Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel

[sqbr]

Unfortunately I didn't finish this book, not because it's bad but because I'd reached my quite low mental limit for nonfiction books(*) (Why yes, this did help make my Phd unbearable) "Luckily" I accidentally arrived at the library 45 minutes before it opened, so spent the time reading the last chapter (having read the first 2 or 3 already) and deciding on bits to quote.

So: this is a very good book, exploring the problems with the global food industry, how it's bad for everyone from farmers to consumers, and how everyone can fix it.

There's a website, which has one of the most important things to take away from it, what to do.

Here's a the full annotated list but in short:

• Transform our tastes.
  
• Eat locally and seasonally.
  
• Eat agroecologically.
  
• Support locally owned business.
  
• Insist that the workers who grow our food have the right to dignity.
  
• Advocate profound and comprehensive rural change.
  
• Demand living wages for all.
  
• Support a sustainable architecture of food.
  
• Snap the food system’s bottleneck.
  
• Own and provide restitution for the injustices of the past and present.
  

And yes, I know a lot of you have been doing this stuff for ages, and good for you. I'm still not becoming vegan :P And I must admit I've been avoiding some of these ideas partly because I don't want my smugly activist father and sister to be all..smug about it. But that's silly.

I think the easiest and most personally beneficial thing for me at least is to buy fruit and veg from local stores and preferably farmers markets (supermarket F&V is foul). Luckily I have a quite good fruit and veg store right near my house, I realise this is harder for other people.

I think I shall buy a copy, possibly from Boffins (a locally owned bookstore) and think about it all some more.

And now two photocopied and scanned bits which I hope Mr Patel wouldn't object to (and yes, if I was smart I would have scanned it BEFORE going to library):



(*)This being entirely sanguinity's fault.

Comments

[flyingblogspot.livejournal.com]

I'm excited to see someone posting about this - my brother's been reading it too, and we've been talking a lot about it.

[fe2h2o.livejournal.com]

'In Defense of Food' by Michael Pollen is another on this general topic (at least, as far as I can tell without having read this book:-) ) if you'd like to read more. Although it's still non-fiction, he was a journalist, so it's all written in article length bites:-) I found it a most interesting read.

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

Snap the food system’s bottleneck.

I'm not sure what that one means:


I would agree with the list. But I would also add: respect the opinions of those who grow our food. Or hang on, maybe that's covered by the dignity thing.


I'm still not becoming vegan :P

Well the only one in the list that would possibly push veganism is Eat agroecologically. and that is far too complex a subject to simplify into 'veganism'. Vegetarian or vegan food choices need to be considered for their ecological impact just as much as meat and dairy eating, and by some measures (e.g. soya, or preserving fragile grazed habitats) they can come out pretty badly.

[sanguinity]

I like the part about me. :-D

[david adam <zanchey> (from livejournal.com)]

Claremont farmer's market has good and cheap food. I'm not sure how well that sort of thing scales though.

[flyingblogspot.livejournal.com]

I'm excited to see someone posting about this - my brother's been reading it too, and we've been talking a lot about it.

[fe2h2o.livejournal.com]

'In Defense of Food' by Michael Pollen is another on this general topic (at least, as far as I can tell without having read this book:-) ) if you'd like to read more. Although it's still non-fiction, he was a journalist, so it's all written in article length bites:-) I found it a most interesting read.

[http://users.livejournal.com/peasant_/]

Snap the food system’s bottleneck.

I'm not sure what that one means:


I would agree with the list. But I would also add: respect the opinions of those who grow our food. Or hang on, maybe that's covered by the dignity thing.


I'm still not becoming vegan :P

Well the only one in the list that would possibly push veganism is Eat agroecologically. and that is far too complex a subject to simplify into 'veganism'. Vegetarian or vegan food choices need to be considered for their ecological impact just as much as meat and dairy eating, and by some measures (e.g. soya, or preserving fragile grazed habitats) they can come out pretty badly.

[sanguinity]

I like the part about me. :-D

[david adam <zanchey> (from livejournal.com)]

Claremont farmer's market has good and cheap food. I'm not sure how well that sort of thing scales though.