Food Glorious Food: How We Will Beat Hunger

What is the talk about?

What does it take to build a food-secure future for Texas? This special panel event will bring together food experts and leaders working on food access and sustainability. Featuring Raj Patel, Alex Racelis, Edwin Marty, and Adrian Lipscombe, the discussion will explore the challenges and solutions shaping food security across our state. Join us to hear their perspectives and learn how communities can help build a more resilient food system.

About our presenters

Dr. Raj Patel

Raj Patel is a research professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT Austin who studies the world food system and the alternatives to it. An award-winning author and filmmaker, Dr. Patel has worked for the World Bank and WTO, testified about hunger and food sovereignty to the U.S., U.K., and E.U. governments, and received a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award for his work on sustainable food policy. Dr. Patel's research focuses on food systems, world ecology, and international political economy. His books include Stuffed and Starved, The Value of Nothing, and Inflamed, and his documentary The Ants & The Grasshopper was filmed over a decade in Malawi and the United States.

Edwin Marty

Edwin Marty is the Food Policy Manager for the City of Austin's Office of Climate Action and Resilience, where he advances initiatives that build a healthy and equitable local food system. Edwin serves as staff liaison to the Austin Travis County Food Policy Board and supports implementation of the Austin Travis County Food Plan, focusing on community food production, institutional food purchasing, and access to healthy, affordable food. Before joining the City, he founded and directed Jones Valley Teaching Farm in Birmingham, Alabama, helped establish the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network, and co-authored Breaking Through Concrete, a book about urban farming in America. 

Dr. Alexis Racelis

Alexis Racelis is an ecologist at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where he holds the Houston Endowed Chair for Science and Technology and directs the Agroecology and Resilient Food Systems Program. Before joining UTRGV in 2013, Dr. Racelis was a research ecologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service. He is also co-director of the Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Advancement and serves on the USDA's Federal Equity Commission Subcommittee in Agriculture. Dr. Racelis's research focuses on how decisions made by farmers and homeowners connect to environmental and social health in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and his program trains local students through participatory action research and community-engaged scholarship.

Adrian Lipscombe

Adrian Lipscombe is a chef, urban planner, and visionary leader whose work bridges food, culture, land, and community. A proud native Texan with six generations of family roots in Central Texas and a fourth-generation pitmaster, she brings a deep understanding of African American foodways and their influence on American culture. Adrian founded the 40 Acres Project, a national initiative that preserves Black agricultural and culinary heritage through land acquisition and education, and co-founded the Muloma Heritage Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, which preserves African Atlantic foodways. A former White House and U.S. State Department Culinary Diplomat, she serves on the board of the Edna Lewis Foundation, has helped shape local food policy through the Austin-Travis County Food Policy Board, and is a 2026-2027 Obama Foundation USA Leader. As a PhD candidate in Community and Regional Planning at UT Austin, Adrian explores how food and place can help communities understand where they come from and build stronger futures.