Edible Empire
Planet Pulse Pacific—your go-to podcast for conversations about people and planet—is proud to host a special series: Edible Empire.
As the climate and global health crises intensify, the need for meaningful change has never been more urgent. This six-episode series brings together leading voices from around the world to explore the concept of food imperialism, uncover the hidden social and environmental costs of what we eat, and examine how we can build a more just and sustainable food system.
Join your hosts, Ben Eitelberg and Emma Strutt, alongside special series co-host Dr Neal Haddaway, as they dive into the complex and often unseen world of food—how it is produced, traded, and consumed across the globe. Kelly Allum edits the series.
Edible Empire
Edible Empire: Deep roots—a history of oil palm
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This is episode 3 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.
Food isn’t just about taste—it’s power. This podcast explores how empires and corporations built control through agriculture, reshaping cultures and feeding some at the expense of others.
This episode traces the global impact of the palm oil industry from its indigenous roots to modern supply chains through three expert interviews.
Dr Jonathan Robins opens by detailing the pre-colonial history of oil palm in West Africa and explaining how European empires weaponised the crop to fuel the Industrial Revolution, establishing structural patterns that mirror today’s agribusiness models.
Dr Helena Varkkey then unpacks the political economy of Malaysian production, exposing how entrenched relationships between political elites and conglomerates shield the industry from regulation.
Farwiza Farhan brings a frontline conservation perspective from Indonesia, documenting how government-incentivised monoculture plantations drive deforestation, threaten endangered species, and violate Indigenous land rights.
Together, the experts critique the effectiveness of voluntary sustainability certification schemes like the RSPO, debate whether palm oil can ever be truly sustainable at scale, and highlight the efforts of local communities fighting back against corporate food imperialism.
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Resources from this episode:
- https://www.mtu.edu/social-sciences/department/faculty/robins/
- https://commoditiesofempire.org.uk/about/jonathan-robins/
- https://theconversation.com/profiles/jonathan-e-robins-1227071
- https://seapeat.wixsite.com/home
- https://cgsea.org/
- https://umexpert.um.edu.my/helenav
To view all the links to the websites and documents, visit the show notes on our website.
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