Diet for a Large Planet: Industrial Britain, Food Systems, and World Ecology

by Chris Otter

We are facing a world food crisis of unparalleled proportions. Our reliance on unsustainable dietary choices and agricultural systems is causing problems both for human health and the health of our planet. Solutions from lab-grown food to vegan diets to strictly local food consumption are often discussed, but a central question remains: how did we get to this point?

In Diet for a Large Planet, Chris Otter goes back to the late eighteenth century in Britain, where the diet heavy in meat, wheat, and sugar was developing. As Britain underwent steady growth, urbanization, industrialization, and economic expansion, the nation altered its food choices, shifting away from locally produced plant-based nutrition. This new diet, rich in animal proteins and refined carbohydrates, made people taller and stronger, but it led to new types of health problems. Its production also relied on far greater acreage than Britain itself, forcing the nation to become more dependent on global resources. Otter shows how this issue expands beyond Britain, looking at the global effects of large agro-food systems that require more resources than our planet can sustain. This comprehensive history helps us understand how the British played a significant role in making red meat, white bread, and sugar the diet of choice—linked to wealth, luxury, and power—and shows how dietary choices connect to the pressing issues of climate change and food supply.
 

Genres: History, Science, Nature, Food

400 pages, Hardcover

First published June 5, 2020

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as part of History 239D. Covered Irish potato famine, Bengal famine, artificial selection, genesis of food safety standards, rise in global meat, wheat, and sugar systems, cultural attitudes toward food, fertilizer and other topics in world ecology, vegetarian and organic farming movements, roller mills, addictive qualities of sugar, gendered attitudes toward eating, rise of modern dentistry, the "large-planet" philosophy and the idea of the "commodity frontier."

This is definitely the best-researched book I have ever read, and potentially the most informative and educational. It was a pleasure to read.

Go Bucks!

[Bibi Kortekaas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read quickly for my studies. Covers all aspects I can think of and combines ideology, culture, politics, economics, ecology, historical developments, biology and more in relation to the workings of British food systems. Lots and lots of interesting quotes and does give a good overview of its topic. It was very dense and detailed at times in the subchapters for who’s interested could be good in my case it made my head hurt a bit but Otter always gives us a summary at the end of the important take aways. Rating 3.5

[Joey Mopsink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish Otter had spent more time delving into the imperial aspects of his thesis but this is already a sprawling project with a ton of research behind it!

[Kyliemei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting global food history with a focus on the change in Britain's diet to one that is heavy in meat, wheat, and sugar and the ecological and colonial effects that it had.