“Every act of eating involves some element of choice.”

Every day people around the world go to the store to purchase food and then sit down to a meal with their families. The meal may include bread made with wheat from Peru, salad with lettuce from California, and beef from Australia. All of these products end up on our plates through a vast interconnected global supply chain. While the supply chain creates a large number of food choices in wealthier countries, it does not always produce more nutritious food or get food to those in dire need.

In Episode 6 of Better Food. Better World., Elizabeth Nyamayaro is joined by WFP Director of Supply Chain Operations Division, Alex Marinelli, food journalist Mark Bittman, Purnima Menon of IFPRI-New Delhi, and Yemeni Food Science & Nutrition Advocate, Esra Shaiban. They explore the supply chain’s connection to our food systems, look at who is affected by poor nutrition, and share what we can do to improve the quality of the food we consume. Elizabeth and her guests understand the heavy burden our world is facing and believe that we can choose to do food better.

Key Moments:

• 1:25 - In the introduction, Elizabeth asks everyday people from privileged parts of the world about their relationship to food.
• 2:27 - Alex Marinelli explains how the supply chain links to our food systems.
• 8:00 - Elizabeth continues to talk with people on the street about what food is for.
• 8:32 - Mark Bittman discusses how despite appearing broken, our food systems benefit corporate interests. 
• 12:14 - Elizabeth shares more from her interviews with people on the street reminiscing about food during their childhood.
• 13:34 - Purnima Menon centers food systems on people, especially the people most affected by poor diets — women and children.
• 22:25 - More voices from the street describing how they decide to eat.
• 23:20 - Esra Shaiban shares how we can improve the quality of food and add nutrition.
• 29:37 - Esra Shaiban, Alex Marinelli, and Elizabeth share their wishes for a world with better food.

Selected Links:

https://www.wfp.org/

Join the Conversation on Social Media:

#BetterFoodBetterWorld

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldFoodProgramme

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WFP

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/world-food-programme

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Worldfoodprogramme/

Connect with Elizabeth and Our Guests:

Elizabeth Nyamayaro

Humanitarian and author of ‘I am a Girl From Africa’, Elizabeth Nyamayaro is the Special Advisor for the UN World Food Programme. Over the past two decades, she has worked at the forefront of global development and has held leadership roles at the World Bank, World Health Organization, UNAIDS, UN Women, and Merck. Her track record building and leading public-private partnerships is a key asset to WFP as it advocates for global solidarity to end world hunger.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/enyamayaro

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enyamayaro/

Alex Marianelli  - WFP Director of Supply Chain Operations Division

With an expansive range of work experiences in humanitarian settings, spanning deep field operations to regional bureaux and headquarters, Alex Marianelli is responsible for the supply chain operations of the world’s largest humanitarian agency. He has led numerous emergency responses across natural disasters, conflicts and health emergencies. Mr. Marinelli has also used his expertise to work with national disaster management agencies and governments around the world.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alex-marianelli

Mark Bittman - The Bittman Project

Mark Bittman is an award winning journalist, best selling author and the star of four television series. A Special Advisor on Food Policy at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Bittman is the recipient of six James Beard Awards and an IACP Award. The former lead food writer at the New York Times, is also the founder of the Bittman Project. A group founded on the shared belief, “that food should be fair to people and animals, affordable for everyone, nutritious, and produced in a way that respects nature and the environment.”

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markbittman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bittman

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markbittman/

Purnima Menon - IFPRI-New Delhi

Based in New Delhi, India, Purnima Menon is a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. She is also the theme leader for South Asia Nutrition Programs in IFPRI’s Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division. In her work in India, Dr. Menon directs POSHAN (Partnerships and Opportunities to Strengthen and Harmonize Actions for Nutrition in India), an initiative to support more use of evidence for nutrition in India. In addition to her research, Dr. Menon co-convenes a global nutrition policy course with the Institute for Development Studies in the United Kingdom, teaching adaptations of the course in India as well. Dr. Menon has a PhD in International Nutrition from Cornell University and an MSc in Nutrition from the University of Delhi.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PMenonIFPRI

Esra Shaiban - Food Science & Nutrition Advocate from Yemen

Esra Shaiban is a graduate of the Food Science and Nutrition program at University Malaysia Sabah. Currently, working as a Quality Assurance professional in Turkey, she has been volunteering, primarily in Yemen since 2013. Driven by her interest in food security, Esra is a virtual volunteer for AIESEC, was a Continuous Professional Development Executive at HEYA 2020 and a Borneo Project participant. Shaiban is interested in educating people about food safety, food security, food labelling information, and customers’ rights pertaining to food production.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esra-shaiban/