Promoting a 'sweet' super food at the Food and Nutrition Conference

Back in 2017, the North Carolina Sweetpotato Commission and I set a goal. We wanted to exhibit at FNCE, the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo. 

This conference has more than 10,000 attendees from across the globe. Many are registered dietitians (RD). As members of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, they are trained in food and nutrition education.

My job with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture is to market fruits and vegetables grown in the state, specifically sweet potatoes. According to the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR), registered dietitians are, "food and nutrition experts who have met the CDR criteria to earn the RD credential.” Who better to market the nutritional value of sweet potatoes to than “food and nutrition experts”?

In the fall of 2023, after a lot of work getting the research and developing resources, we met our goal.

For three days, we talked about all things sweet potatoes. I had conversations explaining that sweet potatoes and yams are not the same food. We talked about sweet and savory ways to prepare sweet potatoes that don’t involve brown sugar and marshmallows. There were discussions on the benefits of sweet potatoes to athletes, people with diabetes, babies, and even airline pilots. We were asked how they are grown, harvested, and packed.

That last point is, in my opinion, the most important reason to be at shows like this. Registered dietitians are taught about the nutritional side of food. They aren’t taught the agricultural side of it. Yet, their clients ask questions, and if we haven’t built the relationships to be their go-to for the answer, the internet search will be their guide. And we know that not everything you read on the internet is fact. 

If you need further evidence of the importance of this group to agriculture, look no further than U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s recorded message to attendees. During his address, he said, “Nutrition is at the core of what we do every day at USDA,” and called registered dietitians “trusted and credible messengers.”

We weren’t the only commodity group on the show floor. I won a shirt from the National Pork Board, talked to a farmer at the California Strawberry Commission, got a peanut butter spatula from the National Peanut Board and talked heirloom rice with the USA Rice Federation. Other crops and livestock were represented including almonds, honey, and peaches. 

It was great to finally achieve a goal we set six years earlier. The best part of the trip was sharing the story of North Carolina sweet potato farmers with a new audience, one that has an impact on the eating habits of consumers.