Supermarkets are, in effect, "ground zero" for our food decisions, and those decisions are not just financial ones. The question of what's for dinner raises important moral and environmental issues as well.
In this audio lecture, sponsored by the Stanford Ethics and Society Program, NYU professor and author Marion Nestle talks about the personal and social factors that influence our food choices. She considers the relationship of agriculture to food, nutrition, and health, and the role of corporations in bargaining to get particular—and not always healthy—foodstuffs on the shelves. Nestle cuts through confusing and contradictory nutrition advice posited by the experts to offer simple rules for making healthy and sustainable choices about eating.
Marion Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Heath at New York University, in the department she chaired from 1988 through 2003. Her degrees include a PhD in molecular biology and an MPH in public health nutrition, both from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on analysis of the scientific, social, cultural, and economic factors that influence the development, implementation, and acceptance of federal dietary guidance policies. She is the author of Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health and Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism, and co-editor of Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Food and Nutrition. Her latest book, What to Eat, was released in paperback in 2008.
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This free podcast is from our Stanford Discussions series.
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