The Power of the Plate | Zane Tickoo | TEDxHartford
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-0Be_cj1lo Video ID: m-0Be_cj1lo ============================================================ [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] 100,000 plates I did the math and I realized that if I eat three meals and one snack a day over the course of my entire life that's 100,000 plates of food and that's assuming I never go back for seconds here's one way to visualize my food Journey let's say this one paper plate represents my next meal and this pile of a thousand paper plates would feed me for about 9 months well 100,000 paper plates or the amount of food I would hope to consume in my entire lifetime would reach the top of the 22-story flat iron building in New York City now that's a lot of plates but what exactly fills each of those plates we all have the ability to decide what we put on our plates and eventually into our MS personally I've decided to make three very small yet highly impactful decisions that not only benefit myself but also the world around me I've always been fascinated by the food system and all its activities including producing processing Distributing and consuming foods not only does it imp impact my body but also the well-being of the communities environments and economies around me however there's a big problem while the industrial food system may be efficient it isn't truly effective while it turns over huge profits every single year it fails to create truly nutritious food for the people it's meant to serve so where do we see evidence of this well it's right there on our plates every single day 50 8% of the food that we eat comes from things like salty snacks sugary drinks and fried foods so-called Ultra processed products these foods are responsible for the deaths of 11 million people a year around the world more than any other risk factor including smoking cigarettes to put that in perspective that's one death every 3 seconds from poor diet or 39 since this talk has started so why don't we view Ultra processed foods as a public health threat similar to smoking cigarettes well we should and we can I'm sure many of you remember a time where it was totally normal to smoke indoors at work on planes and even in hospitals it wasn't that long ago but imagine if someone lit up a cigarette right here in this Auditorium what was once totally acceptable would now be seen as completely outrageous let's rewind a bit further and I promise it's relevant the 20th century has been known as the cigarette Century specifically the first half throughout the 1940s and 50s cigarettes were glamorized endlessly on TV shows and movies and promoted through colorful advertising the tobacco companies knew that they were selling addiction and they profited handsomely however in the 1960s the Surgeon General issued the first Public Health warnings about the dangers of cigarette use including addiction cancer and the risks of secondhand smoke from there sales slowly started to decline but the tobacco companies weren't going to stop in the 1980s they began to diversify buying up companies like Nabisco craft and general Foods there they use strategies like targeted advertising and cool Factor imagery to get kids addicted to Brands like Oreos and Lunchables sound familiar the same strategies that we're used to get are parents and grandparents addicted to smoking cigarettes were being used to get us addicted to ultra processed foods specifically the food industry found something called the Bliss point that perfect mix between sugar salt fat and other additives which Mak certain foods irresistible imagine that feeling of eating just one chip out of a bag and suddenly the entire bag is gone that's no accident those Foods were designed to keep you craving them there's a scientific reason why you can't eat just one now although the tobacco companies have since sold off their stakes in the food industry their legacy can still be seen to this day every time we reach for one of those convenience Foods we feel the impact of their calculated strategies on our lives however there's good news we can break free from this cycle by taking control of the of the food that we eat and choosing what we eat more mindfully few of our choices have as much impact on our lives as our food choices when I was just an infant barely able to speak I was diagnosed with a couple dozen life-threatening food allergies at times it was hard like when I would go to my friend's birthday party and I wouldn't be able to eat the pizza but when I could sit down with my family and share a meal that we could all enjoy food brought us together few of our choices have as much impact on our lives as our food choices my goal is to raise awareness about issues related to health and food and provide actionable solutions to help everyone take better control of their plates although I grew up in classrooms full of Lunchables I also grew up in essentially smokefree environments due to both increased public knowledge and legislation this shows that change is possible as consumers our decisions have the power to refine and reshape our food system that is is the power of the plate unfortunately our food system wasn't designed to give us an abundance of nutritious nutritious options did you know that 40% of the grocery sales in the United States come from just four major corporations now I'm sure you all understand the nutritional difference between drinking a Mountain Dew and eating a honeydew however go to any convenient store or popular restaurant chain and guess which is readily available you got it the cheap stuff that can be sold for a high markup great for the corporations not so good for the consumers of every dollar we spend in the supermarket just 15 cents goes to the farmer who grew our food the rest eaten up by marketing and processing fees now the journey our food takes well on average it travels 1,400 mil from the farm where it's grown to your plate to put that