Why Nutrition Isn’t That Complicated: A Conversation with Marion Nestle, Part 1

What a Cigarette Conference Revealed About Food—and How Marketing Shapes What We Believe

Marion Nestle hardly needs an introduction, at least not in the circles where people debate things like menu labeling and industry-funded studies. She’s a professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health; an outspoken force in food policy; a prolific newsletter writer, and the author of seventeen books—many of which have shaped how most of us think and teach about food.

I was lucky enough to study in the department she led at NYU, where her work nudged me toward the career I have now. These days, I get to call her a friend and informal mentor. (Her subscribing to Fed remains one of the highest compliments of my career.) We often exchange thoughts about the never-ending game of nutrition whack-a-mole: that strange cultural moment where a fundamentally boring, evidence-based field keeps getting upstaged by people who’ve never cracked open a metabolism textbook.

So when the chance came to sit down with Marion to talk about her new book, What To Eat Now, plus a handful of timely top…