--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Host: Welcome back to Today Explained to kids. This one's for the children, adults if you're around. Break out the earmuffs. I'm going to hand it off to producers Kiara and Sarah, who may just be heading back to our favorite island.
--:-- Kiara: Support for Today Explained comes from Saks Fifth Avenue. Fall is here. Might be time to find some nice new pieces you can wear again and again. With Saks Fifth Avenue, it can be a breeze to shop for your personal style, like maybe a relaxed Prada blazer or Gucci loafers that are great for both work and the weekend.
--:-- Sarah: This is very Sean. This is very Sean-coded. Gucci loafers. Saks says Saks makes shopping feel totally customized to you, whether that's from an in-store stylist or a visit to Saks.com, where they can show you just what you want to see. They say they'll even let you know when arrivals from your favorite designers are in or when something you've been eyeing is back in stock.
--:-- Kiara: You can find inspiration for your personal style every day at Saks Fifth Avenue.
--:-- Sarah: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's try something a little different. Today! Explain! What?
--:-- Kiara: Today! Oh. Explain! Okay. Today! I get it. Explain! Today! Today! Explain. Explain. Today. Today. Explain.
--:-- Sarah: Sarah, you there?
--:-- Kiara: Hey, Kiara, come on in. I'm almost done making this guacamole for Izzy's party.
--:-- Sarah: Ugh. Did you read the part about bringing a vegan snack?
--:-- Kiara: Yeah. Guacamole is all fruits and veggies, so it's totally vegan. Nothing comes from animals.
--:-- Sarah: What are you bringing?
--:-- Kiara: Well, that's the thing. I wanted to bring my all-time favorite signature dish, my meat lover's nachos.
--:-- Sarah: I mean, they have everything. Gooey cheese, crispy chips, steak and sausage, and the world's best sour cream.
--:-- Kiara: Stop, I am drooling.
--:-- Sarah: Well, I have to stop, because it turns out that almost nothing about that is vegan. Not the cheese, not the sausage, not the steak, not the world's best sour cream. They all come from animals.
--:-- Kiara: So what I'm left with is plain chips.
--:-- Sarah: Ah, well, what if we went to the island of Explained again? Izzy told me they actually have a whole vegan community out there. Maybe we could find a recipe.
--:-- Kiara: That's not a bad idea.
--:-- Sarah: Do you know where the nearest portal is?
--:-- Kiara: Sure. I actually set one up near my computer. It is way more fun than looking stuff up.
--:-- Sarah: Wow, this farm is huge. Look at all those crops. And what is this? Giant tree?
--:-- Kiara: Oh, it's a beanstalk, actually. Like the fairy tale?
--:-- Sarah: Yeah, exactly like the fairy tale. And I think this is the plant-based farming community that Izzy was talking about. They're at the base of this giant plant, so they're called plant-based. Very literal.
--:-- Kiara: Nice. So should we talk to someone?
--:-- Sarah: Uh, all the farmers look pretty busy, but Izzy told me that if I ever came to visit, I should go up the beanstalk to talk to beans.
--:-- Kiara: Who or what is beans? Are beans?
--:-- Sarah: I don't know. I guess we'll find out.
--:-- Kiara: Do we have to climb all the way up? That's a long way.
--:-- Sarah: Nah, look. There's an elevator. This elevator moves fast.
--:-- Kiara: Oh my gosh, my ears are popping. Oh, wow. We are literally in the clouds right now.
--:-- Sarah: Can I really walk on them? I mean, I'm not falling through.
--:-- Kiara: Oh my gosh, what's that? Fi-fi-fo-fum.
--:-- Sarah: Uh, hello? We're looking for... beans?
--:-- Beans: Yes, that's me. I'm beans. This is my stock.
--:-- Kiara: Well, hi. I'm Kiara.
--:-- Sarah: Hi Mr. Beans.
--:-- Beans: I'm Mr. Beans. Just Beans is fine. Nice to meet you.
--:-- Kiara: Sorry, force of habit. What can I do for you?
--:-- Beans: Well, someone told us you were a good person to ask about plant-based eating.
--:-- Sarah: Oh, that's my all-time favorite subject.
--:-- Kiara: Let me sit down so I can see you better. Do you have time to hear a story?
--:-- Beans: Sure. Great. Settle in and get comfortable. You comfortable?
--:-- Kiara: It is like resting on clouds. Good.
--:-- Beans: So, my story starts when I was a tiny baby giant, only about the size of two houses stacked on top of each other. Even at that pipsqueak size, I was eating people whole. I loved the taste of people. Feeling a little less comfortable now.
--:-- Sarah: I loved their yummy little bones, and especially their feet. Feet are the most delicious part of a person. Okay, feeling a lot less comfortable.
