Food expert Marion Nestle to lecture March 2

"Food Politics: Personal Responsibility or Social Responsibility?" will be the topic when Professor Marion Nestle, noted food scholar and author, lectures Tuesday, March 2, at Skidmore.

Free and open to the public, the talk will begin at 7 p.m. in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall. Skidmore's Student Nutrition Action Council (SNAC) is sponsoring the talk.

Nestle, the Paulette Goddard Professor at New York University's Steinhardt School, is the former chair of NYU's Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health. Widely known through her books, numerous articles, and essays in both scholarly and mainstream media, as well many presentations and lectures, Nestle is an advocate for saner food and nutrition policies. Her focus is to communicate information about the links among agriculture, food, nutrition, and health to students, professionals, and the public.

Carly Goldstein, a Skidmore senior and co-president of SNAC, said that the group is "thrilled" to be hosting Nestle's talk. "She is an exemplary writer, and someone who is on top of the issues. We are excited and honored that she will be coming to Skidmore," Goldstein said. Among the topics that Goldstein hopes to hear Nestle address: the fight against childhood obesity, recently announced by First Lady Michelle Obama, and the proposed New York State soda tax.

A 2004 article in Time magazine called Nestle one of a small but influential group of "obesity warriors," who have "stepped out of the ivory tower of academe to challenge communities, industry, and government to do more to fight obesity and especially to prevent it from afflicting more children."

In an interview posted on the NYU web site, Nestle acknowledges that she has "a position of independence that is quite rare in this field. Because I have tenure, I can say what I think without fear of losing my job. And because of the kind of research I do, I don't need federal or private grants to survive. And because I've been on federal committees, I have had first-hand experience of how the system works. I understand that my position is privileged and unique, and that's why I feel responsible for doing this kind of work."

Her work has included teaching - in addition to her NYU appointment, she is also a visiting professor at Cornell University's Division of Nutritional Sciences. She is a prolific author, having written five books, with another, Feed Your Pet Right, due this year from Simon and Schuster, as well as essays and commentaries, reviews, and book chapters. She is a contributing columnist ("Food Matters") to the San Francisco Chronicle and has a blog.

In addition, she is a popular speaker who has lectured throughout the United States and abroad.

Nestle is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, where she received a bachelor's degree in bacteriology and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She also earned a Ph.D. degree in molecular biology and a master's degree in public health nutrition, both at Berkeley.