Marion Nestle says food and politics are now inseparable. When she wrote Food Politics in 2002, people asked what food had to do with politics; “Nobody asks me that anymore,” she says. Nestle is alarmed by recent efforts in the Trump administration to withhold SNAP benefits from millions — a move that exposed how fragile many households’ access to food is. “We have 42 million people in this country — 16 million of them children — who can’t rely on a consistent source of food from day to day and have to depend on a government program that provides them with benefits that really don’t cover their food needs, only cover part of their food needs,” she says.
Decades of studying the food industry give Nestle a clear view of why food has become hard to afford, including the role of supermarkets. “The purpose of a supermarket is to sell as much food as possible to as many people as possible, as often as possible at as higher prices they can get away with,” she says. Product placement is strategic: items at eye level, on end caps or at checkout are there because companies paid for those positions. Supermarkets earn much of their money from slotting fees, which can be thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, keeping small producers out.
Nestle’s 2006 book What to Eat guided consumers through supermarkets and exposed how marketing and policy shape choices. Her new edition, What to Eat Now, updates that field guide for 2025. She recommends a “triple duty” diet to help prevent hunger, obesity and climate change: “Eat real food, processed as little as possible, with a big emphasis on plants.”
On supermarkets and product placement
The more products you see, the more you buy. Products placed in prominent spots are there because they are profitable and because manufacturers pay for those placements. That system sidelines small producers and pushes highly processed, high-margin foods.
On dollar stores
Dollar stores expanded into food by selling popular ultra-processed items: chips, sugar-sweetened cereals and other junk foods. They carry a few low-quality produce items mainly to meet SNAP stocking requirements. During the pandemic they proliferated, undercut local stores and became ubiquitous in neighborhoods when larger grocers closed. “Price is an enormous issue,” Nestle says: stores like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods require affluent shoppers nearby to survive, so as big grocers left inner-city neighborhoods, dollar stores moved in with cheaper, lower-quality options.
On food waste and subsidies
The U.S. food system produces roughly 4,000 calories per person per day — about twice what the population needs — so waste is built into the system. Agricultural subsidies encourage overproduction because payments are tied to volume, not need, which contributes to both waste and environmental damage.
On Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the MAHA report
Nestle was initially hopeful when RFK Jr. was appointed and spoke about removing toxins from the food supply, addressing ultra-processed foods, and improving children’s health. The first Make America Healthy Again report sounded promising, but subsequent reports backed off many of those priorities. “I was very hopeful… This is very exciting,” she recalls, but she was disappointed when the agenda softened.
On why the food system needs a revolution
Nestle argues for broad systemic change: transform agricultural production to prioritize food for people instead of animals and fuel; change electoral politics to elect officials who prioritize public health over corporate interests; and reform the economy so corporations valued for social and public-health commitments are favored by Wall Street. These are radical ideas today, but she insists advocacy is necessary: “If you don’t do it, who will?”
She emphasizes that individual shopping choices are constrained by a system designed to promote the most profitable foods, regardless of health or environmental effects. That’s why collective action matters: join organizations, set goals, and work with others to push for a better food system. Sometimes advocacy yields unexpected progress, she says.
Nestle reiterates the triple-duty dietary advice for individuals as well as policy makers: prioritize real, minimally processed foods with an emphasis on plants to address hunger, obesity and climate change.
Therese Madden and Anna Bauman produced and edited the interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Meghan Sullivan adapted it for the web.
