“Leave a Bowl of Fruit on the Kitchen Table”

Abstract

Food and nutrition policy in the United States relies heavily on convincing individual household food provisioners to make healthy choices to improve their eating behavior. This policy strategy has not only been unsuccessful in encouraging healthy eating but also ignores the labor involved in this work of provisioning the household. This focus on individual behavior change meshes well with the ideology of consumer sovereignty, which is the belief in the power of the individual consumer to influence the food system by what they purchase. Using the Let’s Move! Program, initiated by Michelle Obama, as an example of mainstream nutrition policy, this article highlights the problems with our current food and nutrition policy, especially with regard to the gendered work involved in provisioning, and offers examples of more effective policies for promoting health through public provisioning policies and programs.