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American Dish

American Dish

By: Helena Bottemiller Evich
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 From Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” to Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign, America is in the midst of a food and nutrition policy awakening. Why are diet-related disease rates so high in the U.S.? What are the potential solutions? What does the science say? Award-winning journalist Helena Bottemiller Evich cuts through the noise to help us understand what’s really happening with our food system and our plates.Copyright 2026 Helena Bottemiller Evich Art Cooking Food & Wine Hygiene & Healthy Living Political Science Politics & Government
Episodes
  • The food industry's MAHA moment with Melissa Hockstad

    The food industry's MAHA moment with Melissa Hockstad
    Apr 15 2026

    HHS Secretary Kennedy says the food industry is poisoning us. The White House shares AI videos of him body slamming a Twinkie. And somehow, the trade group representing the companies making those ultra-processed foods — and thousands of other products Americans buy every day — has to figure out how to respond.

    The Consumer Brands Association represents the CPG industry, not just food and beverage, but household products and personal care too. It's the largest manufacturing sector in the U.S. by employment — 22.3 million workers, contributing $2.3 trillion to the GDP. And right now, it's contending with one of the most hostile political environments it's ever faced.

    Melissa Hockstad, the president and CEO of CBA, is at the center of navigating all of this. She's talking about constructive engagement, transparency, and the long game as major food companies try to stay out of the political wrestling ring, at least publicly.

    Highlights:

    – How CBA is approaching the Trump administration's anti-Big Food rhetoric, and where they see room for common ground

    – The Facts Up Front and SmartLabel programs, and why the industry sees transparency on its own terms as a selling point

    –How MAHA laws in Texas, West Virginia, and beyond have the industry turning to the courts and to Congress

    – Why CBA thinks "ultra-processed foods" is too complex to define, and what that means for policy

    – Front-of-pack labeling: where the Biden-era proposed rule stands now and what to expect from FDA under the Trump administration

    – The affordability argument is not landing the way the industry hoped at the state level

    Where to find Melissa Hockstad:

    Follow Melissa Hockstad on LinkedIn

    Mentioned in this episode:

    Consumer Brands Association

    Facts Up Front

    SmartLabel

    Stay in touch:

    Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix.

    Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube.

    Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co

    Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.

    Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
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    49 mins
  • Why infant formula is not a niche issue with Mallory Whitmore, The Formula Mom

    Why infant formula is not a niche issue with Mallory Whitmore, The Formula Mom
    Apr 1 2026

    Infant formula isn't some niche parenting topic. It's a public health issue, a food security issue, and in many ways an infrastructure issue.

    The 2022 infant formula crisis was one of the most alarming food system failures in recent memory. Shelves were suddenly empty. Parents were driving across state lines to find cans of formula. The Department of Defense was flying it in on military planes. And most of us — including me — realized we knew almost nothing about how infant formula actually works, where it comes from, or how consolidated the industry really is.

    Mallory Whitmore, known online as @theformulamom, has spent the last five years building the resource she couldn't find when she needed it most. As an infant feeding technician and now the education lead at Bobbie, a U.S. formula company, she's become one of the most influential voices on formula in the country. With more than 200,000 Instagram followers and a new book, Bottle Service, Mallory aims to give parents guilt-free, evidence-based guidance they're rarely getting anywhere else. Most parents use formula at some point before their babies turn one — it’s high time we stop treating formula as a niche topic.

    Highlights:

    – What Mallory learned (and all the info she couldn't find) when breastfeeding didn't work for her first daughter

    – What it was like to be in the middle of the 2022 Abbott recall, the crisis that exposed just how fragile the U.S. formula supply chain really is

    – The shame and stigma around formula feeding, and why "breast is best" messaging isn't landing the way it's intended

    – What parents should actually look for in a formula

    – Lactose, corn syrup solids, and other misunderstood ingredients

    – Why some parents believe European formulas are superior, what's actually different, and the real risks of importing your own

    – Operation Stork Speed: the FDA's first serious look at updating infant formula nutrition standards in decades, and whether the panel's expert guidance will actually translate into policy


    Where to find Mallory Whitmore:

    Follow Mallory Whitmore on Instagram

    Check out her book Bottle Service


    Mentioned in this episode:

    Operation Stork Speed


    Stay in touch:

    Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix.

    Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube.

    Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co

    Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.


    Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
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    47 mins
  • What we still don't know about ultra-processed foods with Julia Belluz & Kevin Hall

    What we still don't know about ultra-processed foods with Julia Belluz & Kevin Hall
    Mar 18 2026
    The American diet has become dominated by ultra-processed foods, but it’s taken a while for scientists to even begin to understand what this really means for our health.One of the researchers at the cutting edge of our nascent understanding is Kevin Hall. A physicist by training, Hall spent 21 years at NIH becoming the country's foremost nutrition scientist before resigning from the agency in 2025.Julia Belluz is an award-winning health journalist and contributing opinion writer at the New York Times who has done some of the best reporting on nutrition and obesity anywhere.Together, they wrote Food Intelligence — an Economist Book of the Year. It's one of the most honest and nuanced books about food and nutrition I've read in a long time, and this conversation reflects that.Highlights:– Kevin's landmark 2019 NIH clinical trial: how it was designed, what it found, and why it was so controversial– Why nutrition science is so underfunded — and how that created a vacuum filled by industry, influencers, and ideology – The MAHA paradox: a movement with the right rhetoric (sometimes) but lacking serious investment in the science to back it up – What the continuous glucose monitor and biohacking craze gets wrong – How food environments (not willpower) drive what we eat, and what changing them would actually require – Kevin's firsthand account of being censored as a government scientist and why he ultimately left NIH after 21 years – What systemic change could actually look like: SNAP reform, marketing restrictions, and making healthy food genuinely competitiveWhere to find Kevin Hall & Julia Belluz:Check out their book Food IntelligenceKevin Hall’s websiteFollow him on InstagramJulia Belluz’s websiteFollow her on InstagramMentioned in this episode:Kevin Hall's 2019 ultra-processed foods clinical trial — Cell MetabolismHow Washington Keeps America Sick and Fat — Helena's 2019 Politico investigation on nutrition research underfundingKevin Hall's departure from NIH — CNNStay in touch:Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix.Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube.Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.coCheck out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
    Show More Show Less
    51 mins
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