If you say you are the Safe Food Foundation, that means you're

Host: The restaurant was quiet in the lull between lunch and dinner. Sunlight filtered through the tall windows, scattering warm reflections off polished cutlery and half-set tables. A faint smell of basil and garlic lingered in the air, still heavy from the chef’s last creation. In the far corner, at a small wooden table near the window, sat Jack and Jeeny — two old friends in the midst of yet another philosophical argument disguised as conversation.

Host: Outside, the street pulsed with modern life — delivery bikes, billboards, organic grocery stores, and posters reading “Non-GMO = Safe for You.” Inside, their voices were the only sound, weaving logic and conscience between sips of coffee.

Jeeny: (setting down her cup) “Barry Marshall once said, ‘If you say you are the Safe Food Foundation, that means you’re implying that your food is safer, or that every other bit of food that we’re eating is not safe. If they were a really honest foundation, they would call themselves the anti-GM foundation.’”

Jack: (smirking) “Trust a Nobel laureate to start a food fight with grammar.”

Jeeny: (laughs) “It’s more than grammar, Jack. He’s talking about honesty — the power of names, and how we hide bias behind branding.”

Jack: “Yeah, but that’s the world now, isn’t it? Everything’s marketing — even morality.”

Jeeny: “So you think honesty doesn’t matter?”

Jack: “I think it matters less than persuasion. Truth whispers; branding shouts.”

Host: The light shifted, striking Jack’s profile — the faint sharpness of someone shaped by skepticism. Jeeny leaned forward, her eyes bright, her voice warm but fierce.

Jeeny: “No, Jack. That’s exactly the problem. People trust labels more than evidence. Words like ‘safe’, ‘natural’, ‘organic’ — they sound pure, but half the time, they’re built on fear, not facts.”

Jack: “Fear sells. Always has.”

Jeeny: “But it shouldn’t dictate science. The way Marshall saw it — if you demonize something like GM foods without proof, you’re not protecting people; you’re manipulating them.”

Jack: (shrugs) “Yeah, but come on, Jeeny — perception is reality. You slap ‘safe’ on your brand, and people sleep better. Isn’t that harmless?”

Jeeny: “Not if it blinds them to what’s true. Calling yourself the ‘Safe Food Foundation’ doesn’t make your food safer. It makes everyone else’s food suspect.”

Jack: “So what? You’d rather they call themselves ‘The Mildly Alarmed by GMOs Association?’ Doesn’t roll off the tongue.”

Jeeny: (grinning) “Maybe not, but it’d be honest.”

Host: The waiter passed by, quietly refilling their cups, pretending not to listen but unable to resist the rhythm of their debate. The city outside hummed — trucks unloading crates of produce, some labeled “organic,” others simply marked “tomatoes.”

Jack: “You know, I actually met a guy once who worked in PR for a food company. He said the word ‘natural’ doesn’t even mean anything legally. They could pour sugar into the ocean and still call it natural as long as it didn’t come from a lab.”

Jeeny: “Exactly. We’ve turned words into masks.”

Jack: “And Marshall’s saying, take the mask off.”

Jeeny: “Yes — call yourself what you are. Don’t hide ideology behind compassion. If you’re anti-GM, say it. If you believe in science, defend it. But don’t manipulate people with comforting lies.”

Host: The sunlight now softened, dipping lower, gilding the empty chairs around them. Jack leaned back, staring thoughtfully at the condensation sliding down his glass.

Jack: “You know what’s funny? Barry Marshall himself was mocked when he said bacteria caused ulcers. They called him crazy — until he proved it. Now, decades later, he’s defending GM science against the same kind of fear that almost destroyed his career.”

Jeeny: “That’s poetic justice, isn’t it? He fought ignorance once and now he’s fighting its rebranding.”

Jack: “Rebranding — that’s the right word. Fear has better marketing than truth.”

Jeeny: “Because fear has urgency. Truth takes patience. And patience doesn’t trend.”

Jack: “So what’s the fix? Honesty? Good luck selling that.”

Jeeny: “Education. Conversation. The kind we’re having now. People don’t need to be told what to think — they need to be invited to question.”

Host: The wind outside lifted a napkin from a nearby table, fluttering it against the window glass before letting it fall. Jeeny watched it, her expression distant but full of conviction.

Jeeny: “Marshall’s point wasn’t just about food, Jack. It was about integrity. If you can’t be honest about what you stand for, your cause is already contaminated.”

Jack: (nodding slowly) “And when honesty dies, trust follows.”

Jeeny: “Exactly. And then it doesn’t matter what’s in your food — the poison’s already in your words.”

Host: Jack’s gaze softened. The weight of her sentence lingered between them — uncomfortably true, beautifully phrased. He glanced around the empty restaurant, where the chef now sat near the bar, writing tomorrow’s menu in neat, deliberate strokes.

Jack: “You think we’ll ever reach a point where people care more about understanding than branding?”

Jeeny: “Maybe. But only if enough people like Marshall keep asking hard questions — and enough of us listen instead of label.”

Jack: “So awareness isn’t about changing what people eat. It’s about changing what they believe.”

Jeeny: “Yes. Because belief is the ingredient that seasons everything.”

Host: The camera drifted back, framing the two of them as silhouettes against the city light — a moment of quiet rebellion wrapped in calm conversation. The plates had gone cold, but the truth between them was still simmering.

Host: And as the sound of the street returned — the call of vendors, the low hum of humanity debating its own conscience — Barry Marshall’s words echoed like a scalpel through illusion:

Host: “If you say you are the Safe Food Foundation, that means you’re implying that your food is safer or that every other bit of food that we’re eating is not safe. If they were a really honest foundation, they would call themselves the anti-GM foundation.”

Host: Because language isn’t neutral — it’s architecture.
And honesty is the foundation of every truth that deserves to be believed.

Host: In the end, it’s not science that divides us —
it’s the names we give to our fears,
and the courage we lack to call them what they really are.