Historical Perspective on Food Riots

There's been a lot of talk in the news lately about food riots, with angry crowds taking to the streets from Haiti to Senegal.

Food riots are nothing new. Ancient Roman citizens rioted when their food supply was precarious, and food riots were among the causes that sparked the French Revolution.

On a visceral level there's something terrifying about people tearing through the streets wreaking havoc because they don't have enough food. But the people who are the most hungry are rarely the ones who riot.

Aside from the obvious fact that people who riot about food must be deeply concerned about having enough to eat, if not very hungry, food riots tend to grow out of discontent over government food policies. Nobody riots over a drought, because social unrest can't change the weather. Still, in times of drought people are most likely to be outraged about government decisions that leave them with less of whatever food is available.

In an age of globalized trade, with much of the land in poorer countries turned into plantations for industrial agriculture to grow crops that are shipped to wealthier nations, it is easy to see why the Haitians and Senegalese are angry at their governments.

Today's food riots may stop if the weather improves soon, but unless these agricultural policies start to change, new riots will flare up the next time there's a metereological crisis.