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About

A platform for the people who actually do this every day.

It started with a single podcast and a personal health story. Fourteen years in, we are a network of shows, a business directory, a nonprofit, and a community, all built on the same belief: that plant-based living should feel honest, doable, and genuinely human.

Our mission

Make plant-based living practical, supportive, and impossible to ignore.

We connect people, creators, and mission-driven organizations through podcasts, resources, events, and collaborations that promote health, sustainability, and compassionate choices.

Our north star is simple: more plates with more plants on them, more often, in more households, without lectures, gatekeeping, or perfectionism.

Why

Because individuals, families, and the planet are healthier when we eat closer to the ground.

How

By sharing knowledge, lived experience, and conversations people actually want to listen to.

What

Long-running podcasts, supportive communities, expert-led resources, and partner organizations that move the work forward.

Our story

Fourteen years in the making.

  1. 2011

    Bryan founds Real Men Eat Plants after a personal health turnaround inspired by Forks Over Knives.

  2. 2018

    The original podcast launches and quickly becomes one of the longest-running plant-based shows on the air.

  3. 2023

    Plant Based On Fire and The Glen Merzer Show join the network. Sister projects begin to take shape.

  4. 2024

    Real People Eat Plants launches as the umbrella platform, broadening the audience well beyond the original show.

  5. 2025

    Six podcasts, daily content, a business directory, a nonprofit partner, and a coaching collective, all under one roof.

The team

The people behind the mics.

Photo of Bryan Dennstedt
Bryan Dennstedt
Founder

Two decades in IT, including senior roles at IBM and Xerox, then a personal health turnaround sparked by Forks Over Knives. Founded Real Men Eat Plants in 2011 and has spent the years since building a network of podcasts, communities, and businesses that make plant-based living more accessible.

Photo of Glen Merzer
Glen Merzer
Author and Host

Author of Food Is Climate, Own Your Health, and the novel Off the Reservation. Co-author of Mad Cowboy and No More Bull! with Howard Lyman, and Unprocessed and The Secrets to Ultimate Weight Loss with Chef AJ. Hosts The Glen Merzer Show on the network.

Want in?

Whether you are a guest, a partner, a podcaster, or just plant-curious, there is a door open for you.

Say hello Explore the network