By MEGGIE. I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In a boxing match, it’s always good to know about one’s opponent – and the same goes for animal agriculture’s opponents in the animal activist and vegan arenas, according to Lisa Katic, president of KConsulting, a company that specializes in food policy, communications and education in Washington, D.C.
She shared a bit about the key players to keep an eye out for, during the National Institute for Animal Agriculture annual meeting last week in Louisville, Ky.

In no particular order, but all equally worrisome to livestock production in the United States, Katic explained the biographies and agendas behind Neal Barnard, Kelly Brownell, Jeffrey Moussaief Masson, David Murphey, Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser and Alice Waters.

Katic said Barnard is founder of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and was at one point quoted in the Washington Post as saying that the pork ribs on his plate looked so much like human ribs, he couldn’t ever imagine eating them.
“He’s very much in favor of advancing vegetarian diets and a vegan lifestyle,” she added.

Brownell, possibly one of the most recognizable names for many at the annual meeting, was described as an active member and recognizable figure in the nutrition community.

“He’s really more of a psychologist than a physician,” said Katic. “His mantra revolves around the ‘Twinkie tax,’ where we would subsidize soft drinks and junk foods, deferring consumption to healthier options. He envisions putting the money from this venture into public education and in campaigns to aid in the fight against obesity.”

Masson carries a Ph.D. from Harvard University, which in turn grants him assumed credibility, according to Katic. “He is opposed to any form of animal exploitation and even questions the use of hearts of palm and maple syrup production as well as anything that harms any living thing,” she said.

Masson is well known for authoring such literature as The Face on Your Plate and The Truth About Food.

“He claims that it’s a myth that humans were created as hunters, and also that killing animals is contributing to global warming,” Katic added.

Murphey packed up and moved to the state of Iowa to help his sister several years ago on her small-scale hog farm, she explained. Today, he is the founder and director of Food Democracy Now!, with which he hopes to create a new food system to meet the changing needs of consumers that focuses on health, wellness and animal welfare.

“He is someone to watch,” Katic said.

Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University, is a big proponent of organic and sustainable food, she explained.
“One of her mantras is based on the obesity front, and she is well connected to Kelly Brownell,” Katic said. “She has said before that ‘agriculture is producing more food to get people to eat more (thus they become obese), causing them (agricultural producers) to make more money.’”

Pollan is taking on the issue of the food supply with two well-known books, Omnivores Dilemma and Indefensive Food.

“His mantra is ‘Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants,’” she detailed. “His view is that people should choose food over food-like substances and don’t eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. He is aggressively taking on the nutrition community.”

Schlosser is the author of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal and was instrumental in putting the movie Fast Food Nation together, according to Katic. “He is also in the midst of developing a book known as Best Food Nation for kids and hopes to develop a similar curriculum for teachers,” she added.

Waters is gaining prominence, explained Katic, and is best known for advancing farmers’ markets and organic agriculture. “The mayor of San Francisco was quoted as saying, ‘She has, I think, done more to change our eating habits for the better than anyone else in the U.S.,’” Katic said.

Waters is responsible for developing the Edible Schoolyard, a one-acre organic garden at an elementary school near Berkeley, Calif.
Another big opponent in the form of a documentary in development is Food, Inc., which carries strong support from many of the players mentioned above, according to Katic, and wants to affect and change food policy.

“The filmmaker Robert Kenner is said to be lifting the veil on the nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA,” said Katic, quoting movie reviews as well as the movie description itself.

“Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment,” she continued reading, and indicated the documentary is set to be released June 12.