If you are late to the Food Babe phenomenon, by which I mean the rise of a food activist named Vani Hari, there are no shortage of recent media articles exploring her fame. The Atlantic profileis among the best, because it is not judgmental and it gives voice to the science-based critics who are exasperated by her influence. The journalistic fascination with Hari is reflected in The Atlantic's subhead:
How one woman mobilized an army against food additives, GMOs, and all else not "natural"
What we have not seen--to my knowledge--is a story explaining why that "army," consisting of a very large number of people, was already primed for action. There are hints of it in The Atlantic piece, such as this quote from University of Florida horticulturist Kevin Folta:
Vani is very good at marketing herself and telling people what they want to hear.
And this from a former ...
