Derek Thompson

As I've always said, I think there's a lot that Maha gets right, particularly when it comes to emphasizing the importance of diet, exercise, and a greater awareness of our food systems, what we put into our bodies.

But today's guests are not Maha.

Kevin Hall was a former top nutrition researcher at the NIH before he resigned after accusing RFK and the Department of Health and Human Services of censoring a report that questioned their description of ultra-processed foods.

You'll hear a bit more about why he left RFK's NIH in a few minutes.

Julia Belouz is a longtime nutrition and health journalist.

And together, they've written a new book called Food Intelligence, the science of how food both nourishes and harms us.

Today, we talk about the policy history of American food, going all the way back to the early 1900s, what it would take to actually fix our food supply, what Maha gets right and wrong about the science of food, and why more than anything,

What American food could use more of today is precisely more science.

I'm Derek Thompson.

This is Plain English.

Kevin Hall, welcome to the show.

Julia Beluz, welcome to the show.

I've been reporting on food and diet for a few years, and one thing that I keep hearing is, we have to fix the food supply.

We have to fix the food supply.

But I feel like very few people who actually say and repeat this over and over again articulate what they actually mean by this.

What is the food supply?

Who controls it?

Who regulates it?

What are the relevant laws and rules that we would have to change to fix it?

And so that's what I want to dig into with both of you today.