Attending the Third Annual Atlantic Food Summit
Last Thursday, May 24th, I flew to Washington DC with a small group of MSLO employees, to take part in The Third Annual Atlantic Food Summit. Atlantic magazine calls together the world’s leading authorities on the multitude of issues related to food. I was asked to attend and be interviewed because Atlantic recognizes me as a pioneering businesswoman and entrepreneur, who has empowered women and helped improve the way people eat and awareness of the environment in which they live. My friend, Corby Kummer, Atlantic Senior Editor and James Beard award-winning food writer hosted the summit. Jocelyn Zuckerman, Executive Editor of Whole Living, was also invited as a panelist, discussing the world’s serious food issues. To read Corby Kummer’s post about my interview, click here.
1 Here I am With Corby Kummer - Senior Editor, The Atlantic and Mario Batali, who had quite a bit of interesting and informative things to say during his interview with Corby.
2 My traveling companions included Lucinda Scala Quinn - VP Editorial Director Food and Sarah Carey - VP, Editor in Chief, Every Day Food.
3 The third Atlantic Food Summit was held at The W Hotel in Washington DC and it offered many amazing views.
4 Directly across the street from the W Hotel, at 1500 15th Street, is the United States Department of Treasury Building, the third oldest building in Washington, dating from 1836. This T-shaped Greek Revival building was erected after two previous structures had burned down.
5 The Department of Treasury, of course, manages the revenue of the US government. A statue of Alexander Hamilton, who was sworn in as the first Secretary of the Treasury on September 11, 1789, stands before the south wing.
6 In the opposite direction is the most prominent structure in Washington, the Washington Monument, the 555' 5-1/8" obelisk completed in 1884. The monument was damaged during the Virginia earthquake of August 23, 2011 and it remains closed to the public indefinitely while repairs are made.
7 Enjoying the view - Jeanne Meyer - MSLO SVP Communications, Jocelyn Zuckerman - Executive Editor, Whole Living, and Adjunct Professor Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Lucinda Scala Quinn, Sarah Carey, and Daisy Schwartzberg - makeup artist
8 Jocelyn Zuckerman and Lucinda Scala Quinn
9 As the nation works to promote more sustainable food production, enhance government oversight over the food industry, and control the obesity epidemic, The Atlantic gathers food policy luminaries, notable chefs, and public health officials to shed light on these important themes.
10 One basic theme of the summit was to eat better by consuming more vegetables and less sugar, eat local and organic when possible, and enjoy food by sharing meals with family and friends.
11 Daisy and Sarah waiting in the lounge for the conference to begin
12 Posing with Corby Kummer, a journalist who mostly writes about food, whom I have known for many, many years. Corby is a senior editor at The Atlantic magazine, where he writes a monthly food column.
13 Corby and I talked about sustainability and growing your own food. I explained that this is what I learned growing up in Nutley, New Jersey, when my father would start his vegetables from seed and eventually plant the outside in his large and prolific garden, where I would always help.
14 Corby asked me what I thought about the barriers to women entrepreneurs that I myself had faced, and what it would take to lower some of them for women who try to follow my example.
15 I told Corby that when I started my company, someone told me that I broke through the glass ceiling. Well, I didn't even know what a glass ceiling was at that time.
16 But now I'm well-aware of what that glass ceiling is all about and it's a very serious issue.
17 We don't have enough women who raise families in high positions in responsible companies. I think it would help a lot, especially in food production.
18 Many people in the audience were Tweeting what I had to say for all the world to read.
19 Mothers who are trying to raise healthy children for the future may be more sensitive than their male counterpart to health and well-being.
20 After my interview with Corby Kummer, there was a fascinating panel discussion called 'Feeding a World of Nine Billion - Sustainably,' moderated by Steve Clemons - Washington Editor-at-large, The Atlantic.
21 The panelists were Robert Paarlberg - Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University; Chris Novak - CEO, National Pork Board; Mark "Coach" Smallwood - Executive Director, Rodale Institute; Rick Leach - President and CEO, World Food Program USA; Jocelyn Zuckerman; and moderator Steve Clemons.
22 Jocelyn said that if women in Africa had the same access to seeds, credit, and land ownership as men, they would increase yields by up to 30%. Also that we grow far too much corn and soy, which finds its way into high-fructose corn syrup, contributing to diabetes and obesity.
23 She also said that hunger is a national security issue, referencing the Arab Spring and the fact that poor people spend as much as 80% of their incomes on food. When the price of wheat or corn goes up, they often cannot afford to feed their families. Hungry people are angry people, with hunger often leading to social unrest.
