.Ashok bought an ice cream bar at a railway kiosk in Wales and made the mistake o...
WE ARE WHAT WE EAT— EPISODE 4 OF 4
The Kitchen and the Pivot: Pay the Farmer, Not the Pharmacy (We Are What We Eat, Part 4 of 4)The finale begins in the oldest wellness institution on earth: grandmother's kitchen. Turmeric, ferments, whole grains, seasonal vegetabl...
WE ARE WHAT WE EAT—EPISODE 3 OF 4
The Great Decoupling: Sixty Years, One Chart (We Are What We Eat, Part 3 of 4)At the heart of Ashok's Substack essay is a single chart: sixty years of food industry growth — revenue up ~26x, market value up ~100x since 1980 — draw...
WE ARE WHAT W EAT— EPISODE 2 OF 4
The Four Disorders: What Modern Food Does to Us (We Are What We Eat, Part 2 of 4)Obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, depression — four conditions that now define modern healthcare, each with a direct line to the plate. In Part...
WE ARE WHAT WE EAT: EPISODE 1 OF 4
The Promise: How Food Became an Industry (We Are What We Eat, Part 1 of 4)For 150 years, the food industry was one of civilization's great success stories. In Part 1 of this four-part series — based on Ashok's Substack essay "We A...
Cyclospora: Ep 2/2 A little "Heat" goes a long way
As always in this series, co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan pull up two chairs for a fireside chat — evidence-based, a little cheeky, and firmly in the kitchen, never the clinic. This is Part 2 of a two-part special.Part 1 left us with ...
Cyclospora: The Salad that bit back. Ep 1/2
As always in this series, co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan pull up two chairs for a fireside chat — evidence-based, a little cheeky, and firmly in the kitchen, never the clinic. This is Part 1 of a two-part special, timed to the 2026 Cyclospo...
Pharma, Food & the Fluent Consumer- Ep.4/4
We read our lunch like a lab report — and feel virtuous about a bar built in a factory while waving off dal and rice as “just carbs.” In the finale of “Off the Treadmill,” co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan take the third corner of the triangle...
Pharma, Food & the Fluent Consumer Ep.3/4
How many eggs are you allowed this week? Depends what year you ask. In Episode 3 of 4 in thos series co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan take the second corner of the triangle — the food industry — and the verdicts that flip a full 180 deg...
Pharma, Food & the Fluent Consumer Ep.2/4
In this episode 2/4, co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan pull up two chairs for a fireside chat — evidence-based, a little cheeky, and firmly in the kitchen, never the clinic.Medical thresholds move — and they almost always move in the di...
Pharma, Food & the Fluent Consumer Ep.1/4
As always, in this series too, co-hosts Ashok and Meera Vasudevan pull up two chairs for a fireside chat — evidence-based, a little cheeky, and firmly in the kitchen, never the clinic. This is Episode 1 of their four-part series adapted f...
You are Not That Busy— Ep 4/4 of the Series The Kitcehn Defence
When did we decide a manicure is self-care but cooking is a burden? In the finale of The Kitchen Defence, Ashok and Meera take apart the last excuse standing — 'I'm too busy' — with affection and a straight face. We prep our work wardrobes and ...
The Masterchefs—Ep 3/4 of the Series The Kitchen Defence
Before paracetamol, before antibiotics, there was the spice rack. In episode 3 of The Kitchen Defence, Ashok and Meera pay tribute to our grandmothers — the original MasterChefs who were also the original pharmacists. They ran farms, families a...
Sudoku with a Spatula— Ep 2/4 of the Series The Kitchen Defence
Turns out your stove is a gym for your brain. In episode 2 of The Kitchen Defence, Ashok and Meera dig into the real neuroscience of cooking — the studies where people who cooked literally improved their memory and executive function. It's plan...
The 27-Minute Problem— Episode 1/4 of the Series The Kitchen Defence
Cooking has shrunk to almost nothing. Americans now spend just 27 minutes a day on it — down from over an hour in the 1960s, and falling. We've quietly handed one of the most important things we do to somebody else. In that same window, obesity...
Ultra-Processed: The NOVA Test for What's Actually in Your Pantry
You've heard the phrase "ultra-processed foods" everywhere. The 2025 Lancet Series called them a global health threat. The wellness world treats UPF as the new villain. But most people still can't tell you what counts as ultra-processed and wha...
Inflammation: The Word Everyone Uses, Almost No One Defines
"Inflammation" is the word of the wellness decade. It's on supplement bottles, in podcast titles, and on the back of every functional drink. But ask ten people what it actually means, and you'll get ten different answers — most of them muddled ...
Seed Oils:The Villain Story That's Half True
The internet has decided seed oils are a public enemy. But is the panic warranted — or have the scholars dropped the scholarship in the bully pulpit?In this fireside chat, Ashok and Meera Vasudevan take the criticism seriously and
Eat Like Your Gut Is Listening
Eat Like Your Gut Is ListeningOver the last three episodes, we have made the case that the gut is the organ running the show. That your mood, your skin, your lungs, and your brain are all in conversation with your microbiome, ever...
The Rash, The Wheeze, and The Gut Nobody Checked
The Rash, The Wheeze, and The Gut Nobody CheckedThe eczema cream that works for a while and then stops. The inhaler that manages the wheeze but never quite resolves it. The acne that comes back every time you think you've cracked ...
Your Mood Is a Menu Problem
Your Mood Is a Menu ProblemYou wake up feeling flat. Or anxious. Or foggy in a way that no amount of sleep seems to fix. And the conventional answer — the one most of us eventually reach for — is a pill that adjusts the chemistry ...
Your Gut: The Organ Nobody Told You Was Running the Show
We live in an age of remarkable medical specialisation. Your breathing feels off — a pulmonologist brings expertise and care. Your digestion plays up, ulcers flare, reflux won't quit — a gastroenterologist knows exactly where to look. Your skin...
The magic of the Kitchen Pharmacy ( Bone Health) 8/8 Move Freely, Live Fully
There's a moment—maybe it's getting out of bed, climbing stairs, or reaching for something on a high shelf—when you realize your body doesn't move the way it used to. Knees creak. Backs ache. Joints complain. And suddenly, movement becomes nego...