Hamburgers in Paradise : The Stories Behind the Food We Eat

For the first time in human history, there is food in abundance throughout the world. More people than ever before are now freed of the struggle for daily survival, yet few of us are aware of how food lands on our plates. Behind every meal you eat, there is a story. __Hamburgers in Paradise__ explains how. In this wise and passionate book, Louise Fresco takes readers on an enticing cultural journey to show how science has enabled us to overcome past scarcities—and why we have every reason to be optimistic about the future. Using hamburgers in the Garden of Eden as a metaphor for the confusion surrounding food today, she looks at everything from the dominance of supermarkets and the decrease of biodiversity to organic foods and GMOs. She casts doubt on many popular claims about sustainability, and takes issue with naïve rejections of globalization and the idealization of "true and honest" food. Fresco explores topics such as agriculture in human history, poverty and development, and surplus and obesity. She provides insightful discussions of basic foods such as bread, fish, and meat, and intertwines them with social topics like slow food and other gastronomy movements, the fear of technology and risk, food and climate change, the agricultural landscape, urban food systems, and food in art. The culmination of decades of research, __Hamburgers in Paradise__ provides valuable insights into how our food is produced, how it is consumed, and how we can use the lessons of the past to design food systems to feed all humankind in the future. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Food—A Voyage of Discovery ONE Paradise: An Exceptional Ecology Pictures of Paradise Paradise as an Ecosystem Paradise Measured against an Ecological Yardstick Paradise as a Garden The Paradise Theory TWO Eve’s Temptation: Apple and Hamburger Fall and Knowledge Scarcity and Temptation Rules and Taboos Eve’s Hamburger THREE Agriculture: A Triumph of Hard Work Agriculture as Myth The Very Beginning Domestication of Plants and Animals Farming as an Ecological Balancing Act The Dominant Form of Land Use Agriculture as a Matter of Public Interest FOUR Bread: The Most Iconic of Foods Bread as a Symbol Bread as a Staple Carbohydrates Bread and Health FIVE Meat: Necessity and Luxury The Omnivorous Human Essential Nutrients Meat as an Unavoidable By-Product Animal Proteins Have a Place in Almost All Cultures Unease and Change Traditional and Ritual Slaughter Dangers of Livestock Farming New Proteins, New Ideas Meat Avoiders, Meat Reducers, and Flexitarians SIX Liquid Paradise: Food from Water Darting Fish and Dark Monsters Human and Fish From Fish ’n’ Chips to Sashimi Seas of Plenty Taming Fish: Aquaculture From Plenty to an Awareness of Scarcity SEVEN Hairy Apples: The Challenge of Biotechnology On Chaos, Monsters, and Paradise Genetic Intervention as Part of Our History Genetic Modification as Continuity and Discontinuity The End and the Means Biotechnology, Hunger, and Poverty (1): The Case of Cassava Biotechnology, Hunger, and Poverty (2): Golden Rice Risks and Continuing Controversies Genetic Resources Aplenty Lost Innocence EIGHT Homesick for Paradise: “Organic” and “Natural” “Organic” and “Natural” as a Moral Choice Related Ideas What Exactly Is “Organic”? Is Organic Better? The Weight of Good Intentions NINE Biodiversity: From Landscape to Gene The Renaissance of the Countryside From Countryside to Cultivated Landscape Farming and Biological Diversity Diversity and Food Security TEN Roast Wolf and Deconstructed Olive: Cooking and Eating as a Worldview Cooking and Eating in the Food Chain Raw, Cooked, and Pure Food as a Mirror of a Changing World Cooking as Construct and Philosophy Slow Food and Whole Food Dinner’s Ready! Eating and Cooking as a Dilemma ELEVEN Paradise on Every Street Corner: Food in the City Onions beside the Highways The Belly of the City Daily Temptation: The Supermarket The City as a Public Eating Place Food and Green Places as Urban Counterculture City Farming: The New Interweaving of the City and Food Production The High-Tech Green Metropolis TWELVE An Embarrassment of Riches: The Food Chain The Long Road from Farm to Fork Safe, but Not Risk Free Chained by Chains The Dilemmas of Human Food Supplies Reading Food: Logos, Certificates, and Labels THIRTEEN A Shrinking Paradise: Back to Scarcity? Paradise in Crisis Nature and Guilt How Scarcity Disappeared Trouble in Paradise: Real Scarcity and Shrinkage Paradise Won and Lost FOURTEEN A Paradise within Reach: