Publisher Description
The frightening truth about the modern food system.
The bestselling author of The End of Oil turns his attention to food and finds that the system we’ve entrusted with meeting one of our most basic needs is dramatically failing us. With his trademark comprehensive global approach, Paul Roberts investigates the startling truth about the modern food system: the way we make food, market and consume it, and even think about it is no longer compatible or safe for the billions of consumers the system was built to serve. The emergence of large-scale and efficient food production changed forever our relationship with food and ultimately left a vulnerable and paradoxical system in place. Over 1.1 billion people worldwide are “over-nourished,” according to the World Health Organization, and are at risk of obesity-related illness, while roughly as many people are starving. Meanwhile the natural systems all food is dependent upon have been irreparably damaged by chemicals and destructive farming techniques; the pressures of low-cost food production court contamination and disease; and big food consumers, such as China and India, are already planning for tightened global food supplies, making it clear that the era of superabundance is behind us.
Vivid descriptions, lucid explanations, and fresh thinking make The End of Food uniquely able to offer a new, accessible way to understand the vulnerable miracle of the modern food economy. Roberts presents clear, stark visions of the future and helps us prepare to make the decisions—personal and global—we must make to survive the demise of food production as we know it.
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“Very similar to Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, Roberts is very heavy on the facts. This book is over 300 pages of hard to digest facts which point out the obvious flaws in the food industry. By having so many facts in his book there is a blatant disregard for the reader. He doesn’t take into account that there are over three hundred pages and through out them he berates the food industry for all of its flaws. An industry that is under the weight of a nation that is at three hundred million and growing. They are at a crossroads between needing to make the most profit possible and producing enough food to feed all the people who live here. Roberts does do an excellent job of pointing out the weak points where the major companies do take liberties with their products and because of that millions of lives are put at risk. He does what he sets out to do, which is point out the flaws in the corporate giants who run the food industry and explain how our current consumption will outweigh the supply of food in a matter of years. The biggest flaw i find in his book is that it is all about the facts and what is going to happen, no alternatives are suggested. He does what the movie Food Inc does, it shows you the bad and the good, and they leaves the end result up to you by saying and making you want to buy home grown organic products. They leave change to the readers, i think it is a noble cause and a very strongly written book, but i feel that he didn’t do all he could, he told us about the end of food, but thats it. Still left me feeling hungry.”
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Samj (4 out of 5 stars)
