The Atlas of Food

The Atlas of Food Who Eats What, Where and Why

Erik Millstone and Tim Lang
Series: The Earthscan Atlas Series
(other books in this series)


January 2003
128 pages
ISBN: 9781853839658

Related Subject Areas:
Agriculture and Food


Food is vital for our health and welfare, and its production critically affects the environment as well as the wealth of nations. Despite a rapid increase in trade, hundreds of millions of people remain hungry, while chronic obesity is increasing worldwide.

Much of the grain that could amply feed the world's population is fed instead to cattle to satisfy the rich world's appetite for meat. New technologies, such as GM crops, promise to increase food production, but are they completely safe? How do markets work, and whose vested interests are at stake? What are the impacts of different forms of farming, processing, transportation, retailing and changing eating habits?

Vividly presented through the creative use of maps and graphics, this atlas provides clear, authoritative and comprehensive accounts of the food chain - from plough to plate - and reveals how it affects the lives and livelihoods of us all, farmers and suburban shoppers alike.

Reviews
'A remarkable book that reveals with devastating clarity the bizarre way the world feeds itself. The quest to find out just what's happening to our food is no longer a journey without maps'
Derek Cooper, The Food Programme, BBC Radio 4
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About the author(s)
Erik Millstone is Senior Lecturer in Science Policy at the University of Sussex and an authority on the politics and science of food production. Tim Lang is Professor of Food Policy at Thames Valley University and works on food policy and the public interest.
Contents
Introduction * Part 1: Contemporary Challenges – Feeding the World * Population and Productivity * Environmental Challenges * Water Pressure * Consuming Disease * Under-nutrition * Over-nutrition * Food Aid * Food Aid as Power * Part 2: Farming – Mechanization * Animal Feed * Mad Cow Disease * Industrial Farming * Agricultural Farming * Agricultural R&D * Genetic Modification * Genetically Modified Crops * Pesticides * Working the Land * Urban Farming * Fishing and Aquaculture * Agriculture and Biodiversity * Sustainable Farming * Part 3: Trade - Trade Flows * Animal Transport Worldwide * Animal Transport in Europe * Food Miles * Subsidies and Tariffs * Trade Disputes * Developing Trade * Fair Trade * Part 4: Processing, Retailing and Consumption - Staple Diets * Processing Giants * Retail Power * Functional Foods * Organic Foods * Food Additives * Eating Out * Fast Food * Alcohol Consumption * Advertising * Citizens Bite Back * Part 5 World Tables - Agriculture * Consumption * References * Photo Credits * Index