From Obesity to Nutrition to Agriculture: Nobel Conference Speakers Explore Issues of 'What Makes Food Good?'

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Jul 29, 2010, 08:15 ET

ST. PETER, Minn., July 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Some of the world's leading food experts, scholars and researchers will take a global look at "Making Food Good" from Oct. 5-6 at the 46th Annual Nobel Conference on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus in St. Peter, an hour outside of Minneapolis.

For more than four decades, Gustavus has organized and hosted the two-day Nobel Conference that links a general audience with the world's foremost scholars and researchers. Exploring issues of everything from the stigma of obesity to gender roles associated with agriculture in the third world, Conference speakers will engage their audience on practical, theoretical and empirical levels.

Among the Conference speakers are some of the leading experts in the world on nutrition and food including Bina Agarwal, Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute of Economic Growth at the University of Delhi, India; Jeffrey Friedman, Marilyn M. Simpson Professor and HHMI Investigator at the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics and Director of the Starr Center for Human Genetics at The Rockefeller University in New York; and Paul Thompson, W.K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural Food and Community Ethics at Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Having studied economics as an undergraduate, Agarwal became increasingly interested in how technological changes affect the relationship between gender and economics when she began graduate school. "I wanted work to be challenging but also socially relevant which led me to study issues that affect the disadvantaged, particularly women, on issues such as land rights and agriculture," said Agarwal.

Jeffrey Friedman will discuss his recent research and writing, which examines the current understanding that the biologic system controls body weight. As more is learned about feeding behavior, he believes that new obesity treatments will emerge in the near future. "These new treatments probably won't eliminate obesity, but will improve the health of all people including those overweight," he said.

Rounding out the panel discussion, Thompson will examine the various meanings of the words "good food," including nutrition, cultural appropriateness, effect on environment and taste. Thompson, who describes his work as being "at intersection of philosophy of technology and environmental philosophy," believes that both areas have become more active in last the 50 years.

The other distinguished Conference speakers include:

Linda Bartoshuk, Presidential Endowed Professor of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science at the University of Florida, Gainesville
Cary Fowler, Executive Director of Global Crop Diversity Trust in Rome, Italy
Frances Moore Lappe, co-founder of the Small Planet Institute in Cambridge, Mass.
Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and Professor of Sociology at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University, and Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

Beyond the keynote speakers, other events associated with the Nobel Conference include local speakers, a concert, an art museum opening, and performing arts events. The entire event will be webcast live at gustavus.edu/nobelconference. Tickets are available at gustavustickets.com or by calling 507-933-7520. Individual tickets range from $60-$100. High school and college student delegation rates are $40 for a block of 10 tickets. Full conference information is available at gustavus.edu/nobelconference.

About Gustavus Adolphus College

Established in 1862 by Swedish Lutheran immigrants, Gustavus Adolphus College is a private liberal arts college that provides an undergraduate education of recognized excellence for more than 2,500 students. Following the dedication in 1963 of the Alfred Nobel Memorial Hall of Science at the College, the Nobel Conference was launched at the College, which continues to set a standard for timeliness, intellectual inquiry, and free debate of contemporary issues related to the natural and social sciences.

SOURCE Gustavus Adolphus College