Devon is the Vice President, Food Initiative, at the Rockefeller Foundation. Devon oversees the Good Food Strategy in the United States, working to advance a more nourishing, regenerative and equitable domestic food system. In this role, she collaborates with stakeholders across the food system to increase consumption of healthy, sustainably produced foods in underserved communities. On this episode of Food Lab Talk, Michiel speaks with Devon about the complexity of systems change, the importance of engaging with a variety of people and perspectives, and why nutrition education isn’t the only tool for shifting diets.
Devon Klatell: “I think we get a little lost thinking that we all can go from the same A to B when talking about shifting diets. I think nutrition education is a really important tool in shifting diets and it's not enough. So let's educate them, but let's also make sure that they can afford to buy the foods that you're recommending that they eat. Let's also make sure that those foods are available to them in a place that they can get to in their busy day. That they have the transportation to access. Let's make sure that they're culturally appropriate. Let's make sure that our policy framework supports growing and producing those foods just as much as it supports growing and producing other foods. One of the big mistakes we've made in the past around shifting diets is being overly focused on one solution.”
01:10 From late night food shows to shifting food systems
05:28 Why we need to talk about multiple food systems at different scales
07:35 Unintended consequences of food system complexities
09:19 Making opportunity universal and sustainable
11:12 How the health impacts of the food system carry a $1T price tag
14:32 Why we cannot ignore the scale of the problem
16:44 Shifting the focus of healthcare to nutrition
18:41 Personalizing the path to shift diets
21:13 Systems change as a “yes, and” exercise
22:46 Shifting diets vs shifting lifestyles
25:14 Balancing food as medicine and joy of food
27:59 Using healthcare resources to lower barriers to healthy eating
30:24 Theory of Change: How Rockefeller Foundation is making invisible problems visible
35:13 Why it's important to invite skeptics to your table
37:22 Takeaways for changemakers
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*The views expressed by the guests in this podcast don't necessarily represent the host’s views, nor those of his employer.
What is Food Lab Talk?
A better food system starts with one thing: vision. Food Lab Talk gives global food system changemakers a platform to articulate their vision for the future of food.
The series features interviews with inspiring individuals who are working on the frontlines of many of our most pressing food issues: reducing food loss and waste, enhancing food system transparency, facilitating shifts toward more balanced plant-forward diets, enabling informed individual choices for sustainable lifestyles, and accelerating the transition to a circular food economy.
Join Google’s Michiel Bakker to meet the leaders taking bold action and answering what each of us can do to create a better food system for us all.