Photo via Alexander Heffner
Tammy Baldwin and Alexander Heffner on "Breaking Bread with Alexander"
Tammy Baldwin and Alexander Heffner on "Breaking Bread with Alexander"
Tammy Baldwin looks entirely at home on the farm, Marieke Gouda in Thorp, Wis. She’s the guest in a new episode, debuting soon, of “Breaking Bread with Alexander,” a Bloomberg Originals production that combines two of life’s greatest pleasures, food and conversation.
The show has featured host Alexander Heffner (PBS’s “Open Mind”) sharing vegan chicken and waffles with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and cheeseburgers with Sen. John Thune (R-SD). On the upcoming episode called “Cheeseheads and Milkpeople,” Heffner and Baldwin go for cheese curds and mac’n’cheese, washed down with (what better) bottles of Spotted Cow.
The show begins with Heffner and Baldwin touring Marieke Gouda’s enormous milking barn, the creamery with its vats of brine and the warehouse with gouda wheels stacked to the sky before sitting down to talk in Marieke’s café.
Challenges for Farmers
Baldwin is sympathetic to the challenges confronting dairy farmers, including climate, federal policies (bad trade deals, tariff wars) and competition from vegan products. It “has to have cow in it to be called milk,” she says, adding that almond and oat beverages are fine—just don’t call them milk. Dairy’s nutritional value is different than nuts or grains. She promotes “methane capture,” including using cow-produced gas to generate electricity (the technology is developing) and additives to cow diets to reduce methane (kelp works).
Her conversation with Heffner ranges widely and encompasses making healthcare “affordable, accessible and available” to all Americans and the repercussions of the Dobbs decision. In wake of the Supreme Court ruling, it’s clear, Baldwin says, that reproductive rights are a healthcare issue.
Wisconsin is notoriously purple in complexion with statewide elections often decided by a few thousand votes. “I still see many opportunities for bipartisanship,” she insists, adding that the mainstream media does a better job at fanning division that reporting on consensus. She points to her encounters on the campaign trail with Trump-Baldwin voters. They are “both for buy America policies,” she was told.
The new season of “Breaking Bread with Alexander” is streaming at: bloomberg.com/originals.
