*PREVIEW* The Fermentation Barge feat. Mattie Lubchansky and Jaya Saxena

Summary

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Podcast Overview

Episode: PREVIEW The Fermentation Barge
Date: April 24, 2026
Hosts/Guests: Regular TRASHFUTURE hosts, with guests Mattie Lubchansky and Jaya Saxena

This episode dives into the bizarre intersections of food moral panics, gender anxieties, and the political culture wars infecting American (and, by riff, British) food habits. The discussion drills into recent right-wing obsessions with the moral and cultural meanings of food—especially beef, soy, “gendered” edibles, and the performative moves by chains like Steak n Shake (“Chud Burger”) to virtue-signal via ingredients and kitchen appliances. Satire, genuine critique, and surreal humor all intermingle as the hosts and guests unpack “MAHA” (Make America Healthy Again) political coalitions and their fractures over food policy, pesticides, and raw milk.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Food, Gender Panics & “Gay-Food” Discourse

• Hormonal Food Myths:
  • Claims about foods with “gay-making” estrogens are lampooned, exposing beef as far more hormonally altered than foods like soy (00:00).
• Gendering of Foods:
  • The group highlights the performative gender fears (“men are eating soy and growing breasts”) that shape food discourse, from soup to bananas to hotdogs (00:14–01:57).
  • Jaya: “When I was like, a younger person, it was like, oh, you're gonna eat a banana in public that looks like you're sucking a dick. And it's like, it's a banana. Leave me alone.” (01:35)

2. MAHA Foods, Chains, and their Cynical Pandering

• Steak n Shake Goes Right-Wing:
  • Discussion of Steak n Shake’s rebranding as “Chud Burger,” offering “Trump burgers” and marketing “beef tallow” as a dog-whistle ingredient (02:42–03:42).
  • Nostalgia for weirder fascist food obsessions:
    Jaya: “I wish the fascists would go back to being into really esoteric, weird, magical, ephemeral, like the Vril Energies or something.” (03:49)
• Moral Panics over Ingredients (Tallow vs. Oil):
  • The group notes that the push toward “authentic” ingredients is mostly performative—product health and processing are largely unchanged (03:42–04:46).
• Absurd Executive Roles:
  • Joke about “Michael Bose” acting as Steak n Shake’s “chief Maha officer” (02:42).
• Theatrical Anti-Microwave Stance:
  • Removal of microwaves for “nutritional integrity”—ridiculed as pointless posturing (05:14–05:44).
  • Jaya: “Because of the perfidious gay waves that it injects into their foods.” (05:19)

3. Visual Satire: The MAHA Boardroom

• Uniformity and Masculinity:
  • A photo of board members dressed identically (jeans, vests) is likened to Ralph Steadman’s sheriff convention, underlining the homogeneity and performative masculinity at play (05:44–06:12).
  • Maha: “It looks like the Ralph Steadman illustration from Fear and Loathing where he sees the sheriff's convention. This is the ‘I was in fear for my life’ fit 100%.” (06:12)

4. Fractures in the “MAHA Coalition”

• Policy Contradictions:
  • Satirical but pointed discussion of political rifts: supporting Trump yet unhappy with his pesticide boosting, and the raw milk/anti-vax crowd divided over industrial agriculture (06:27–07:56).
  • Host: “…anytime you want to do something ridiculous, a fracture emerges in your coalition.” (06:27)
• Trad vs. Gym Bro vs. Alt-Right Food Politics:
  • The coalition is split among “nature boys,” gym bros, and Ballerina Farm trads, each with their own dietary dogmas (07:56–08:39).
  • Jaya: “It's like the back of the land Nazis, right? It's like nature boys versus Gym bro. You kinda don't care what they put in their body as long as it works.” (08:27)

