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Our Food Problems
The British were once famous worldwide for being uninterested in food and our
food being brown. This is no longer the case. UK food has changed remarkably
in the last half century. Our food has Europeanised (pizza is children's favourite
food) and internationalised (we eat the world's cuisines), yet the food culture is
fragmented, a mix of mass 'ultra-processed' foods (high in salt, sugar and fat)
alongside food as varied and good as anywhere on the planet. This is partly the
effect of Europeanisation but mainly because the UK has got wealthier, allowing
aspirations and tastes to flower.
This book takes stock of the UK food where it comes from, what we
eat, its impact, its fragilities and strengths. It's a book on the politics of food. It
argues that the UK's Brexit vote is an enforced opportunity to review our food
system. This is sorely needed. A deep reflection by the UK state began after
the shock of the Oil/Food Commodity price spike 2007-08 and the Great
Recession. This policy was, alas, curtailed by the Coalition and Tory
governments which both argued the food system should just keep going as it
had been. The future, they said, lay in a burst of agri-technology and more
exports to pay for the massive food imports.
Our Food Problems argues that this and other approaches are short-sighted,
against the public interest, and possibly even strategically folly. Setting a new
course for UK food is no easy task, however, but it's a process, this book will
urges, that needs to begin.
food being brown. This is no longer the case. UK food has changed remarkably
in the last half century. Our food has Europeanised (pizza is children's favourite
food) and internationalised (we eat the world's cuisines), yet the food culture is
fragmented, a mix of mass 'ultra-processed' foods (high in salt, sugar and fat)
alongside food as varied and good as anywhere on the planet. This is partly the
effect of Europeanisation but mainly because the UK has got wealthier, allowing
aspirations and tastes to flower.
This book takes stock of the UK food where it comes from, what we
eat, its impact, its fragilities and strengths. It's a book on the politics of food. It
argues that the UK's Brexit vote is an enforced opportunity to review our food
system. This is sorely needed. A deep reflection by the UK state began after
the shock of the Oil/Food Commodity price spike 2007-08 and the Great
Recession. This policy was, alas, curtailed by the Coalition and Tory
governments which both argued the food system should just keep going as it
had been. The future, they said, lay in a burst of agri-technology and more
exports to pay for the massive food imports.
Our Food Problems argues that this and other approaches are short-sighted,
against the public interest, and possibly even strategically folly. Setting a new
course for UK food is no easy task, however, but it's a process, this book will
urges, that needs to begin.
176 pages, Paperback
Published September 25, 2018
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