a year in food and the people who feed us

Earlier this week, The Daily Meal released their annual list of America’s 50 Most Powerful People in Food. It’s not a list of best knowns – no Paula Deen or Rachel Ray here, and by my count there’s only one woman with a cookware line. (#49) But for anyone interested in the country’s foodscape, it’s a fascinating collection of people who influence what, why and how we eat right now.

The list covers every aspect of the industry, from acclaimed chefs whose restaurants we’d die to eat in to the CEOs of national grocery chains, TV personalities we watch faithfully to government agencies responsible for the safety of our food, authors, activists, and a whole lot of ground in between. I’ve been through it 4 or 5 times and I’m still overwhelmed by the breadth of the space. There are so many moving parts in our food culture.

In my opinion, some of the most interesting takeaways from this ranking are the juxtapositions that emerge as you click through, which only highlight how vast the system is. I doubt they did this on purpose, but I paused for a long minute when the CEO of Costco ranked one behind the New York Times Restaurant Critic. But as momentarily thought provoking as that might be, I also think it’s a pretty fair illustration of our culture’s relationship with food – the way the elite mingles seamlessly with the everyday, and how many of these interactions go unnoticed.

For example, I’m sure I’ve drank Tropicana OJ, gone to Trader Joe’s, read Food and Wine, watched an episode of Top Chef, written a Yelp review and passed a PETA canvasser on the street in a single day. And by simply going about my business I’ve engaged with 6 of the 50 in one 12-hour stint. Kind of mundane. Kind of wild. There’s no one way to look at it.

And of course the flip side is also true. While many of these people and their spheres of influence can coexist and even overlap without friction, the list also brings to light some ongoing tensions between people and organizations whose missions exist in stark contrast to each other.

Take 9 and 41. The former is the CEO of a controversial biotech giant that produces genetically altered seeds, pesticides and growth hormones for most of the country’s farms. They feed a majority of America, and you’ve probably eaten produce grown from Monsanto’s patented seeds. The latter is President of a nonprofit sustainable farming movement aimed at improving the way farms produce food, and a champion of local and organic agriculture. Both aim to feed us, but they represent opposing ends of the food systems spectrum. (Slow Food USA recently lent its voice of support to a class action lawsuit brought against Monsanto by a group of small farmers.)

So the list is a snapshot of what’s happening in food right now, and a glimpse into the many separate ways we’re growing. There’s a lot going on and naturally it doesn’t all agree with each other. But it does confirm that food is front and center more than it ever has been, from the value we place on its production to the stock we put in what others say about it. Take Yelp, whose CEO comes in all the way at number 3. User generated content is now the go-to before choosing a restaurant, holding equal weight or even superseding the voice of respected critics. Fair or unfair, I know I won’t go anywhere with shitty Yelp reviews.

But the power isn’t given to consumers alone. Yelp is a huge reputation management opportunity that provides business owners a forum to engage in dialogue with their customers, and by extension, the ability to create loyalty if they play the game right.

And if you needed any further confirmation of the ever expanding role that food plays in our daily lives, look no further than the Food Network, whose President sits at the very top of the food chain. (hee!) Its programming appeals to Midwestern moms and metropolitan gourmands alike, and without it there would be no concept of the celebrity chef as we know it.

I happen to believe that the world would be a better place without Guy Fieri, but I’ll take the bad with the good…the good being all the other food-focused programming it's paved the way for. Second to icons like Julia Child, the Food Network created an empire out of encouraging everyday people to mess around in their kitchens, and made cooking accessible and exciting along the way. Fist bump for that.

So this is where we stand right now. I’ll be curious to see how the list changes next year to reflect all of 2012’s happenings. Check out last year’s here if you feel so inclined.