This Activist Is No Babe in the Woods

In a Web video that went viral in September 2013, the activist known as the Food Babe tells viewers how hungry practicing yoga makes her. Then she bites off a corner of her mat. “Umm,” she says. “Wake up, people. Take a look at the ingredients in Subway’s nine-grain bread. Did you know that one of them is the same ingredient found in yoga mats?” She notes that people in Singapore caught using the offending compound, azodicarbonamide, face fines and jail time. “Yes, this is a very hazardous substance that is linked to lung issues in workers who are exposed to it.” Subway ditched the widely used ingredient early this year.

Food Babe, the nom de blog for Vani Hari, a 35-year-old banking consultant turned food activist, has built an online audience by calling out companies from Starbucks to Chick-fil-A for using ingredients she deems harmful. She belongs to an emerging tribe of Web activists who use attention-grabbing—some say outlandish—methods to pressure companies to change their ways. Says Hari: “It takes courage to go against the grain.”