Updated June 17, 2015
Marion Nestle, was a recent guest speaker at the McDougall Advanced Study Weekend in Santa Rosa, CA.
Marion Nestle is a consumer advocate, nutritionist, award-winning author, and academic who specializes in the politics of food and dietary choice. Her research examines scientific, economic, and social influences on food choice and obesity, with an emphasis on the influence of food industry marketing. Her books explore issues like the effects of food production on dietary intake, food safety, and access to food and nutrition. She is the author of the classic Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, now in its third edition. In 2003, Food Politics won awards from the Association of American Publishers, the James Beard Foundation, and World Hunger Year. Her second book, Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety won the Steinhardt School of Education’s Griffiths Research Award in 2004. Dr. Nestle’s book, What to Eat was named as one of Amazon’s top ten books of 2006 and a “Must Read” by Eating Well magazine; it also won the Better Life Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the James Beard Foundation book award for best food reference in 2007. She has also written; Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine, a book about food safety, and Feed Your Pet Right, co-authored with Malden Nesheim. Why Calories Count: from Science to Politics, also with Malden Nesheim, won book of the year from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) in 2012. Her most recent book,, Eat, Drink, Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Food Politics also won an IACP book award in 2014.