Food Boot Camp

The Program

Journalists are covering food as never before, and to help explain the facts, MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Fellowships is offering a week-long course on some of the most important food-related issues.

Humans produce food in record abundance, and food in most places is more affordable than at any time in human history. Humans spend less of their time working to get food than ever before.

But our progress has brought us unexpected trouble. Obesity is on the rise; human diets have changed radically, not just in wealthy countries but around the world. Obesity and malnutrition now exist side by side. Farming has become an oil-intensive business and a significant contributor to the problems of climate change: the food system now uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy. And, at the same time, food has become a vehicle for disease—the number of outbreaks of foodborne disease is rising, and food is moving across borders at record rates.

The Boot Camp will teach the basics of the issues and address the underlying science and the overlying social, economic and political factors. And it will explore connections among the different issues. This will be an intensive course—all day, every day for a week—devoted primarily to discussions and lectures.

Some of the most knowledgeable researchers and leaders from universities, government and industry will teach in the workshop. You’ll also hear where to find the best sources of additional information and analysis. At the end, we’ll talk among ourselves about the journalistic issues, and especially how such complex matters can be covered in light of industry trends to make
stories shorter and shallower.

Schedule and Faculty

Monday, March 23
6:00–9:00pm		Welcoming Dinner at The Blue Room, Kendall Square

Tuesday, March 24 — Food: The Dangers
9:00–10:30		Food safety and chances for reform Michael Taylor, research professor at GWU School of Public Health, and former administrator of USDA’s food safety and inspection service
10:45–12:15		Dangers and opportunities David Kessler, former dean of UCSF Medical School and former commissioner of the FDA
1:30–3:00		The history of E. coli J. Glenn Morris, University of Florida, director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute
3:30–5:00		Food and disease: recent outbreaks Robert Tauxe, chief of the foodborne diseases branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Wednesday, March 25 — Food: The Opportunities
9:00–10:30		The history of food processing Joseph Hotchkiss, professor of food science and researcher of food packaging at Cornell University
10:45–12:15		Functional foods: healthy or hazardous? Marion Nestle, book author and professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at NYU
1:30–3:00		*Functional Foods: industry and opportunity* Joy Dubost, Principal Nutritionist at PepsiCo
3:30–5:00		The surprise of vitamin D Vin Tangpricha, professor and researcher on vitamin D nutrition at Emory University

Thursday, March 26 — Is There a World Food Crisis?
9:00–10:30		Is there a world food crisis? Dan Sumner, director of the agricultural issues center at UC Davis
10:45–12:15		The human diet: revolutionary change worldwide Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition, and director of the University of North Carolina Interdisciplinary Obesity Center (IDOC)
1:30–3:00		Should we grow our fuel? David Pimentel, professor of insect ecology & agricultural sciences, Department of Entomology, Cornell University
3:30–5:00		The story of corn as fuel Tad Patzek, chair of petroleum and geosystems engineering at the University of Texas at Austin

Friday, March 27 — Food, Farms and Futures
9:00–10:30		*Eat Local? The math of food miles* James E. McWilliams, associate professor at Texas State University and author of A Revolution In Eating
10:45–12:15		Genetically modified crops and the food crisis: How are reporters doing? Curtis Brainard, editor of The Observatory, Columbia Journalism Review’s online critique of science and environment reporting
12:30-2:00		Lunch and discussion among journalists.