Marketumbrella.org teamed with the LSU Health Sciences Center to bring Marion Nestle, Ph.D., to speak at the university's "Moments in Leadership" lecture series in New Orleans on Feb. 18.
Nestle's topic? Taking a pulse on the food revolution - how we got here, and what we can do to make healthier choices. (After the lecture, I took lunch at the cafeteria in the LSU School of Public Health. See what I ate, and how much it cost, here.)
The high points of Dr. Nestle's talk:
On food insecurity: "With so many job losses, food pantries aren't adequate to keep up with demand," Nestle says. "We subsidize processed foods, not fresh fruits and vegetables. The relative cost of fruits and vegetables has risen 40% in last 20 years."
On obesity: "The available calories per person rose in the early 1980s with the change in agricultural policy," Nestles says. "Farmers were encouraged to grow as much food as possible. Where the number of calories in the U.S. food supply was 3,200 calories a day per capita in the 1980s, now it's 4,000 calories a day, including for babies. That's the amount [of calories] that are available."
On food marketing: Food companies offer larger portions, Nestle says. (An 8-ounce soda has about 100 calories; the 64-ounce "supersized" version packs about 800 calories.) The companies also put food "where it wasn't okay before," Nestle says, as in bookstores and in school vending machines. And they lowered their prices. "It's hard to argue against lower prices for food in this economy," Nestle acknowledges. "You can go into McDonald's with $5 and get 5 burgers, or 1 salad. That's agricultural policy at work."
How food companies fought back against obesity charges: With the self-created Smart Choices program; by adding Omega-3's to peanut butter, mayo, even cookies; with sugary cereal makers adding fiber and claiming their product boosted immunity. "It's a philosophical question," Nestle says. "Is a better-for-you processed food a good choice? I don't think so."
Marketing to kids: Nestle cites brand loyalty, the pester factor, and the notion of kids' foods as ways that companies sell to children. "It bothers me that kids are supposed to eat kids' food, not 'boring' adult food," Nestle says. "It shifts the responsibility of what to eat from the parent to the child. It undermines parental authority."
On food safety: "Current food safety laws were passed in 1906," Nestle says. She read off the "enormous number" of recalls for spinach, pet food, tomatoes, peanut butter, cookie dough, pistachios, ground beef, salami, and jalapeño peppers. What to do? Nestle advocates one agency overseeing all foods, encourages farm to table eating, and more regulations, testing, inspection and enforcement.
On today's food revolution: Nestle says that's today's social movement is about food - locavore, slow food, organic. It's gone mainstream by coverage in books, newspapers, and popular documentaries. She wants to see a revamped Farm Bill that, for one, subsidizes organic food. "Food production is about growing democracy," Nestle says. "That's community building. If you vote with your fork, you can get it done."
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Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and Professor of Sociology at New York University. Her degrees include a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition, both from the University of California, Berkeley. Her newest book, "Pet Food Politics", comes out May 11. Visit her website here.
A chance meeting at the Crescent City Farmers' Market between Richard McCarthy, executive director of MarketUmbrella.org, and Charles Brown, M.D., professor of Public Health at LSU Health Sciences Center, began the partnership that could expand into a specialized college course, or practicum, for LSU students later this year.
To learn about Market Umbrella, or see the schedule of local Crescent City Farmers' Markets, go here.
Louisiana State University's Health Sciences Center in the School of Public Health is located at 1615 Poydras St. (504) 568.5700.
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