Australians are getting fatter. What influences our food choices? How does our food system support or undermine our health? And what can we do about it? In this informative and engaging talk, Dr Phillip Baker examines some of the less obvious influences on what we eat and why, and asks what role regulation can legitimately play in addressing some of the problems in our food system.

Phil­lip is a Research Fel­low at the School of Reg­u­la­tion and Global Gov­ernance, at the Aus­tralian National Uni­vers­ity in Can­berra.

His research focuses on under­stand­ing the polit­ics of food, nutri­tion and pub­lic health. This work brings key ques­tions into play, such as: who has the power to shape our food choices as indi­vidu­als, fam­il­ies, com­munit­ies and soci­et­ies? Is food choice a mat­ter for the indi­vidual only and healthy eat­ing simply a mat­ter of per­sonal respons­ib­il­ity? Or is the way we eat shaped more by factors out­side of indi­vidual con­trol, such as the way we organ­ise our food sys­tems and eco­nomy? How can we as a soci­ety struc­ture our food sys­tems so as to pro­mote food choices that are good for people, anim­als and the planet?

Phil­lip has a PhD from the National Centre for Epi­demi­ology and Pop­u­la­tion Health, ANU. He has worked in a num­ber of pub­lic health roles includ­ing at the World Health Organ­iz­a­tion.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx