2011 Conference Program (PDF) - Syracuse University College of Law

6.2 Food, Law and Culture
Charlene Elliott
Governing taste: Food marketing, inscription devices and children’s perspectives on
nutritional regulation
The childhood obesity epidemic has prompted various regulatory measures when it
comes to food marketing to children—from the industry-driven Children’s Food and
Beverage Advertising Initiative and San Francisco’s attempt to eliminate toys from
McDonald’s Happy Meals, to the World Health Organization’s (2010) Set of
Recommendations on the Marketing of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages to Children.
Yet the governance of taste operates in more common (and portable) places and spaces,
and this paper will examine the various inscription devices on children’s packaged foods,
as well as their significance to children’s perspectives on nutrition. “Taste” in childoriented
packaged food is regulated in various ways, from nutrition facts tables and frontof-pack
claims to package appeals and iconography. I will detail how a dueling set of
inscription devices characterizing these products—one around health, the other around
fun—complicates children’s theories of health and nutrition.
Andrea Freeman
Food Oppression
Food oppression arises where a lack of true choice in what we eat conflicts with the
political and social fallacy of personal choice that drives the American ideology of
individual, merit-based achievement. In the context of food, meritocracy translates into a
system that blames the sick for their illnesses and disregards the reality of lack of access
to healthy foods and lifestyles confronted by many low-income communities of color.
Government policies such as subsidies and regulatory breaks to food industry giants
reflect collusion that inflicts and sustains food oppression along race and class lines,
without meaningful legal recourse.
New evidence suggests that the food industry knowingly exploits physical reactions
centered in the brain that compel hyper-consumption of sugar, fat and salt. This
consumption leads to grave health problems, including diabetes, obesity, and heart
disease, all of which are disproportionately present in communities of color. So far, the
government has resisted breaking its ties with the food industry to regulate the production
and marketing of dangerously unhealthy foods, and courts have refused to treat food like
tobacco to find liability in product liability cases. With the salience of new literature
revealing the deleterious effects of certain foods and the complicity of the food industry,
however, the media may now be posed to lead a successful movement to compel
accountability from both the government and the industry. This paper analyzes the
potential influence of recent contributions to public awareness and suggests reform that
will both acknowledge and reduce food oppression.
Ernesto Hernandez-Lopez
LA’s Food Truck Wars and Culture: between quality of life, unfair competition, and
identity
This paper examines the legal and cultural contexts behind Los Angeles’ regulation of
food trucks, including taco trucks, i.e loncheros, and recent food trucks selling fusion and
gourmet options. Regulation forces argue that vendors unfairly compete with restaurants,
congest sidewalks and streets, are unsanitary, and diminish urban quality of life. Antiordinance
forces argue that vendors provide affordable and quality food, rejuvenate
public space, fairly compete with size and open-air limitations, and represent migrant and
hybrid cuisines. This presentation argues that food truck debates represent heated contests
about food, local culture, business practices, and identity. Legal narratives emphasize
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