California features the ultimate in fast foods. Oranges, grapes and tangerines can be plucked ripe from the tree, no polluting drive-throughs involved.

Nevertheless, fast food eateries and ultra-processed foods (UPFs) constitute an increasing share of the American diet.

Since the 1980s, industrially produced foods have been replacing whole foods. Industrial foods improve their shelf lives and palatability with long lists of additives like emulsifiers, artificial colors, hydrogenated oils, and high-fructose sugars.

About 70% of the U.S. food supply is now ultra-processed.

It’s not easy to pin down the exact harm. UC Davis Nutrition Professor Angela Zivkovic states: “The only thing we actually know about ultra-processed foods is that, when given the option to eat them, they’re so tasty and it’s so easy to overeat them that you end up eating more calories than you normally would, and you end up gaining weight as a result.”

In the last decade or so, private consumer lawsuits have accused food manufactures of intentionally designing food to be additive — and failing to warn consumers.

They generally have been unsuccessful. Judges have ruled that a correlation between UPF consumption and childhood disease doesn’t establish causation.

Last month, San Francisco became the first government to file a lawsuit against the most popular food manufactures over ultra-processed snacks and drinks.

The suit seeks a statewide prohibition from “deceptive marketing” targeting children, especially in Black and Latino communities. The city also requests reimbursement for what officials label a public health crisis.

This tactic emerges from the playbook of the tobacco lawsuits in the 1990s. At that time, states sought to recover healthcare costs from treating smoking-related issues.

The states were ultimately successful, requiring tobacco companies to pay restitution and restrict advertising. The tobacco companies pivoted by purchasing, yes, food companies.

As with tobacco, the food lawsuits have a learning curve. In recent years, research is documenting that specific food processing causes diet-related illnesses.

“The idea that we now have the data to show these specific health effects to the point of showing it in court is a turning point,” said Diana Winters, deputy director of UCLA’s Center for Food Law and Policy.

The drive to reduce UPFs and fast foods runs parallel to the slow food movement. Slow food combines local traditions, sustainable farming, and carefully prepared food.

The global movement’s flagship event, Terra Madre, has been held annually in Turin, Italy until 2025. Beginning last year, Sacramento began alternating with Turin, branding itself the “Farm-to-Fork Capital.”

The top sponsor for the September 2025 Sacramento, California, event was the Wilton Rancheria, whose members are descendants of Northern California’s Miwok and Nisenan tribes.

The event featured hundreds of farmers, fishers, Indigenous, Afro-American communities, cooks, and food producers from 22 countries.

Some workshops focused on raising awareness about the health and biodiversity impacts of ultra-processed foods and choosing minimally processed, seasonal ingredients.

This year’s Terra Madre slow food conference is coming up in September, back in Turin.

I make some of the slowest food around. Tomato sauce is my current specialty. Tomatoes ripen slowly, biding their time until dozens of them mature overnight. They energize me into slow food gift-giving and sauce making.

The last couple of years I’ve enjoyed pickling. I make “poor man’s capers” from nasturtium fruit when the colorful vine carpets my hillside in spring.

I’ve been making pickles this year, courtesy of a prolific cucumber six-pack from the Home Improvement Center. We’ve been giving away cucumbers and pickles like handshakes.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco UPF lawsuit is moving through a jurisdictional fight, proceeding through state court. The case has not been dismissed or settled.

To the plaintiffs it may seem as hopeless as the tobacco trials did originally.

However, governments have the advantage of not requiring proof of individual causation as do personal-injury claims.

The fast food ban is on a slow legal course.