Speaker breaks down the politics of food

You might never look at grocery shopping the same way again after listening to Marion Nestle’s (pictured at right) hard-hitting speech, “Politics of Food: Personal Responsibility vs. Social Responsibility,” at 7 p.m. July 15 in Schaible Auditorium. In this free public event, Nestle will provide an in-depth analysis of the business of food in the United States, an industry that grossed nearly $900 billion in sales in 2000.

A prize-winning author of such books as Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (2002) and What to Eat (2006), Nestle focuses her research on how science and society influence dietary advice and practice. Her blog provides the latest information on food, nutrition, and the political aspects of food. In her work “Politics of Food,” Nestle offers a behind-the-scenes view of the advertising and marketing involved in the fierce competition for America’s food dollars; she tells us that, like manufacturing cigarettes or building weapons, making food is a very big and very expensive business with an intricate interplay between shareholders, government regulators, lobbyists, advertisers, and the public.

Editor of the 1988 Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health, Nestle got her start in education and research at the Department of Biology at Brandeis University. She has held positions with the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and the Department of Health and Human Services; been a member of the Federal Drug Administration Food Advisory Committee and Science Board, the USDA/DHHS Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and American Cancer Society committees; and is currently Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food and Studies, and Public Health, and professor of sociology at New York University. Her degrees include a PhD in molecular biology and a master's in public health nutrition, both from the University of California, Berkeley.

Nestle is able to share her expertise with Fairbanks at this free event thanks to the generous support of UAF Cooperative Extension and UAF Summer Sessions and Lifelong Learning. For more information call 474-7021, toll-free 866-404-7021, or e-mail summer@uaf.edu.