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Food History vs. Food Fiction

Dispelling Myths About Food

Leah McGrath RDN, LDNAmber Pankonin MS, RD, LMNT

Disclosures• No brand or corporate sponsors• Offered travel expenses to speak• Served on Academy Sponsorship Advisory Task Force• Currently serving on Academy panel for Agriculture and

Sustainability module development.• Member of the AND & NC Academy of Nutrition &

Dietetics, FCP DPG• Founder and Administrator of “Build Up Dietitians”

Food “Rules” - #Pollanated• Avoid foods containing HFCS.(Avoid food containing

ingredients no ordinary human would keep in their pantry)• Spend more, eat less.• Pay no heed to nutritional science or health claims on

packages.(Avoid foods with “lite”, “low-fat” or “non-fat” on label)

• Shop at famer’s markets• Eat foods that will eventually rot. • How you eat is as important as what you eat• Avoid products with more than 5 ingredients• Don’t eat anything your (great-great) great-grandmother

wouldn’t recognize as food

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Pollan-ism…#Pollanated• June 2006 (Time Magazine: “6 Rules for Eating

Wisely” “Don’t Eat Anything your Great-great-great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food”

• January 2007 (New York Times: “Unhappy Meals”) “Eat food…Don’t eat anything your Great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”

• April 2008 (NPR interview and The Omnivore’s Dilemma) “If your Great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize it as food, then neither should you.”

Appeal to Irrelevant Authority – “…appeal made to one who is not an expert on the issue at hand.”

My Great-Grandmother

What do you recognize? .• Tend garden

• Feed animals• Collect eggs (“harvesting” meat/chicken)• Salt/dry/smoke meats• Preserve fruits/vegetables• Milk cow• Separate milk• Churn butter• Roast and grind coffee beans for coffee• Build fire for stove with coals or wood• Prepare meal• Bake bread/biscuits• Retrieve and store food in root cellar or spring house• Get water from well or stream• Clean kitchen and wash dishes by hand• Wash clothes by hand, hang to dry

Total: 9+ hours

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Which of these do you think your great-grandmother

(late 19th century/early 20thce) would recognize as food? What do you recognize?

Banana• 1876 introduced to U.S at the Philadelphia Centennial

Expo• Wrapped in tin foil and sold for 10 cents each

(equivalent of $7.25) as a novelty item• Late 19th century – early 20th ce became more widely

available

Hummus

• Middle Eastern origin• 1960’s-1970’s Middle Eastern restaurants and immigration• Late 1980’s being sold commercially

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Kiwi

• Discovered in China known as Chinese Gooseberry• 1962 – California produce dealer started importing

Broccoli• Result of selective breeding from wild cabbage

plants ( not “natural”)• Cultivated starting in 1500’s.• First introduced as “Italian Asparagus” • Not widely known in U.S. until 1920’s.

Food and Appliance Milestones

• 1812 – First canning facility – New York• 1908 – Toasters available to purchase• 1913 – Dishwasher available to purchase• 1917 – Pasteurization of milk began• 1923 – Refrigerators available – sold for $450• 1930’s – Electric stove becomes widely available• 1940’s – Fortification of bread, mandatory

pasteurization of milk• 1950’s – Aseptic canning, tetra pak, frozen food• 1960’s- UHT milk• 1980’s – Plastic packaging• 1990’s – Organic foods, GMO

Bob Evans, 84 years old

“There is much greater variety available now and there’s just more food available. We can get anything. We don’t

have to eat apples all of the time in the fall. Besides that, we just have better medicines and medical care.”

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Top Consumer Fears (2016/2015)• Contamination by bacteria/germs:

79%/ 75%• Residues (pesticides/herbicides):

74%/71%• Antibiotics/Hormones used:

64%/60%• GMO: 54%/47%

Food fads and marketing terms • Clean Eating/Clean labels/Simple

ingredient list• Non-GMO• Organic• Sustainable• Cage-free/Free-range• No sugar added/sugar-freeAppeal to FEAR

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2005-2015 the Social Media Deluge Decade• 2006 - “the year of the social network”• 2006 - Facebook introduced newsfeed of friends’

activities and opened up to anyone – not just students• 2006 - Twitter debuts• 2005 – 30 minutes/day outside work on internet;• 2014 – 2 hrs 18 minutes/day outside work on internet• 2006 – 2.7 hrs/month on social network/media sites

2015 – 2.7 hrs/DAY on social network/media sites• # of people on social media sites increased “tenfold”• 65% of adults now use some form of social media

Disclosures: Amber Pankonin• Board Positions: President, Nebraska Academy of

Nutrition and Dietetics• Employment: Adjunct Instructor UNL, Self-employed

Nutrition Communications Consultant Stirlist.com• Clients/Affiliations: The Nebraska Soybean Board,

CommonGround Nebraska, KFOR Radio, Smart Chicken, Certified Piedmontese Beef, Midwest Dairy Association, Welch’s, The Calorie Control Council, USFRA, Monsanto

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How to engage efficiently & effectively

Who are we trying to reach?

How to engageStep 1: Listen for an opportunity.Step 2: Find the shared value. Step 3: Ask permission.Step 4: Share your story and the science.

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Listening• Recognize the emotion in the consumer’s

question or statement.

• Identify the real problem the consumer is trying to solve.

Responding• Ask permission to share more. • Respond by starting with emotion and

ending with logic/science. • Be likeable. • Direct them to other resources.

o Especially when you don’t have the answer.

Example…“I hear that farmers are giving chicken hormones and that’s why they are growing so big. I am concerned about feeding my children any poultry product because of the increased hormones.”

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Example…• Step 1: Listen for an opportunity. I commend the

great care you are giving to your family’s health and wellbeing. Like you, I care about the safety of the food I bring into the house for my family.

• Step 2: Find the Shared Value. In an uncertain world, there are many things parents can’t control. Providing enough food – especially safe food – is fundamental to feeling secure as a parent.

Example…• Step 3: Ask Permission. Would you be open to

hearing more information about this?• Step 4: Share your story and the science. The good

news is that in the US, we have the safest food supply in the world. The truth is no hormones have been allowed in poultry production for more than 50 years. Hormone use in poultry production was banned in the United States in the 1950s.

Online Conversations

• Don’t feed the trolls.• Posts can and probably will be taken out of

context. • Remember your audience!

Takeaways• Have confidence in your knowledge! • Registered Dietitians are on the front lines.

Take time to engage, educate and enlighten us!

• Expand your network and get out of your bubble!

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Thanks!

Questions?

Stay in touch.@LeahMcGrathRD

@RDamber