5. The Glyphosate Paradox and Systemic Contradictions

• Pesticide Panic vs. Agribusiness Reality:
  • Glyphosate’s reality: bad not just for its “unnaturalness” but because its use is locked to corporate licensing (Monsanto), yet banning it would unravel the production of all their “trad” food faves (08:39–10:01).
  • Host: “You can't produce all that beef tallow and raw milk…without growing a huge amount of corn and soy. Right? You can't do it.” (07:56)
• Monsanto and Regulatory Dilemmas:
  • While critiquing anti-system “revolutionaries,” the hosts reflect on how criticizing glyphosate too hard can accidentally sound pro-Monsanto—a no-win bind of modern food politics (08:39–09:47).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Maha: “It's a bunch of weird little conspiracies... And that's why you're getting the gay thoughts when the most hormonally fucked food is beef.” (00:00)
• Guest Expert: “...the total fear that a food might change your body and in a way that you couldn't expect or that you didn't want, that everyone was just, like, losing their minds over it for a while.” (00:41)
• Jaya: “For further reading on this, check out Jaya's story. It's called ‘The Food that Makes yous Gay’… got nominated for a James. Weird work.” (01:06)
• Jaya (on traditions and bullying): “I would remember I got bullied because there was a photo of me, someone had of me eating a hot dog.” (01:51)
• Guest Expert (on Steak n Shake): “…they have a thing being like, the original Beef Tallow fries. The original Beef Tallow onion rings.” (03:38)
• Maha: “I wish the fascists would go back to being into really esoteric, weird, magical… like the Vril Energies or something.” (03:49)
• Host (on boardroom photo): “Hand in pockets, everywhere, hand in pockets.” (06:07)

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Timestamps for Noteworthy Segments

• 00:00–01:57: Food/gender conspiracies and personal anecdotes
• 02:42–03:42: Satirical breakdown of Steak n Shake’s MAHA rebrand
• 03:49–04:46: Discussion of fascist food obsessions and performative ingredient marketing
• 05:14–05:44: “No microwaves” and kitchen integrity as culture war performance
• 05:44–06:12: Visual gag: the sameness of the MAHA boardroom
• 06:27–07:56: Political rifts in the MAHA/right-wing food coalition
• 08:39–10:01: Glyphosate, Monsanto, and the paradoxes of food system change

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Conclusion

This episode blends satire and sharp critique to expose food as a battlefield for deep-seated anxieties about masculinity, purity, and control under late capitalism. The gang lampoons cynical corporate marketing, the incoherence of right-wing “food nationalism,” and the ironies at the heart of industrial agriculture, all while reminding us: if you want to eat soup in public, just do it.

Transcript

[Maha]

It's a bunch of weird little conspiracies like, oh, who knows what these food o crats are putting in? What kind of estrogens to make you gay. They're putting in the thing. And that's why you're getting the gay thoughts when the most hormonally fucked food is beef.

[Jaya]

Right?

[Maha]

By far.

[Guest Expert]

Well, this is also the classic thing again, of there are so many foods that are gendered and sexed in these ways. And this long history of. I'm sure everyone here has lived through the moral panic of men are eating soy and growing breasts. And it was not any sort of

[Maha]

if only would that it were that easy to achieve trap mode aesthetics.

[Guest Expert]

And it's like, right, absolutely. That was not the case. But it was just this, like, the total fear that a food might change your body and in a way that you couldn't expect or that you didn't want that. Everyone was just, like, losing their minds over it for a while. And I feel like it's the same thing, that it's like, oh, no, is a fruit loop gonna make you g. Cause it's pink. And so I would say.

[Jaya]

For further reading on this, check out Jaya's story. It's called the Food that Makes yous Gay. It's very good. You're not gonna plug it, but I'm gonna plug it for you. It's really, really good. It got nominated for a James. Weird work. It's really good.

[Guest Expert]

Thank you. Thank you. No, but it's also.

[Jaya]

It's about this exact thing.

[Guest Expert]

It's also really funny. Then it's like, not even the food itself, but there's like, all these Fox News commenters being like, why, as a man, would you eat soup in public? And it's a prison.

[Jaya]

This goes back to, I just wanna

[Host]

sip my gazpacho out of my thermos in the summer.

[Jaya]

But this is like. This is the thing where it's like, you know, like, it is considered bad or gay or whatever to like. But when I was like, a younger person, it was like, oh, you're gonna eat a banana in public that looks like you're sucking a dick. And it's like, it's a banana. Leave me alone.

