What better way to kick off the The Food Disruptors' first episode of 2019 than with a talk about (and tasting of) rum? More properly, rhum, as this spirit is denoted in its native land of the French West Indies.

Tristan Mermin, founder and CEO of Batiste Rhum, imports fermented and distilled cane sugar juice from a small plantation on Marie Galante, a tiny Caribbean island. This bulk liquid is finished in Marin County, California, where it is bottled as Batiste Rhum.

Known as rhum agricole, it is a distillate of unrefined sugar cane juice. This is an important and prized differentiation in the world of rhum and rum. The majority of rum marketed globally comes from fermented and distilled molasses, a byproduct of refining sugar. (Historically, this molasses byproduct spirit has been a way of reducing industrial food waste, but that's a story for another TFD episode.)

Tristan Mermin qualifies as a Food Disruptor because of the way he and his agricultural partner on Marie Galante execute their cane production, harvesting, processing, shipping, bottling, and distribution. Theirs is an eco-positive enterprise, dedicated to conserving soil and water, and keeping their operations and energy usage carbon-neutral. Check out the very informative 2-minute video on the Batiste website.

Given the destructive course of sugar and rum in global and American foodways (see TFD Episodes 007 ,  008 ,   and watch for more on the sugar and rum trade), particularly its bleak association with slavery and other forms of labor exploitation, it's worth repeating Tristan's description of the way he does business: "non-exploitive capitalism."

Are Batiste Rhum's eco-positive methods scalable? Alone, this company probably won't move the food system dial. But as a herald of the kind of clean product with a transparent production story that more and more consumers desire, it also acts as an influencer or tastemaker in American food culture. And it is just such capitalist acts that may accrete into a revamped food system, where everybody has access to good nutrition and our planet can heal.