Sustainable consumption: Reworking the Western Diet
TED Studies, created in collaboration with Wiley, are curated video collections — supplemented by rich educational materials — for students, educators and self-guided learners. In Reworking the Western Diet, speakers examine how that diet — processed, high in refined sugars, and heavy in corn, soy, meat and dairy — is making us and the environment sick. These TED Talks blaze the trail to sustainable farming and a more sensible diet. Relevant areas of interest, study and coursework include: sustainable agriculture, agricultural policy, food history, food science, environmental science, nutrition, culinary arts and horticulture.
Learning outcomes
TED's Reworking the Western Diet will provide learners with a deeper understanding of:
- The historical, social, economic, and political forces that have played a role in shaping our modern food system
- The environmental, economic, social and medical consequences of the Western diet
- Specific ways of engaging with food that can counter the excesses of the industrial food system
- Differing perspectives on sustainability and the most advisable approaches to a more sustainable food system
- Alternative forms of agriculture like vertical farms and lab-grown animal proteins, and the extent to which these may contribute to greater food security
- How thinking about food in a new way can lead to better personal and global health.
Relevant talks
Britta Riley
A garden in my apartment
Ron Finley
A guerrilla gardener in South Central LA
Ann Cooper
What's wrong with school lunches
Mark Bittman
What's wrong with what we eat
Graham Hill
Why I'm a weekday vegetarian
Dan Barber
A foie gras parable
Marcel Dicke
Why not eat insects?
About the educators
Amy Bentley is an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health, New York University. Her co-authors, Michael Bulger, Boaz Hillebrand, Allison Mountjoy, and Stephanie Rogus, are 2013 graduates of the NYU food studies program, with a concentration in food systems.
About TED Studies
TED Studies created in partnership with
Each TED Study offers a curated and sequenced set of TED Talks, along with specially commissioned materials for teaching and self-guided learning. Created by world class experts, they cover topics ranging from "Understanding Happiness" to "Covering World News" to "Ecofying Cities." An abbreviated version of TED Studies is offered here; the full curricula — including special modules on each talk with questions, assignments, key terms and recommended reading — are available for licensing to academic institutions, ministries of education, and media companies worldwide.
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