“Feeding the world” is a phrase we commonly employ in an argument, this week specifically I’ve seen it in relation to the Burger King sustainability statement.

We use “feed the world” to accomplish two things:

A. Value signal about our noble profession.

B. Mildly shame people for their opinions about our production practices.

I’m too tired tired to argue about A.

But B. People are allowed to disagree with how we do things. They are allowed to choose products and practices that fit their brand and marketing. We are allowed to rage tweet about it—because that’s what our populist culture promotes.

But at some point, we as an industry really need to accept that our “same ol same ol” value signaling, consumer bashing tirades isn’t winning us invitations to the boardrooms where these decisions are made.

And that is the real issue.

We seem to think we are immune to evolution.

And if anything the Burger King announcement is a signal that COVID-19 did not change consumer focus—if anything it reinforced it.

Feeding the world isn’t a consumer demand—consumers now want communities to feed themselves.

As long as we continue to throw rocks from the outside—instead of shaping and determining food policy within the C suites of these companies that create these trends—we will continually be on the losing side of press releases and the propaganda cycle.