Food Activism In the Digital Age with Anna Lappé

Future of Food - Let's Eat Better for Ourselves and the Planet

What does a food activist do? To answer the question, you need to look no further than Anna Lappé. She is the founder and director of Real Food Media, a collaborative initiative that catalyzes creative storytelling and media about food, farming, and sustainability. “We work with partners across the country to really elevate the solutions that we find out there that are really transforming the food system toward greater sustainability and equity, and then we help people understand what are the real impacts that we have to worry about it, about our current foods just don't why we need such transformation” she says.

In this episode, she discusses why the food choices that are good for your body are also good for the planet, why consumer demand for meat is constructed, and why cooking a good meal at home is a good idea.

I’m not so sure that food activism in the digital age is that much different than food activism at any other time. You know, I think we know how to make transformative change. And one of the best ways to do that is through organizing and through working in one’s own community and scaling that up. So that doesn’t really change that much in the digital age. I would say one of the ways in which activism is influenced by the digital age is unfortunately how this new era has really unleashed a phenomenon of evermore fake news of the proliferation of misinformation, and of the challenges of getting our story out. -- Anna Lappe´

Some of the food activists we are interviewing on this podcast are looking to tech and apps for solutions to hunger and food insecurity. Anna is looking to education and policy changes - but in ways that may surprise you. Extended show notes at http://futurefood.fm. Follow our journey on Instagram.