The End of Food - The Coming Crisis in the World Food Industry

In a startling global investigation of the way we make, market, consume and even think about food, Paul Roberts reveals how our modern food economy is no longer compatible with or safe for the billions of consumers it was built to serve. The emergence of large-scale and efficient food production, using the same distribution channels that bring us cheap DVDs, cosmetics and toys, has changed for ever our relationship with food. But it has also left a vulnerable and paradoxical system in place. According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.1 billion people worldwide are now 'over-nourished' and at risk of obesity-related illness, while roughly as many people are starving -a perverse symmetry that is emblematic of the system's larger failings. Meanwhile, the natural systems all food is dependent upon have been irreparably damaged by chemicals and destructive farming techniques. The pressures of low-cost food production cause contamination and disease, while big food consumers such as China and India are already planning for tightened global food supplies - the era of superabundance seems to be behind us, and a new era of food geopolitics is opening up. Full of the vivid description, lucid explanation and fresh thinking that distinguished The End of Oil, The End of Food offers a new way to understand the vulnerable miracle of the modern food economy and presents a clear-eyed view of the future, identifying the personal and global decisions we must face up to if we are to survive the demise of food production as we have known it for the last hundred years.