Dan Barber loves a good vegetable as much as anyone, and he grows plenty of them on his farm outside New York City. But the award-winning locavore chef and restaurateur has a beef with vegetarians: He says they may be undermining food sustainability. 

In the latest episode of Conversations With Slate, Barber explains why vegetarians should consider eating meat and why farms that grow crops and raise livestock side by side are often better for the land and our food supply.

Here’s the first part of Barber’s interview, in which he explains why soil is the key to tasty food.  And you watch Barber answer Slate reader questions and explain away his temper in Part 2.