Written to mark the tenth anniversary of the UNESCO Chair in World Food Systems, this multidisciplinary collection of short, digestible expert essays offers a uniquely rounded introduction to the key contemporary issues around sustainable nutrition. The book consists of a clear, five-part structure in which economists, historians, sociologists, physical biologists, and others present a series of reflections on what food is, how it functions in our socieities, how we understand it, and how this has changed over time. Along the way, we discover how current global policies and agro-practices feed into all of this, and we find that reconsidering our nutrition amounts to reconsidering our societies. All authors are leaders in their fields, and all hail from the research organizations that co-lead the UNESCO Chair, including CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, IRD and Ciheam-IAMM, making this an ideal introductory resource for postgraduates, practitioners, and others interested in food studies and global food systems. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

Autorentext

Nicolas Bricas is the director of the UNESCO Chair on World Food Systems at Montpellier SupAgro and CIRAD, the French agricultural research and international cooperation organization working for the sustainable development of tropical and Mediterranean regions. In this role, he leads research programs and training sessions on Sustainable Urban Food System and policies in France and Africa. He is also a member of the IPES-Food panel and an expert in the socio-economics of food systems. His main research interests are in the effects of rapid urbanization, industrialization, and liberalization on food systems and food styles in Africa and Asia.

Damien Conaré is the Secretary General of the UNESCO Chair in World Food Systems at the International Centre for Higher Education in Agricultural Sciences (SupAgro) in Montpellier, France. He works to increase and disseminate academic and empirical knowledge on world food systems, and particularly urban food systems, while emphasizing their diversity, their dynamics, and their human and environmental impacts from the standpoint of sustainable development.

Marie Walser is Project Manager at the UNESCO Chair in World Food at the Agro Institute, Montpellier SupAgro. Walser is an agricultural engineer with research interests in world agricultural food systems and their environmental and human impacts.

Inhalt

Preface: The Phagic Dimension
Introduction: Food and All Its Dimensions

Part 1. Food as Relationship
Chapter 1. Food as a Link with Ourselves
Chapter 2. Food as a Link with Others
Chapter 3. Food as a Link with the Biosphere

Part 2. Dynamics of Contemporary Food Systems
Chapter 4. The Origins of Industrial Farming
Chapter 5. The Industrialization of the Food Supply
Chapter 6. Changing Food Habits
Chapter 7. The Limits of Industrialized Food Systems

Part 3. Food and Ecology
Chapter 8. Why an Ecological Approach to Food?
Chapter 9. Decompartmentalizing Knowledge on Food
Chapter 10. A Commitment to Food System Transformation

Part 4. Discussing the Watchwords of Sustainable Food Systems
Chapter 11. Should Food Production be Doubled to Feed the World?
Chapter 12. Fortified Foods to Fight Malnutrition?
Chapter 13. Would You Like Some More Protein?
Chapter 14. The Fight against Food Waste
Chapter 15. Food Aid to Fight Food Precarity?
Chapter 16. Should We Return to Cooking and "Homemade" Food?
Chapter 17. Taking a Step Back from Local Production
Chapter 18. Active Consumers as Drivers of Change?

Part 5. An Ecology of Food to Transform Food Systems
Chapter 19. Citizen Initiatives and How to Scale Them
Chapter 20. Towards New Company Models?
Chapter 21. The Roles of Training and Research
Chapter 22. Food in Politics

Conclusion: Food is an Encounter with the World . The Entire World

Bibliography
Index