‘You are what you eat’ may be a singularly surreal interpretation of human nutrition, but anyone who swears by such wisdom probably keeps a close eye on what Felicity Lawrence is up to.

Lawrence, The Guardian’s special correspondent, has revealed and reported on some fairly stomach-turning stories – chickens sold after being dropped on factory floors, ‘beef’ burgers made from horsemeat, and fake food on supermarket shelves.

The food sector is one of the areas most changed by the tide of globalisation – as consumers come to expect fresh food from around the world at all times of the year, extraordinary levels of exploitation and environmental destruction have been the result. Huge multinational corporations oversee supply chains where slipping standards, workers held in conditions similar to slavery and ethical violations are disturbingly common.

“It’s equivalent to another industrial revolution, where all the rules have been torn up,” Lawrence tells me. She is in the city to speak at an event by Cambridge PEN, a campaign group which advocates for the rights of writers worldwide.

“One of the huge advantages to being a grey-haired, middle-aged woman is people don’t notice you”

Lawrence has worked as an investigative journalist at The Guardian for decades and has written two bestselling books on her main focus: the food industry. Entering a sector of journalism which was dominated by taste tests and comparisons, Lawrence focused on the bigger picture: what she terms “extraordinary process of globalisation” behind how food gets onto our plates. Carving out a niche of expertise, her reports have often triggered significant real-world changes, exposing wrongdoing and poor practice which put consumers at risk.

Times are changing, however. As newspapers still try to find their place in a rapidly-changing media landscape, spiralling profits have driven many to make significant cuts. When cuts have to be made, investigations teams are frequently among the first in the firing line – huge costs, no guarantee of success and legal conditions which are increasingly hostile towards journalists all playing a part. Nonetheless, Lawrence is emphatic about investigation’s place at the heart of newspaper journalism.

“Investigative journalism is the core of most newspapers’ reason for being,” she says. “It would be the last thing any of us would give up.”

Certainly, the scoops themselves are not disappearing. Following Trump’s victory in November, The New York Times and The Washington Post found themselves buoyed by a huge influx of new subscribers – proving there is still a place in the public’s heart for old-fashioned investigations.

A good scoop can have an extraordinary impact, but chasing stories can put significant pressures on journalists, particularly in relation to the legal pressures which Lawrence faces as she goes after big companies. One manifestation of this is the inevitable inundation with letters from lawyers unhappy with the scrutiny their clients are being placed under.

“It’s a normal week for me to receive the most the most extraordinary legal letters,” Lawrence tells me, pulling one out as an example. It is 12 pages long. “That’s a record for the office,” she adds with more than a hint of pride.

“My husband’s very good at telling me to shut up”

Lawrence has been sued before, and is being sued currently, but still does not bat an eyelid at such methods. “Usually when the letter is more threatening or it’s 12 pages long, you think ‘I’ve got them bang to rights, they are in the wrong’. Quite often, the ones that are not in the wrong are much more cooperative.”

The personal difficulties extend beyond legal issues, however. With so many investigations reliant on whistleblowers, managing interactions with people becomes a key skill. But finding stories is not such a challenge for Lawrence – she is well-known enough that people will seek her out. “People come to you because you’ve written in that territory before,” she notes. 

Instead, the challenge lies in trying to help people who are often desperate, and have nowhere left to turn: “it’s almost like being a therapist,” she points out. “You can tell nobody is prepared to listen to them anymore.”

Often this relationship can produce significant personal pressure too, Lawrence explains, noting that “they quite often become quite dependent on you”. She continues, telling me about a particular case, a source for a story from twenty years ago, who “still rings”.

This personal pressure can extend into a journalist's own life and relationships, particularly for Lawrence. “My husband’s very good at telling me to shut up,” she jokes, but admits that chasing a story can become all-consuming: “I do get very driven when I’m in the middle of something.”

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Recent revelations about the scale of state surveillance have also placed new pressures on journalists like Lawrence, who admits to me that she is “going back to really old-fashioned methods”. No phones, and no emails: instead, face-to-face contact and handwritten notes are her preferred method. “Sometimes you use a mobile phone on purpose because you don’t mind if somebody’s listening,” she adds.

Remaining clandestine is not always such a challenge, though, Lawrence is keen to emphasise that “one of the huge advantages to being a grey-haired, middle-aged woman is people don’t notice you.” She laughs. “I’m just invisible.”

Ultimately, Lawrence sees her role as holding power to account. After all, she tells me, “I’m not terribly interested in one-off scandals. The overarching narrative of our era for me is overweening corporate power.” Indeed, in her view, this is crucial against the backdrop of Trump’s presidency. “There is a need for all of us to be willing to stand up very, very actively, and make a lot of noise,” she argues strongly. 

As political power is consolidated more and more into the hands of corporations, journalists like Lawrence and the newspapers which they work for play an increasingly essential role. They are making that noise, but need the support of the public now more than ever