Over the weekend I read Wayne Roberts' "No Nonsense Guide to World Food." It's a compact, accessible account of global food issues, tying together historical, political and economic background information.
It made a good to companion to Dave Winne's "Closing the Food Gap," which I also read recently. Together the two books give a sober, illuminating picture of the effects of the industrialized food system, nationally and internationally, along with some concrete ideas for creating more sustainable alternatives.
While Winne's book is largely devoted to describing anti-hunger programs in one particular North American town, Roberts' book offers a more general perspective, devoting considerable space to the concept of "food sovereignty," which activists in third world nations have begun demanding as an antidote to the damage that has been done to their cultures and environments as a result of the globalized food system.
I appreciated Roberts' conviction that a well-expressed idea can go a long way towards crystalizing such a diverse and complex movement. Food sovereignty is more than just an issue of control. It's an expression of any society's right to express its culture and its values by choosing a food system that helps it to thrive.
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