How the World Eats: A Global Food Philosophy

Global food systems have grown unsustainable and must be reworked, according to this intermittently illuminating treatise. Philosopher Baggini (How the World Thinks) describes a mismanaged network of foodways, mammoth agricultural companies, and convoluted supply chains that deplete natural resources, spew greenhouse gases, and simultaneously promote hunger and obesity, thanks to overproduction and faulty distribution systems, while reinforcing economic inequality by ripping off farmers. He travels across the world to dissect well-meaning reforms, noting, for example, that the European Union’s organic goals can be detrimental in countries like the Netherlands, which lacks enough cultivable land to compensate for the decreased productivity of organic farming. Instead, he offers a holistic philosophy—less a “food system” than an interconnected “food world” that shares resources and relies on country-specific solutions, from Indigenous agricultural practices to food waste reduction initiatives to lab-grown meat (though the technology is not yet functional on a mass scale). Baggini skillfully captures the intricacies of an enormously complex system and its tangled environmental, economic, and public health consequences, though his tendency to entertain and then dismiss solutions as insufficient can become tedious. Nevertheless, it’s a worthwhile consideration of a pressing social issue. (Feb.)