Presented by
This content is made possible by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff.
Stanford researchers reimagine the future of food
Dozens of faculty members at Stanford are working to transform the way the world grows, distributes, and consumes food, with research and scholarship spanning topics including sustainable food systems, food security, health equity, culture, and diet.
A bite of food is about more than calories. Food production involves energy, water, and other resources and is shaped by economics, policies, and international relations. What we eat affects our health, expresses our cultures, and shapes communities.
Feeding the world is an urgent challenge: In 2023, the United Nations reported that one in 11 people globally faced hunger, with 2.33 billion people facing moderate or severe food insecurity. These disparities in food access and malnutrition lead to a cascade of other problems.
Stanford’s history with food research stretches back to the founding grant’s mention of “the study of agriculture in all its branches.” From 1921 to 1996, the Stanford Food Research Institute, inspired by Herbert Hoover, led globally influential research on food systems.
Today, Stanford remains well-positioned to influence the way the world grows, distributes, eats, and thinks about food. Threads of food research and teaching run throughout the university, crossing disciplines and schools, including the work of dozens of faculty members. This is complemented by interdisciplinary and solution-focused efforts established to coordinate this work.
hands-on experience with sustainable agriculture. During Spring Quarter 2024, Stanford community members gathered to taste the work of Chef Mingoo Kang, who is reimagining Korean cuisine for health and sustainability. | Andrew Brodhead
“Interdisciplinary research can help us understand how each disciplinary contribution fits into the bigger picture of global food security. Through such collaboration, advances are also made on basic research questions within disciplines,” said Rosamond Naylor, professor of environmental social sciences in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, who was also founding director of the Center on Food Security and the Environment (FSE), a joint effort of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
Adaptive plants, agriculture & aquaculture
Understanding plants is foundational to improving global food systems – and that means studying the building blocks of food from many angles.
For her part, Elizabeth Sattely, an associate professor of chemical engineering in the School of Engineering, investigates plant chemistry. Her lab explores how plants transform carbon dioxide and sunlight into molecules that bolster their resilience to environmental stress and can benefit human health. Her work holds promise for developing crops capable of withstanding the pressures of climate change and disease – and has inspired her to facilitate stronger collaborations between Stanford food researchers to address specific problems within our food system. (More on that later.)
“Crop losses to disease remains stubbornly high, and improving the nutrient profile and climate tolerance of staple crops would have a massive effect on global nutrition,” said Sattely. “We need folks who think about all the different facets of food systems to come together to find high-impact solutions that are equitable and sustainable.”
Sattely frequently partners with Mary Beth Mudgett, a professor of biology in the School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S), who studies plant immune responses to pathogens and the chemical signals plants use to communicate.
Knowing what happens inside and among plants can inform research in other food-related fields, Mudgett said. For example, details about plant immune responses can help prevent plant diseases among crops.
At a broader scale but following the same theme, David Lobell, professor of Earth system science in the Doerr School of Sustainability, uses remote sensing to evaluate the effectiveness of climate change adaptations in agriculture. His lab’s detailed farm-level data provides critical insights into practices like cover cropping, which protects and enriches soil but can come with environmental downsides such as reduced land productivity.
“We get a much better understanding of where things work, which helps to scale up successful things and avoid promoting and incentivizing things that aren’t working,” said Lobell, who is also the current director of FSE.
Responsible food production must also account for affordability and nutrition, not just caloric abundance.
Naylor points out that people without access to a nutritious diet are more likely to overuse resources and destroy biodiversity just to survive, she said.
Lack of food security also compromises health and reduces equity in general. Even in low and middle-income countries, poor diets contribute to serious health problems like diabetes.
“Food security and nutrition has tentacles in every aspect of society,” she said.
One focus of Naylor’s work is integrating aquatic foods – such as fish and seaweed – into sustainable food systems, expanding options beyond traditional crops and livestock. She co-chaired the international Blue Food Assessment in 2019 and continues to explore sustainable aquaculture development in regions like Indonesia and Kenya.
“In the past, we’ve only thought about crops and livestock when we think about food systems, but we also need to think about fish and seaweeds and aquatic plants and put those into the frame,” she said.
The human element
People are at the heart of the food system as laborers, consumers, experts, and, of course, the entities controlling how the system works. Food can be a profession, but it’s also personal, in terms of culture, health, and impacts on the functioning of society.
Lisa Goldman Rosas, an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and in the Department of Medicine at Stanford Medicine, leads the Food For Health Equity Lab.
The lab partners with community food distributors to address food insecurity and diet-related health issues.
One program, Vida Sana y Completa, provides culturally tailored, diabetes-friendly foods to Latina women through Second Harvest Food Bank. The researchers track outcomes like weight loss and quality of life to inform policy and programming.
“Food insecurity is a persistent problem with significant disparities across our country, and it’s getting worse,” Goldman Rosas said. “Making a difference by generating evidence that community health centers and food banks can actually use to drive their programs and policies is important to us.”
Vayu Hill-Maini, an assistant professor of bioengineering in the schools of Engineering and Medicine who joined Stanford faculty in fall 2024, is building a research group that seeks to bridge science, gastronomy, sustainability, and health. As a biochemist, synthetic biologist, and former chef, Hill-Maini uses fungi and fermentation to design new healthy, sustainable foods. His lab will also have a kitchen modeled on the world-class restaurants where Hill-Maini previously worked.
“Transforming the food system isn’t just about sustainability,” he said. “It has to be tasty and connect to us as humans from a cultural, sensory, psychological perspective.”
By drawing on diverse expertise and valuing collaborative efforts, Stanford is building innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing food challenges.
“We can look at the world differently and draw upon the expertise that we have in business, engineering, sustainability, and policy to take a different stab at it,” Hill-Maini said. “From my viewpoint, food research in academia has been a wasteland of innovation. Stanford, I think, can change that.”
Stanford is committed to supporting our community by advancing interdisciplinary teaching and research, providing world-class medical care, and extending knowledge and discovery to our neighbors. Stanford invites its neighbors to enjoy its open lands and participate in learning, athletic, and arts events on campus.
Stanford is committed to supporting our community by advancing interdisciplinary teaching and research, providing world-class medical care, and extending knowledge and discovery to our neighbors. Stanford invites its neighbors to enjoy its open lands and participate in learning, athletic, and arts events on campus.
Learn more about Stanford University
