Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World

by Carolyn Steel

One stumbling block to creating a sitopian economy is the fact that we’ve got used to spending so little on food. In 1950, the British spent between 30 and 50 per cent of their income on it; today we spend just 9 per cent (the least in Europe), compared to 13 per cent in France and 25 per cent in India. Americans, meanwhile, spend just 6.4 per cent, the lowest figure anywhere in the world. This is not to say that American food is cheap to produce, however; on the contrary, at an average annual cost of $2,273 per head, it is the world’s most expensive, costing more than ten times what it costs to feed the average Indian.127 Affordability is a key reason why food is an area where politicians fear to tread. We can’t raise prices, the argument goes, since it would push millions into hunger. Yet surely the problem is the other way around? Shouldn’t we be asking why, in some of the richest nations on earth, millions are living below the breadline? The real taboo here isn’t food, but our refusal to face the dark heart of neoliberalism. The irony is that the solution lies in the problem: by valuing food, we could create many good jobs that could lift people out of poverty. Food and farming remain by far the largest employers on earth, providing work which, when valued, can be hugely rewarding. For numerous reasons – stewardship of the land, maintaining biodiversity, boosting rural communities and simply eating better – we need more people working in food, not fewer.