24 A paparazzo
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
Highly important to have these summits pertaining to food so that nations can benefit from the coming together of much expertise. It is staggering to me that so many do not have the knowledge of adequate nutrition. We were not a wealthy family growing up but had wonderful grandparents with a beautiful garden who ensured we ate well.
Posted by: Sherey | May 30th, 2012 at 1:43 am
Dear Martha,
I've always thought America's public libraries could contribute immeasurably on this issue. Wouldn't it be cool if all of the public libraries across the nation did a summer reading club theme devoted to "Victory Gardens" and the next summer did a summer reading club theme devoted to cooking all of those great homegrown fruits and vegetables? It would be so much fun to showcase great gardening books and cook books while involving gardening and cooking creatives in the community in passing on essential life skills to America's young people. I'm glad to see so many thoughtful people meeting on the subject.
Posted by: Karen | May 30th, 2012 at 2:54 am
Hi Martha, OMG! I am so inspired to read this blog about the Atlantic Food Summit finally accepting you and your fantastic MSLO as a pioneering business woman and entrepreneur who has helped so many of us women improve the way families eat and awareness of the environment where we live! You have been teaching us how to have proper foods that make us healthy and protect our families as well as our animals! I have been inspired by you through your fabulous magazines, your superior website, your outstanding TV Shows, etc. and I have been able to share many of your ideas with my friends! Thanks for the website of Atlantic Magazine and the interview by your friend Corby Kummer-both are terrific! I love all of these photos and how great to see Lucinda, Sarah, Jeanne, Joyce, Daisy, and Jocelyn from your MSLO team being there with you! You all looked great and so happy! Thanks again for this fantastic blog and I will be following you for the rest of my life! Hope you are having another great day and hope all is well at Marrakech! Off to see F,S,&GK trying to stay cool at your Bedford farm! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | May 30th, 2012 at 9:29 am
What important topics for the third Atlantic food summit to address, more sustantable food production, goverment oversight over the food industry and the obesity epidemic. Thanks for participating Martha, and giving your insight and experience. You are the first celebrity I remember trying to teach the public about eating well and being more aware of our environment.
Posted by: Cindy F | May 30th, 2012 at 11:37 am
Hi Martha,
You were one of the lucky ones to be part of a family that grew their own food and knew the importance of healthy eating. On that note I always thought you were way ahead of the curve and therefore quite qualified to teach us your amazing ways of living, hence Martha Stewart Living. Some people still don’t get you and my thoughts to that are ‘their loss’, but you never give up. You continue to learn and pass on your findings to anyone who wants to enrich their lives, to make them healthier and esthetically more beautiful. It’s amazing the satisfaction I get just from planting lettuce, peppers and herbs on my patio and the glee I feel at the bright color paints in my house when white was what I always chose. You have taken the ‘boring’ out of so much for me!
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I was very interested in this Atlantic Food Summit when I learned about it from you through a tweet and then I found more tweets from others who were at the summit and I retweeted their tweets. Twitter is definitely great for passing the word along! You are so right when you mention ‘the multitude of issues related to food’ but without discussions such as this summit, nothing will ever get resolved or maybe even noted, such as the amount of fructose corn syrup that is used in many processed foods. Just reading comments about it can boggle the mind but I suppose one has to decide for themselves what to believe about it. While they ponder the issue, a healthy diet of unprocessed foods might be a step in the right direction, and to help them along…
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We all remember Alderson or Yale as you prefer to call it which topic has its own ‘multitude of issues’ but the one thing that stuck out the most for me was your ability to not eat their unhealthy food. You preferred to wait for a visitor to arrive with quarters so you could get chicken out of the vending machines which you decided was a better choice than what was served in the cafeteria. You would rather go hungry for who knows how many hours or even days, rather than swallow that prison food and so you did! I thought about that for quite some time and was so impressed I decided if you can dismiss crappy food, so can I, and so I did. That’s just one amazing Martha story folks but it speaks volumes doesn’t it! Trish
Posted by: Trish | May 30th, 2012 at 11:39 am
Martha,
Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | May 30th, 2012 at 12:45 pm
I have been to that hotel a couple of times when it was the "Washington Hotel". The views from that terrace are AMAZING. It used to be a restaurant up there. Hope it still is. A cocktail up there at night was unreal and when the president helicopter would land on the lawn it was AMAZING. You can see the storm troupers on top of the White House. So fun. The godfather was shot there too.
Posted by: Gail | May 31st, 2012 at 5:17 am
You looked great on the 23rd as you made your way through the Plaza Food Hall. I was in NYC to assist my friend with her new location for THREE TARTS, there in the Food Hall. Before there was time to grab a strawberry basil marshmallow for you you were on your.
Posted by: GARY FINLEY, ASID | June 4th, 2012 at 4:53 pm