[Host]

And that's just that this whole, like,

[Jaya]

I would remember I got bullied because there was a photo of me, someone had of me eating a hot dog.

[Host]

And it's like, oh, no.

[Jaya]

What?

[Maha]

I mean, in fairness. In fairness, did bullies turn out to be wrong about both of us being gay?

[Jaya]

Well, they were right in a way that they couldn't have predicted.

[Maha]

I think that, listen, if you have the kind of supposition that's proven correct, right.

[Jaya]

Is that can you be said to

[Maha]

have knowledge at that point, you know,

[Jaya]

close this without going over boys. But like,

[Host]

it's just like, oh, you're gay. And it's going to be really wonderful when you can live openly,

[Jaya]

like throwing.

[Guest Expert]

Wouldn't it be so cool if you could eat ice cream in public?

[Host]

I just feel so much yearning. But Maha in practice, tell me more about this, right? What else is thinking about that?

[Jaya]

I'm not going to stop. You have me on the show. I'm gonna do it.

[Host]

So Maha in practice, right?

[Jaya]

Yeah.

[Host]

Steak n Shake recently now has the Maha Burger Chud Burger. Yeah. Chuddburger has now employed. You can get a Trump burger and fries for 499@chudburger. Michael Bose is a former Kennedy staff from hhs is now Steak and Shakes first ever chief Maha office named after

[Maha]

the Latin for cow. Real commitment.

[Guest Expert]

It's so upsetting too, because it's just like Steak n Shakes existed for a long time and like, has been a very reliable and enjoyable, like specifically in the American Midwest chain. And so the fact that they've like really gone on it all in on this in a way that no other American chain has, it's just like, what are you doing? Why are you insisting on this? But now you go to their website and they have a thing being like, the original Beef Tallow fries. The original Beef Tallow onion rings.

[Maha]

Sort of trying to come up with a British sort of equivalence for this and thinking about something like, what if ASDA got radicalized?

[Jaya]

I wish the fascists would go back to being into really esoteric, weird, magical, ephemeral, like the Vril Energies or something.

[Maha]

Hey, if you want to eat Vril, there's Bovril.

[Jaya]

There is Bovril. That's it.

[Guest Expert]

If we go back to the original Kellog, like only eating flakes, otherwise you'll masturbate too much and which will also make you gay.

[Maha]

Why use Fiber Maxx?

[Jaya]

Why are you jacking up?

[Guest Expert]

So this is why fiber maxing is coming back. This is. They're going Kellogg with it. They're going Graham.

[Host]

So Michael Cowes has taken on this new executive role which is, quote, dedicated to advancing nutritional integrity, ingredient transparency and healthiness in our product. But again, because it's a moral panic around an ingredient which is oils versus Beef tallow, then nutritional integrity and ingredient transparency is just a cow shot full of antibiotics and Hormones.

[Guest Expert]

Right. And it's all, you know, you look at their burgers, it's like they all still have American cheese on them.

[Maha]

That's oil.

[Guest Expert]

That's oil. You know, they probably have like, you know, ultra processed buns full of preservatives. They sell milkshakes full of like Oreos and other processed candies, you know. Yeah. I feel like part of this is that, oh, maybe they're going to like grass fed beef. But yeah, it is such a, like pointing at one specific thing and not actually a holistic look at like what would be more nutritious and sustainable for people.

[Host]

They're also removing microwaves from their kitchens.

[Guest Expert]

Oh, for fuck's sake.

[Jaya]

Because of the perfidious gay waves that it injects into their foods.

[Host]

But the thing is, you have the notes here in front of you. This is who this is for.

[Guest Expert]

Yeah, it is so cynical. It is a. Removing microwaves from the like drive up plastic umbrella. Like, I don't know. Yeah, just drive through restaurant. I feel like is just not. That's the last step if that's where you're gonna go.

[Maha]

This is a fascinating image because everyone in it is an older white man and all of them, every single one is be jeansed.

[Host]

Yeah.

[Jaya]

We could put.

[Guest Expert]

Do they have the tallow jeans?

[Maha]

I think so. Those jeans, they're looking real heavy. They're all jean clad.

[Host]

Look a little closer.

[Jaya]

Wow.

