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Very Short Introductions #366
Food: A Very Short Introduction
In this Very Short Introduction, Prof Lord John Krebs provides a brief history of human food, from our remote ancestors 3 million years ago to the present day. By looking at the four great transitions in human food - cooking, agriculture, processing, and preservation - he considers a variety of questions, including why people like some kinds of foods and not others; how your senses contribute to flavor; the role of genetics in our likes and dislikes; and the differences in learning and culture around the world.
In turn he considers aspects of diet, nutrition, and health, and the disparity between malnutrition in some places and overconsumption in others. Finally, he considers some of the big issues - the obesity crisis, sustainable agriculture, the role of new technologies such as genetic modification of crops, and ends by posing the question: how will it be possible to feed a population of 9 billion in 2050, without destroying our natural environment?
About the Series:
Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.
In turn he considers aspects of diet, nutrition, and health, and the disparity between malnutrition in some places and overconsumption in others. Finally, he considers some of the big issues - the obesity crisis, sustainable agriculture, the role of new technologies such as genetic modification of crops, and ends by posing the question: how will it be possible to feed a population of 9 billion in 2050, without destroying our natural environment?
About the Series:
Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.
144 pages, Paperback
First published August 8, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 22, 2019
This volume in the Oxford University Press AVSI series examines human eating habits. The first chapter puts the human diet in the context of evolution, reflecting upon how we got where we did in terms of food consumption. Here one gains insight into where the Paleo-diet fad is flawed, and one learns how cooking had a huge influence on human evolution.
The second chapter delves into the issue of likes and dislikes in food. We see that there are species-wide commonalities, but there are also differences both at an individual and cultural group level. e.g. Why is spice so common in the tropics and so rare in the great white north?
The third chapter looks at the ways food can do us in and what we’ve done – besides [and including] the aforementioned cooking – to reduce the threat of food gone awry. The penultimate chapter examines nutrition and how we get what we need from food.
The last chapter takes a bit of a turn, but investigates the fascinating topic of how (and whether) we will continue to feed our species. Readers will likely remember the name Malthus from either history or economics classes. He was an economist who suggested humanity was in dire straits, vis-à-vis food. Malthus noticed that population was growing geometrically while agricultural output grew arithmetically, and he reasonably noted that this was unsustainable. Of course, Malthus failed to foresee the huge technological advances from fertilizer to mechanization. However, that doesn’t make his concerns forever moot – perhaps just tardy. It remains far from clear whether the limited land space and resources can take billions more humans – especially without killing off all the other species. (Especially, if we aren’t willing to give up eating resource-intensive foods like cow in favor of less intensive one’s like grasshopper.)
The book has some graphics as well as both a “references” and a “further reading” section.
If you’re interested in food in a general sense, I’d recommend this as a great way to take in the outline of the topic.
The second chapter delves into the issue of likes and dislikes in food. We see that there are species-wide commonalities, but there are also differences both at an individual and cultural group level. e.g. Why is spice so common in the tropics and so rare in the great white north?
The third chapter looks at the ways food can do us in and what we’ve done – besides [and including] the aforementioned cooking – to reduce the threat of food gone awry. The penultimate chapter examines nutrition and how we get what we need from food.
The last chapter takes a bit of a turn, but investigates the fascinating topic of how (and whether) we will continue to feed our species. Readers will likely remember the name Malthus from either history or economics classes. He was an economist who suggested humanity was in dire straits, vis-à-vis food. Malthus noticed that population was growing geometrically while agricultural output grew arithmetically, and he reasonably noted that this was unsustainable. Of course, Malthus failed to foresee the huge technological advances from fertilizer to mechanization. However, that doesn’t make his concerns forever moot – perhaps just tardy. It remains far from clear whether the limited land space and resources can take billions more humans – especially without killing off all the other species. (Especially, if we aren’t willing to give up eating resource-intensive foods like cow in favor of less intensive one’s like grasshopper.)
The book has some graphics as well as both a “references” and a “further reading” section.
If you’re interested in food in a general sense, I’d recommend this as a great way to take in the outline of the topic.
March 31, 2021
Een boek over eten, heerlijk gevarieerd leesvoer. Leest erg gemakkelijk weg.
Voedsel in al z'n aspecten, als motor van evolutie, als bestanddeel in onze biochemie en onze perceptie van de wereld komt aan bod. Bovendien wordt de impact van voedselproductie op moderne vraagstukken zoals klimaatverandering en bevolkingsgroei onder de loep genomen.
Voedsel in al z'n aspecten, als motor van evolutie, als bestanddeel in onze biochemie en onze perceptie van de wereld komt aan bod. Bovendien wordt de impact van voedselproductie op moderne vraagstukken zoals klimaatverandering en bevolkingsgroei onder de loep genomen.
September 3, 2019
Interesting read especially coming from the UK perspective. ASU library.
July 9, 2016
John Krebs in this book covers the issues surrounding food, from the kinds of foods we know humans to have eaten since prehistory to the ways our cultivation and use of science have changed in just the last century or so.
