How to Feed the World
The History and Future of Food
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"Vaclav Smil is my favorite author."—Bill Gates
An indispensable analysis of how the world really produces and consumes its food—and a scientist's exploration of how we can successfully feed a growing population without killing the planet
We have never had to feed as many people as we do today. And yet, we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us, and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways. As a result, in our economic, political, and everyday choices, we take for granted and fail to prioritize the thing that makes all our lives possible: food.
In this ambitious, myth-busting book, Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today: why are some of the world’s biggest food producers also the countries with the most undernourished populations? Why do we waste so much food and how can we solve that? Could the whole planet go vegan and be healthy? Should it? He explores the global history of food production to understand why we farm some animals and not others, why most of the world’s calories come from just a few foodstuffs, and how this might change in the future.
How to Feed the World is the data-based, rigorously researched guide that offers solutions to our broken global food system.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this granular study, Smil (Size), a geography professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba, delves into the details of global food production. Exploring the difficulty of supplying humans with adequate nutrition, Smil notes that an adult male trying to survive solely on fruits and vegetables would have to eat, for instance, 40 pounds of lettuce or 10 pounds of apples per day. Animal products provide more efficient means of consuming necessary fats and proteins, but Smil contends they come with high costs, including the diversion of vast amounts of water for growing livestock feed and the release of 8.7 billion tons of methane into the atmosphere annually. Weighing in on proposals to make food production more sustainable and efficient, Smil suggests that the technological challenges and high costs of producing lab-grown meat mean it's unlikely to replace livestock anytime soon, and that forgoing synthetic fertilizers and pesticides would lower crop yields by 20% and leave 40% of humanity without enough to eat. Instead, Smil recommends focusing on reducing food waste through flexible pricing and innovations in packaging design, as well as improving sustainability by decreasing meat consumption. Smil makes a convincing case for "doing more with less," though his "unapologetic" surfeit of statistics and jargon ("trophic levels"; "feed conversion ratios") can make for dry reading. Though persuasive, this is a bit of a slog. Photos.