--:-- Kiara: I got very big and very strong eating lots of humans. But then, one day, around the time that I was the size of an apartment building, a human named Jack climbed up my stock. It was right after I'd just had a big meal, so I was too full to eat him right away, and he explained that I was actually making a lot of people very, very unhappy. It turns out that people don't like it when you eat their feet, or really any part of them. It was very surprising.
--:-- Sarah: Mmm, yeah. Shocking.
--:-- Beans: Everything Jack said got me thinking. Maybe I didn't have to eat humans. Maybe I could eat other animals like cows and goats and chickens. That made Jack very happy, and he said that the people of Plant Base would raise some animals to feed me. That's nice of them.
--:-- Kiara: So that worked for a bit. But then I started thinking, again, even though these cows and goats and pigs can't talk like Jack can, maybe they don't like being eaten either.
--:-- Sarah: I told Jack how I felt, and we agreed it would be best if I stopped eating animals. So then, what did you eat?
--:-- Beans: Plants! So instead of growing food to feed animals and raising those animals to feed me, the farmers begin to use their land in a different way. They started growing plants to feed directly to me. And you can really survive on just plants?
--:-- Kiara: Oh, yes. There's so many different kinds. Carrots and spinach. Blueberries and pears. Sweet potatoes and beets. Oats and lentils. Mmm, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
--:-- Sarah: And there's another good reason I stopped eating animals. The burps and farts.
--:-- Kiara: Uh, excuse me, burps and farts?
--:-- Beans: Yes, burps and farts. You see, it turns out that cows burp and fart a lot. And their burps and farts contain methane, which is very bad for the planet. It goes into the atmosphere and traps lots of heat. More heat than we can handle. And that can throw the balance of nature out of whack.
--:-- Sarah: So, hold on. You realized animals might not like being eaten, and then you learned about the burps and farts, and you figured it would just be easier to eat plants?
--:-- Beans: Exactly! If I stopped eating meat or drinking milk, or eating cheese, it would make things a lot easier for the planet!
--:-- Kiara: Huh. Well, I'm not a giant like you, but I do eat meat a lot, and I love milk and butter. Is that bad? Should I stop?
--:-- Sarah: You can stop if you want to. But even just eating less meat or fewer dairy products can make a giant difference. Giant. Get it?
--:-- Kiara: If a lot of people change what they do it adds up.
--:-- Sarah: Okay got it. But now I kind of want to try eating more plant food. I just... My main issue is that I love food with meat and dairy in it. Like, my signature meat-lover's nachos dish is full of both. And this is what I'm struggling with. I'm supposed to bring a vegan dish to my friend Izzy's party. And I don't know how to replace this dish I love with something else.
--:-- Beans: Well, you should talk to the best cook I know, Witch. Uh, Witch what? No. No, her name is Witch. She also used to eat people, and especially children. But after the whole situation with Hansel and Gretel, we set her down and showed her the error of her ways. And now she's turned her gingerbread house into a vegan kitchen at the very edge of the village of Plant Base.
--:-- Kiara: Here, let me carry you down there. Hop into my hands.
--:-- Sarah: I, uh, here goes nothing, I guess.
--:-- Beans: Fee, fi, fo, fum. Eating people's really dumb. I used to grind their bones for bread. Now I'm grinding wheat instead. Fee-fi-fo-fum Eating people's really dumb I used to grind their bones for bread And now I'm grinding
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--:-- Host: Support for Today Explained comes from Built Rewards. These days, it seems like everybody has a rewards program. You swipe your card and you get one cent on the hundred dollars. But with your rent, frequently you just pay month after month. You never get anything from it, other than that roof over your head. Not anymore, says Built Rewards.
--:-- Kiara: Built Rewards says it lets you earn points on your rent. By paying rent through Built, they say you can earn flexible points that can be redeemed toward hundreds of hotels and airlines, perhaps a future rent payment, your next Lyft ride, and so much more.
--:-- Sarah: Your home isn't just where you sleep, it's your community, and Built wants you to go out and do things in the community. You can eat at your favorite local restaurants, then earn more points. You can get VIP treatment at certain fitness studios. You can enjoy exclusive experiences just for BILT members every month.
--:-- Kiara: When you're ready to travel, they say BILT points can be converted to miles or hotel points all around the world. You can earn points on rent and around your neighborhood wherever you call home by joining BILT.com slash explained.
--:-- Sarah: That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T dot com slash explained.
--:-- [Music transitions to a new segment]
--:-- Host: Looks like we're at the gingerbread house. Should we knock?
