Tanya Mosley

So how do we talk seriously about triple duty diets addressing food insecurity when the fundamental structure of our food system is designed to overproduce and waste food?

Is there a country or countries that have successfully implemented anything close to this triple-duty dietary approach?

There is something that you write about when it comes to ultra-processed foods that I was really surprised by, that some of those same products are flooding into rural areas where hunger is highest here in the United States, but also in parts of Africa and Western Asia and the Caribbean.

And they're pushed by these aggressive marketing tactics and these low-prices tactics.

Help us understand what's going on here.

Are wealthy nations essentially creating these foods, then exporting them to the world's poorest regions?

Let's take a short break.

If you're just joining us, my guest is Marion Nessel, a longtime food policy scholar and author of What to Eat Now.

We'll continue our conversation after a short break.

This is Fresh Air.

This is Fresh Air, and today we're talking to Marion Nessel, a molecular biologist turned food policy advocate whose research and writing have shaped how Americans think about nutrition, marketing, and the power structures of the food industry.

Have you done any research or study on the sophistication of marketing to children today?

I have a 12-year-old, so they don't watch TV.

They're not in the same ways that I used to be marketed as a young person.

It's not the same anymore.

But they have their favorite YouTube celebrities or their games, their video games and gamers.

And are there any regulations about those spaces?

And have you done any research about that type of marketing?

You know, I know people always ask you, what do you eat?

But I actually think I want to ask a different question because I know that you've said that you're a total foodie who views food as one of life's greatest pleasures.