food politics and climate

books everyone who has an interest in the future of food should read

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	The Omnivore’s Dilemma The search for a perfect meal in a fast–food world Michael Pollan Published by Penguin, H/B $38.99, P/B $22.99 If you have read Pollan’s The Botany of desire, you will know that Pollan is no slapdash writer, but a researcher of the very best kind. When he finally formulates the result of this research his words are powerful and erudite and often with an undercurrent of foreboding. Halfway through The Omnivore’s Dilemma there is a sense of being given too much information but it’s impossible to put down. In search of the perfect meal Pollan takes us on a fascinating journey as he faces literally killing what he eats and comes to terms with the intimate and sometimes sinister details of delivering food to the plate. For example, ’Daniel voiced his approval of my technique and, noticing the drop of blood on my glasses, offered one last bit of advice: “The first rule of killing is that if you ever feel anything on your lip, you don’t want to lick it off.” ’ Pollan deals with the full spectrum of delivering a meal in a modern world even to the point of a chapter titled The Vegan Utopia. He lays a convincing argument to reinstate a relationship with the land. This book is highly recommended as a major work of food philosophy.
	Not on the Label Felicity Lawrence Published by Penguin, P/B $24.95 If you think about it poor people with a small piece of land that grow their food by time honored traditional methods have the best food in the world today. Do you want your children and grandchildren to grow up never having tasted a piece of ripe fruit straight from a tree? Is the well traveled out of season food we eat today progress? British journalist Felicity Lawrence in her terrifying book Not on the Label, what really goes into the food on your plate explains in minute and horrific detail that the only motivation for food miles, out of season and long-life is profit. The section on bread is particularly scary, as is the slave labor style of gang labor that frequently does the work living and working under the most inhumane conditions. Supermarkets will undercut their independent competitors out of the equation, even working for months at a calculated loss. Everyone should read this book and wake up to what we are doing to our food and our health, not to mention discouraging the reinvention of slaving in the Western world.
	Eating Between the Lines Food & Equality in Australia Rebecca Huntley Published by Black Inc., P/B $24.95 This is the most import contemporary book written about food and eating habits in Australia. Huntley is a researcher and whilst the book is utterly erudite it is written with some detachment. Detachment is not to insult the intent of this book, but simply to make obvious that other books that have been very important like Michael Symons One Continuous Picnic and Cherry Ripe’s Culinary Cringe were written with undeniable personal preference and a certain food elitism influencing the words that were written. This is not to say that Huntley does not have a personal interest in food and eating, she does. Her Italian heritage, good food and eating well has clearly been formative in her life, but what Huntley manages to do, that no one writing about Australian food, dining habits, history or the future has previously managed to do is write about the facts without embellishing them with their own personal opinion. A fascinating read, there is some reason for optimism that perhaps our eating habits are not quite in the decline our sensation seeking press might like to imply. Read the full review It is also disturbing to note that researchers fail to get press for ’good news’ food stories. Huntley tackles the entire spectrum of dining in Australia from working mothers in deprived areas, to indigenous health issues because of poor diet, to the ever increasing singles in our society, to why the identical shopping list costs more in one suburb and less in another (be very surprised). She clearly states the differences in shopping habits and options between rich and poor, ethnic and indigenous. Huntley even compares organic to non-organic shopping with an exercise so simple but so obvious as to why complete organic is still not within the reach of middleclass Australia. Since time immemorial women have gone without to feed their children and grandchildren and she notes that even in low socio economic circumstances women continue to try and feed their children well and will, if they can possibly afford it, buy some organic foods for them. We can attest to the truth of this because when researching food shopping habits in 2000 we discovered to our astonishment that 40% of British mothers tried to buy some organic foods for their babies up to the age of 12 months. It is stating the obvious to say that many of these mothers must have had to compromise the rest of the family budget to do this. Whilst many of us will object to the invention of the News Group, Donna Hay, being referred to as a “chef” Huntley succinctly explains what the celebrity chef has done for Australian food culture and she notably talks about the changes of the role of men in the kitchen. Rightly she notes, in the main men have still not taken on the drudge of the daily family meal, but she does sight some hope for the future. Most disturbing are the latter chapters tackling the movement of market gardens from their traditional near city locations. Pushed out by urban sprawl, lack of family members wanting to continue the business, age and the amount of money being offered for their lands she leaves the reader with a great deal of fear for the future. This brilliant book looks unemotionally at the depth and breadth of eating habits in Australia today and makes an intelligent estimation as to just what the future of food and eating in Australia might be. Every food snob should read this book and gain a better and more respectful understanding of where food and feeding a family both now and in the future is for most Australians. The sad fact is not many Australians know how to cook from scratch (or want to), our homeless don’t know about $2 bags at our local markets on Tuesdays and anyway they don’t have anywhere to cook and most Australians don’t know how to eat well for a small amount of money. Perhaps Huntley’s next book might tackle the diets of elderly Australians trying to survive on a government pension and shame a government and a nation into treating them better. A very compelling read!
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