--:-- Kiara: I'm a little nervous. Come on, this place looks great. Look at all the gumdrops and candy decorations. It's super friendly.
--:-- Sarah: Yeah, that's what Hansel and Gretel thought, and then the witch literally tried to turn them into dinner.
--:-- Kiara: Hello? Oh, hi. I'm Kiara.
--:-- Witch: I'm Helen, but my friends call me witch. Welcome to the gingerbread house. How can I help you?
--:-- Kiara: I'm trying to figure out a plant-based dish I can bring to my friend's party tonight.
--:-- Witch: Oh, then you've come to the perfect place. Come in, come in. See, lots of kids here
--:-- Sarah: Maybe she is saving them as a snack for later
--:-- Witch: As you can see, this is our test kitchen. All the kids in the community come here to work on their favorite plant-based and vegan recipes.
--:-- Kiara: Everyone, come here, tell our guests what your favorite dish is.
--:-- Witch: My favorite dish that is vegan is popcorn spiced apples. Garlic pita chips dipped in hummus. Tacos with cauliflower. Lemongrass curry with noodles. Salads and fruits and apricots. Breaded tofu sticks because, well, they're good. It's a great alternative to chicken. You can dip them in ketchup or the barbecue stuff. They taste a little bit like chicken, and you can make them yourself. And they're really good with rice and broccoli.
--:-- Sarah: Wow, all these dishes look amazing. Did you want to make one and take it to your party?
--:-- Kiara: I guess I just... I sad because I have this one signature dish that I always bring. It so good. Nachos with cheesy cheese, sour cream, bits of steak and sausage.
--:-- Witch: Hey, you could make a vegan version of your signature nachos. We could do that?
--:-- Sarah: Sure. Let's see.
--:-- Witch: Spippity spabbity spud. We'll start with some chips, same as you used to. And a little Shazam Seitan. We call this wheat meat. It's made from gluten. We'll use this to replace the ground beef. Then, Miskawizo Soy Chorizo. That takes care of the sausage bits. And, hmm, what else? There's the cheese and the sour cream. Let's try this. Abracadabra cashew. We'll blend those nuts up with a couple other things And there's your vegan sour cream. And let me just poke around in the fridge here
--:-- Kiara: Ah! I knew I had a bag of vegan cheddar cheese. This kind is made with coconut oil, tofu, and a few more ingredients. Let's give it a little zap to heat it up. Make it nice and melty. That should do it.
--:-- Sarah: Wait a second. Did you actually need magic to make any of that stuff appear?
--:-- Witch: Nah. A lot of grocery stores have vegan substitutes now, but I just thought it'd be more entertaining this way. It was.
--:-- Kiara: Well, give it a taste. Mmm, wow. Tastes pretty similar to the original. That's incredible. That's delicious.
--:-- Sarah: Well, don't eat it all here. You said you needed this dish for a party, right?
--:-- Kiara: Good point. Sarah, we should probably get going.
--:-- Sarah: There's a portal right outside underneath the red gumdrop. Thanks for all your help.
--:-- Witch: Hey, you two finally made it. What took you so long?
--:-- Kiara: Hi Izzy, sorry, I had to get my vegan dish together. My guacamole was already good to go.
--:-- Izzy: What do you mean you had to? Isn't this party fully vegan?
--:-- Sarah: I meant like if you had a vegan snack, that would be great. But I just, I wanted to make sure that there were vegan options available, but it wasn't like mandatory.
--:-- Kiara: Oh. But I really appreciate the effort. I mean, I love to skip meat whenever I can. And it's such a small thing I can do to help out the planet.
--:-- Izzy: Anyways, both of these dishes look great. Nachos and guac is a classic. Totally.
--:-- Sarah: Wait, you said this was vegan? I see sausage and cheese and stuff.
--:-- Kiara: I'll explain everything.
--:-- [Theme music fades in]
--:-- Host: This episode was produced by Kiara Powell, Byrd Pinkerton, and Noam Hassenfeld. The team at Transmitter Media includes Shashi Shmulevitz, Isabel Carter, Kiara Powell, Daphne Chen, and Sarah Nix. The team at Vox includes Noam Hassenfeld and Byrd Pinkerton. Our executive producers are Greta Cohn and Catherine Wells. Marilla Geish is our fact checker. Sophia Landman sound designed and mixed the series. Beans was played by Don McDonald. Special thanks to Liv Peterson, Junia Spellman, Lennox Conkling, Vivian Palmer, Asha Garces-Lopman, and Alex Bent. You can hear all of our episodes and find related activities at vox.com slash today dash explained dash two dash kids. Thank you.
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--:-- Host: Transparent advice. You can manage your wealth your way at Schwab. Visit schwab.com to learn more.