There are a few swipes at the organic food movement, which he holds to be wasteful in terms of the lost productivity compared to other crops, and support for GM crops, which he holds to be the solution to the question of feeding the world. While I am interested to hear arguments against and for these movements (contrary to my current leanings), I must say that the view espoused here falls for the combination of statistics and blind trust that have so far led us to any number of thoughtless profit-driven scandals. I'm afraid the business mechanisms and tactics of Monsanto are not those of the bearer of the answer to the world's ills, and I am far from alone in that view. The week of writing this review saw the publication of a number of Nobel Prize winners accusing Greenpeace of a "crime against humanity" for shunning GM, however much that might seem an overreaction, given the many other (market-led) hoardings of food and diversions of its optimal flows in the interests of pure wonga. I don't doubt that there are potentially brilliant advances, but I'm not sure that the answer lies in handing over the keys to patent-scrounging giant corporations, whose interests will be anything but altruistic or food security-based. If they can't even do CSR right now that it's just a form of flimsily-regulated optional PR, how can we possibly expect them to act with the global vision that our various crises require?
Krebs also covers tastes, whether culturally acquired or otherwise, lactose intolerance, favism genes and the use of spices in different cuisines, touching only briefly, and to my mind ineffectually, on the issue of gluten intolerances of varying types which are quite clearly fuelling the obesity boom of recent decades. Often our food has been tampered with for profit (lead colouring, sulphuric acid in vinegar, etc.) Krebs is rather against the "natural" food movement, claiming that there are plenty of naturally-occurring toxins. Again, his credulous acceptance of the application of certain regulations leads one to again ask the question why there should ever be any scandals regarding blatant disregard for these regulations. The placing of the "safe level" at one or other point is not perhaps wholly arbitrary, but seems often to be driven more by speed-to-market concerns than truly effective testing. He may be right that being too picky (and exponentially more picky than our grandparents) could be dangerous in the face of the food-related challenges of the new millennium, but the arguments he uses are defensive rather than optimum-seeking. For example, I'm all for true resource- and carbon-accounting of food. In the same way that we find ourselves paying extra for certain fish after overfishing (and over-consumption), or for out-of-season vegetables, there should be some reflection of the true cost of beef or chicken or crops. But this should be used to reassess our whole food industry, not to serve as a basis for inefficient handouts to producers of the affected products. They should be given enough time to set their diversification in train, but not allowed to lobby for profit top-ups as a result of the new regulations. Because the cost of that leads the whole new system to collapse, every time.
Overall, the introduction is interesting, the writing engaging, although the apologism, rather than a common sense look at what we can do, seems suspiciously like a sop for maintaining a productive process as far from the people as possible, with a minimum of true information.
There are a few swipes at the organic food movement, which he holds to be wasteful in terms of the lost productivity compared to other crops, and support for GM crops, which he holds to be the solution to the question of feeding the world. While I am interested to hear arguments against and for these movements (contrary to my current leanings), I must say that the view espoused here falls for the combination of statistics and blind trust that have so far led us to any number of thoughtless profit-driven scandals. I'm afraid the business mechanisms and tactics of Monsanto are not those of the bearer of the answer to the world's ills, and I am far from alone in that view. The week of writing this review saw the publication of a number of Nobel Prize winners accusing Greenpeace of a "crime against humanity" for shunning GM, however much that might seem an overreaction, given the many other (market-led) hoardings of food and diversions of its optimal flows in the interests of pure wonga. I don't doubt that there are potentially brilliant advances, but I'm not sure that the answer lies in handing over the keys to patent-scrounging giant corporations, whose interests will be anything but altruistic or food security-based. If they can't even do CSR right now that it's just a form of flimsily-regulated optional PR, how can we possibly expect them to act with the global vision that our various crises require?
Krebs also covers tastes, whether culturally acquired or otherwise, lactose intolerance, favism genes and the use of spices in different cuisines, touching only briefly, and to my mind ineffectually, on the issue of gluten intolerances of varying types which are quite clearly fuelling the obesity boom of recent decades. Often our food has been tampered with for profit (lead colouring, sulphuric acid in vinegar, etc.) Krebs is rather against the "natural" food movement, claiming that there are plenty of naturally-occurring toxins. Again, his credulous acceptance of the application of certain regulations leads one to again ask the question why there should ever be any scandals regarding blatant disregard for these regulations. The placing of the "safe level" at one or other point is not perhaps wholly arbitrary, but seems often to be driven more by speed-to-market concerns than truly effective testing. He may be right that being too picky (and exponentially more picky than our grandparents) could be dangerous in the face of the food-related challenges of the new millennium, but the arguments he uses are defensive rather than optimum-seeking. For example, I'm all for true resource- and carbon-accounting of food. In the same way that we find ourselves paying extra for certain fish after overfishing (and over-consumption), or for out-of-season vegetables, there should be some reflection of the true cost of beef or chicken or crops. But this should be used to reassess our whole food industry, not to serve as a basis for inefficient handouts to producers of the affected products. They should be given enough time to set their diversification in train, but not allowed to lobby for profit top-ups as a result of the new regulations. Because the cost of that leads the whole new system to collapse, every time.
Overall, the introduction is interesting, the writing engaging, although the apologism, rather than a common sense look at what we can do, seems suspiciously like a sop for maintaining a productive process as far from the people as possible, with a minimum of true information.
December 20, 2013
What I read when I don't have any books--Very Short Introductions from my neighbor's cube. This one was interesting and pretty easy to get through.
September 10, 2016
Informative and well-written.
June 5, 2014
A little mess,not so good
October 9, 2014
Fascinating account of the cellular-level chemistry that underpins the activity and the evolutionary and pathological considerations that have influenced why and what we eat
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews