Louie Legge, Dr. Hyman, Walter Robb, and others discuss how millennials are pushing food companies toward health, sustainability, and corporate responsibility. The conversation covers generational shifts, technology, and investment trends reshaping the food system.
I think the big change will come from younger people. I think that, you know, older people are kind of set in their ways. Younger people, companies want them as lifelong customers and will listen to them more. And it turns out that they have a stronger sense of purpose and meaning in life than has been true of previous generations.
Hi, I'm Louie Legge from the Doctor's Pharmacy Podcast team. In this mini episode, Dr. Hyman talks with former CEO of Whole Foods Market, Walter Robb, and emotional intelligence expert and author, Daniel Coleman, about how the millennial generation is helping to shape a new food system, one that is values driven, inclusive, and supports the health of our population and our planet. Let's listen in, starting with Dr. Hyman's.
Conversation with Walter Robb. So what I've heard you say is that you see there's a big shift happening in the culture and business and the evolution of our food system. I wonder if you could share in a little detail, what are those changes you're seeing? What makes you feel hopeful?
What I see at this point is that A, we've reached a critical mass where people now understand that the quality of food actually does matter with respect to the health of the individual, the community, the planet, the world. That was not true 10, 20, 30 years ago. I was up for debate.
More calories.
Up for debate, or the weirdos over there talking about that stuff. that's really not the case now. Food's sexy, it's back in the conversation in the national dialogue in ways that we've, you know, we just didn't see 20 years ago. Maybe before World War II when everybody sat around the table, but only three out of 10 Americans eat three meals a day at home. It just doesn't happen that way anymore. So, but we're at this place where, okay, there's a kind of a baseline set that food matters in whatever way you think about that. Okay, then second of all, let's look at the changes. We have a generational change. We're moving from the boomers to the millennials. Millennials are now in the majority. and moving into leadership positions, they have a different approach to life, just like our generation did. They have a value set that says, I expect brands to behave responsibly. I want them to be accountable. I want them to be connected to my life in some way that's meaningful. I want to see them do good things in the world. We have a change in technology, a revolution in technology that's bringing new types of capabilities, whether it's to communication, whether it's to the processing of information, whether it's to the options that customers have in terms of receiving goods and services. We've just never seen this revolution, which is proceeding extraordinarily. We have a change in capital markets that are saying that we're willing to look at this food and agriculture space in a time that it's- A lot.
Of investors are looking at it.
It's been an under-invested category for many years because it just wasn't pretty boring. And now people see, wow, the combination of food and technology and these choices, it's worth deploying capital here. So we have an interest in the sector that's allowing the pace of innovation, the pace of investment to move faster.
But I was shocked was even big food companies are investing in these Well.
They are because they can't grow because.
They'Re investing in beyond meat or something.
Yeah, it's actually meditation that does that. Yeah, yeah, loving kindness meditation.
Yeah, it's so powerful.
Despite our overall broken food system, there is a reason to be hopeful. A new generation of industry leaders and consumers is driving change through its focus on transparency, production practices and company values. As more people voice a need for choices that meet their values and for more accountability from companies, Big shifts can be made. Through our participation, regardless of age, we can create a food scape and a landscape built on compassion, humanity and responsibility. Thank you for tuning in to this mini episode of the Doctor's Pharmacy. Until next time.