in perspective that's the distance from Fargo North Dakota to right here in Hartford Connecticut emphasizing efficiency over Effectiveness limits our food choices in other ways too today 75% of the food that we eat comes from just 12 plant and five animal species a significant decrease from the thousands that were once cultivated it's like walking into an ice cream store and the only flavors that are available are vanilla and chocolate sure they're great flavors but what happened to all the other options what happened to variety a lack of diversity isn't just boring but it's dangerous by relying on such a small number of crops to support our food supply we put the future of Agriculture at risk genetic diversity isn't just about this variety though it's about resilience with a broad pool of traits to choose from we can develop crops that are better adapted towards things like droughts floods and diseases making our food system better equipped to handle threats like climate change yet monocultural farming practices still dominate focusing on a few profitable crops and shrinking the genetic pool in the end genetic diversity isn't just about choice or variety but about survival so how do we Leverage The Power of the plate to overhaul this broken food system well Step One is by being even the smallest bit open to change by creating room on our plates for something we've never tried before we can enrich ourselves both culturally and nutritionally I'm talking micro adjustments the next time you're in your local supermarket try a new fruit or vegetable you've never had before for example on a recent trip to an urban farm here in Connecticut I got a little bit adventurous and took home some Calo a leafy green with me to try now of course you don't have to go far to have this same experience the next time you're in your local supermarket explore new foods or better yet seek out your local International Grocery Store or Farm Stand be a food Explorer and give your local economy a boost at the same time step two is education which will keep us all better informed about the food that we eat many people aren't aware of just how processed so much of our food is fortunately food education's easy it can be as simple as Googling a new recipe reading the label on the back of a food item or the next time you go out to eat ordering something new and asking how it's prepared my own food education was very direct a couple years ago I worked as a farmand at Wakeman Town Farm in Westport Connecticut there I harvested livestock tended crops and helped run their local Farm Stand these experiences taught me valuable lessons about how our food is made and what goes into growing it in turn diversifying my plate along the way my favorite part was when people would visit the farm but of course not everybody can so I thought why not bring the Farms to them together with two local organizations the Green Village initiative and groundwork both based out of Bridgeport Connecticut a city better known for its industrial Heritage than its agriculture we built over a dozen garden beds across preschools in Bridgeport where we teach children important agricultural practices and habits and hope to instill in them a c curiosity for nutritious choices in the future now taking these initiatives Statewide I worked with the Kate Farm to school Institute a program which looks to share sustainable action plans throughout cafeterias classrooms and communities together we help school districts across the state better educate their students on the consumption and production of food I'm not advocating that we dismantle the global industrial food system I love being able to eat an apple out of season as I'm sure many of you do too as well as bananas mangoes and other fruits however in order to make our food system truly effective rather than just efficient we need step three Buy Local grow local and vote with your wallet working with the State Department of Agriculture I've been interviewing local restaurant owners whose Cuisines range from Indonesian to American together we hope to identify considerations which will help these businesses purchase more Connecticut produce economically we know that by supporting local businesses we keep money circulating within our communities by supporting these Farms we can inject billions of dollars back into our economies and create jobs along the way it's crucial that our elected officials know that our plates are a priority right now over 20 million Americans live in food deserts relying on cheap fast foods to support their needs rather than truly healthy alternatives these Americans were the focus of Connecticut house bill 05003 which looks to expand snap or food stamp participation to new mothers children and the elderly with low income the bill provides better access to over a 100 farmers markets across the state and the fresh produce provided in it as an intern with Connecticut state representative Jamie Foster I helped support her work on this bill which looked at improve security and access for everyone everyone includes those in urban areas especially lowincome neighborhoods who typically struggle to gain access to the food that they truly need fortunately strategies like Urban gardening and Community farming can help alleviate these burdens strengthening Community bonds transforming neighborhoods and improving food security along the way I would love for you all to understand and that we each have the power to change the food system that we depend on and it takes keeping these three simple steps in mind one be a food Explorer and keep your plates diverse two be curious and stay informed about the food that you eat and three vote with your wallet spending where it benefits your mind your body and your soul the most to make the world a better place we don't have to change all 100,000 plates today it starts with just one plate one meal and one decision that's the power of the plate and it's a power that we all have bone appetite [Applause]