The way we subsidize food makes it cheaper to go to McDonald's and get a hamburger than a salad, and that's insane. It's pure government policy.
While the surfeit of cheap calories that the U.S. food system has produced since the late 1970s may have taken food prices off the political agenda, this has come at a steep cost to public health.
With the growth of both urbanization and globalization, consumers are becoming increasingly disconnected from their food.
I love the accessibility that my great nation affords us, but it is virtually inescapable for most people in America, and many places abroad, to rely on inexpensive yet unhealthy meals as a main source of sustenance.
Really, the only way to face the biggest problems we have is for the government to change the way they subsidize food. The way we subsidize food makes it cheaper to go to McDonald's and get a hamburger than a salad, and that's insane.
Why are kids being inundated with food that is not good for them, when we're suffering from an obesity crisis? Is the U.S. government talking out of both sides of its mouth, promoting bad food while telling us not to eat it?
There is no typical day, not when there are so many people out there that I care about that can't access good food in their neighborhoods.
The rates of soda consumption in our poorest communities cannot be explained by individual consumer preferences alone, but rather are linked to broader issues of access and affordability of healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods, and to the marketing efforts of soda companies themselves.
Eating well is a class issue.
Across much of the developing world, by the time she is 12, a girl is tending house, cooking, cleaning. She eats what's left after the men and boys have eaten; she is less likely to be vaccinated, to see a doctor, to attend school.
One of the richest countries in the history of the world having communities where people have to go over half an hour to get to fresh produce and food is unacceptable.
The playing field is anything but level when you walk into the grocery store. So much government subsidy goes into processed foods. Even when you're well-meaning as a parent or a shopper for yourself, you can't help but be pulled toward the highly processed food.
The problem is not actual number of calories we are producing - we have food waste issues. The problem is industrial food.
Corn is an efficient way to get energy calories off the land and soybeans are an efficient way of getting protein off the land, so we've designed a food system that produces a lot of cheap corn and soybeans resulting in a lot of cheap fast food.
We have not reached the consensus that to eat is a basic human right. This is an ethical crisis. This is a crisis of faith.
