One in every of his frequent themes is that natural practices don’t work properly for all crops everywhere, and have little probability of cranking out sufficient meals for the entire planet, whereas high-tech intensive farming isn’t at all times as dangerous as critics make it out to be. Nitrogen fertilizers derived from fossil fuels are anathema to environmentalists, however Baggini argues that artificial fertilizers “may very well be produced indefinitely utilizing renewable power.” No-till agriculture, which depends on extremely mechanized tools for sowing seeds and making use of pesticide, could make for more healthy soil.
Shades of grey like these don’t usually creep into our conversations about trendy meals networks. It’s welcome to get a tour of the meals world from a author who just isn’t in any camp besides that of purpose.
At occasions Baggini’s evenhandedness might be robust on the reader, who has to slalom via pages on which practically each sentence is staked with “however,” “nonetheless” or “nevertheless.” Extra critically, a few of his conclusions are hanging of their blandness. After strolling us via the commodity markets’ exploitation of these espresso and cacao employees, lots of whom are primarily enslaved, he concludes: “A extra equitable meals world must be everybody’s purpose, however life like reform requires a fairer commodity market, not its abolition. That’s simpler stated than completed.”
A excessive tolerance for nuance might be extra useful in tracing the form of an issue than in determining options. Right here is the place the cosmic scope of Baggini’s undertaking comes again to chunk him. Describing little one slavery, cultured meat, deforestation, caged chickens, gene modifying and zoonotic illness outbreaks is one factor. Wrapping all of them — and rather more — into what he calls “a theoretically coherent and conceptually clear entire” is one thing else fully, and at occasions “How the World Eats” looks like a “Key to All Mythologies” written for individuals who purchase fair-trade espresso beans.
If one thread runs via all of the networks Baggini invokes, invisibly molding and directing them, it’s energy: company energy, clearly, but additionally the facility of governments, NGOs, commodities markets and throngs of customers. He acknowledges this, however by no means fairly wrestles with it, although he does admit that “the query of the place energy lies in any system is at all times essential.” As critiques of institutional forces go, this isn’t precisely Foucault.
Baggini’s analysis into how the world works seems to be extra attention-grabbing than his reflections on what all of it means. However for eaters with an urge for food for details, there may be a lot to get pleasure from. The summary concepts are supposed to be the purpose, however it’s the concrete particulars that make “How the World Eats” absorbing.
HOW THE WORLD EATS: A International Meals Philosophy | By Julian Baggini | Pegasus | 443 pp. | $30