Food Industry Archives - California Agriculture News Today

50 Most Powerful People in 2014 Food World

These men and women decide what and how you eat, whether you realize it or not.

The ability to make things happen, rewrite the rules, change the conversation and shift the paradigms; the people with power in the food world decide or influence what and how and where and why we eat.

Their power is economic, legislative, sometimes inspirational. They’re the agribusiness moguls who decide what crops to plant and how to harvest, process, and sell them.

They’re the heads of major food processing and distribution concerns and retail food outlets (that is, the people who actually put food on our tables).

They’re the scolds and nannies — and admirable consumer advocates — who tell us what we should and shouldn’t eat and why, sometimes upending whole industries in the process; the key figures in the governmental agencies concerned with the economics and the safety of our food supply; the media stars and public figures who sway our food opinions and stimulate our appetites; the chefs and restaurateurs who introduce us to flavors and culinary ideas, and establish and maintain standards for the preparation and presentation of food. They’re the journalists, in whatever medium, who report on all of the above.

Any catalogue of powerful people — and certainly any ranking of them in order of perceived power— is bound to be highly subjective. That doesn’t mean that it has to be arbitrary.

To come up with our list of The 50+ Most Powerful People in Food in America, our editors assembled an initial roster, based on research done gradually over many months, then added and subtracted, fine-tuned and developed.

We read news stories, annual statements, editorial analyses. We consulted with experts in the various fields we cover. We had endless discussions and occasionally strenuous debates.

Our ultimate criterion was simply this: Is each person on our list capable, whether by dint of corporate station, media access, moral authority, or sheer personality, of substantially changing, improving, and/or degrading the quality and variety of the American diet or the way we think about it?

Choosing which men and women in the American food world to include on our list was difficult enough; arranging them in order of power was a far greater challenge.

Here is the finalized list:

50. Danielle Nierenberg and Ellen Gustafson, Co-Founders, The Food Tank 

49. Adam Rapoport, Editor in Chief, Bon Appetit 

48. Matt Maloney, CEO, GrubHub Seamless 

47. Bill Marler, Foodborne Illness Lawyer and Attorney

46. Steve Ells, Founder/ Co-CEO, Chairman, Chipotle Mexican Grill 

45. Tom Colicchio, Chef-Restaurateur and TV Personality

 44. Catherine Cassidy, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, Taste of Home 

43. Ingrid Newkirk, President and Co-Founder, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals 

42. Mark Bittman, Journalist and Author 

41. Tracey Ryder, President and CEO, Edible Communities Publications 

40. Dana Cowin, Editor-in-Chief, Food & Wine 