[Guest Expert]

Oh, yeah.

[Jaya]

They're also all wearing like an identical outfit. It's all like zipper vest, dress shirt,

[Host]

hand in pockets, everywhere, hand in pockets.

[Jaya]

They all have the same exact shaved down horseshoe box.

[Maha]

It looks like the Ralph Steadman illustration from Fear and Loathing where he sees the sheriff's convention. This is the I was in fear for my life fit 100%. This is horrible.

[Jaya]

They should look into beef tallow and whether or not it makes you look like that.

[Host]

There's a longer quote that I think is worth reading to sort of round out this segment on the fractures in the MAHA coalition that are emerging. Cuz of course, anytime you want to do something ridiculous, a fracture emerges in your coalition. So the Trump administration faces this. From the Washington Post. The Trump administration faces a delicate balancing act. Standing by millions of MAHA supporters who helped reelect the president in 2024, but are now upset by Trump's orders to boost pesticide production while managing low support among the wider public for Kennedy's anti vaccine platform.

[Maha]

It's very funny that Trump just instinctively is like, I don't like mosquito goes to losers.

[Host]

The White House recently I mean it

[Jaya]

is like the one animal that they're like, these motherfuckers could go extinct. And they actually don't think the biome would change like at all, like even a little bit.

[Guest Expert]

We'd be fine.

[Jaya]

So someone like got to Trump, like you can actually, you can eliminate a

[Maha]

species, these loser bugs away from me.

[Host]

So. But that the. And the White House hosted the top

[Maha]

Ma during the end of the Apprentice, but it's a mosquito instead of Roy Cohn.

[Host]

The White House recently hosted top Maha advocates for listening on pesticides and other issues important to the movement. Maha advocates say they were happy the White House made a concerted effort to listen to them. And Republicans are expected to praise Kennedy's push for whole or raw milk and other changes to federal nutrition guidelines. But some have previously expressed concern over his push against pesticides. And that's just it, right? You can't produce all that beef tallow and raw milk and all that shit without growing a huge amount of corn and soy. Right? You can't do it.

[Guest Expert]

And this is also right, as you're saying with the fracture of that sort of triad of like trad culture, gymbro culture and like other politics is that each of those do have very distinct views on why they are like how they are approaching eating. And so if you have like, you know, sort of the trad movement, which is about like not having. Right. Any sort of pesticides or other processes, you know, and it's not just about eating beef and protein gains, then yeah, you're gonna get that split.

[Jaya]

It's like the back of the land Nazis, right? It's like nature boys versus Jim bro. You kinda don't care what they put in their body as long as it works.

[Guest Expert]

Right? Yeah. Versus, yeah. Like Ballerina Farm and the.

[Host]

I think the example here. Cause the specific thing they're talking about is glyphosate. Yeah, right. And glyphosate, it was Kennedy's original cause celeb as an environmental lawyer and he argues it causes cancer. And he's right, it did. And Monsanto actively covered up that it caused cancer. But the lawsuit was about the coverup.

[Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Host]

Because glyphosate is regulatable. And Monsanto tried to avoid regulation by covering all that up, but then once it's regulated, it's sort of. And this is one of the. You always end up talking about this when you're trying to discuss like smash the system. The anti system revolutionary. Right. You end up sounding like you're saying in Monsanto's great. Yeah, because it's not. I mean, Monsanto is like, awful.

[Maha]

Yeah.

[Jaya]

Horrible thinking about the end of Michael Clayton. But it's RFK confronting Tilly. I'm the guy you brought.

[Host]

The MAHA thing is about is glyphosate bad doesn't take that. It just says it's bad because it's unnatural or it's bad because, oh, it's poison. But it's like glyphosate bad is true, because to use it on your farm, you have to have glyphosate ready crops which are licensed by Monsanto.

[Guest Expert]

Right.

[Host]

You know, and so glyphosate, in addition to building huge amounts of agricultural surplus, does so in a way that makes Monsanto a lot of money. And if there are external harms about it, they want to conceal them.

[Maha]

Kind of uncomfortably literal to make a farm into a walled garden ecosystem.

[Host]

But also, like, you can't make the MAHA food system without it.