Sustainable Food Production The Future Is Now Lessons of the Green Revolution The Price of Food Sustainability as Political Consensus Market Failures Small Farms: The Key to Sustainable Food? Sustainable Green Revolutions FIFTEEN Food: Irresistible and Emotionally Charged Hunger and Scarcity Beyond Paradise: The Distribution of Scarcity The Obesogenic Environment Fat or Lean Emotionally Charged Food Food Choice and Moderation From Abundance to a Healthy Balance SIXTEEN In Conclusion: Eve’s Paradise The Hamburgerization of the World Paradise Lost and Found The Great Stalemate Dietary Laws, Again And Paradise? Bibliography Index For The First Time In Human History, There Is Food In Abundance Throughout The World. More People Than Ever Before Are Now Freed Of The Struggle For Daily Survival, Yet Few Of Us Are Aware Of How Food Lands On Our Plates. Behind Every Meal You Eat, There Is A Story. Hamburgers In Paradise Explains How. In This Wise And Passionate Book, Louise Fresco Takes Readers On An Enticing Cultural Journey To Show How Science Has Enabled Us To Overcome Past Scarcities--and Why We Have Every Reason To Be Optimistic About The Future. Using Hamburgers In The Garden Of Eden As A Metaphor For The Confusion Surrounding Food Today, She Looks At Everything From The Dominance Of Supermarkets And The Decrease Of Biodiversity To Organic Foods And Bmos. She Casts Doubt On Many Popular Claims About Sustainability, And Takes Issue With Naive Rejections Of Globalization And The Idealization Of True And Honest Food. Fresco Explores Topics Such As Agriculture In Human History, Poverty And Development, And Surplus And Obesity. She Provides Insightful Discussions Of Basic Foods Such As Bread, Fish, And Meat, And Intertwines Them With Social Topics Like Slow Food And Other Gastronomy Movements, The Fear Of Technology And Risk, Food And Climate Change, The Agricultural Landscape, Urban Food Systems, And Food In Art. The Culmination Of Decades Of Research, Hamburgers In Paradise Provides Valuable Insights Into How Our Food Is Produced, How It Is Consumed, And How We Can Use The Lessons Of The Past To Design Food Systems To Feed All Humankind In The Future. -- Inside Jacket Flaps. Introduction: Food -- A Voyage Of Discovery -- Paradise: An Exceptional Ecology -- Eve's Temptation: Apple And Hamburger -- Agriculture: A Triumph Of Hard Work -- Bread: The Most Iconic Of Foods -- Meat: Necessity And Luxury -- Liquid Paradise: Food From Water -- Hairy Apples: The Challenge Of Biotechnology -- Homesick For Paradise: Organic And Natural -- Biodiversity: From Landscape To Gene -- Roast Wolf And Deconstructed Olive: Cooking And Eating As A Worldview -- Paradise On Every Street Corner: Food In The City -- An Embarrassment Of Riches: The Food Chain -- A Shrinking Paradise: Back To Scarcity? -- A Paradise Within Reach: Sustainable Food Production -- Food: Irresistible And Emotionally Charged -- In Conclusion: Eve's Paradise. Louise O. Fresco ; Translated By Liz Waters. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A fascinating exploration of our past, present, and future relationship with food For the first time in human history, there is food in abundance throughout the world. More people than ever before are now freed of the struggle for daily survival, yet few of us are aware of how food lands on our plates. Behind every meal you eat, there is a story. Hamburgers in Paradise explains how. In this wise and passionate book, Louise Fresco takes readers on an enticing cultural journey to show how science has enabled us to overcome past scarcities—and why we have every reason to be optimistic about the future. Using hamburgers in the Garden of Eden as a metaphor for the confusion surrounding food today, she looks at everything from the dominance of supermarkets and the decrease of biodiversity to organic foods and GMOs. She casts doubt on many popular claims about sustainability, and takes issue with naïve rejections of globalization and the idealization of "true and honest" food. Fresco explores topics such as agriculture in human history, poverty and development, and surplus and obesity. She provides insightful discussions of basic foods such as bread, fish, and meat, and intertwines them with social topics like slow food and other gastronomy movements, the fear of technology and risk, food and climate change, the agricultural landscape, urban food systems, and food in art. The culmination of decades of research, Hamburgers in Paradise provides valuable insights into how our food is produced, how it is consumed, and how we can use the lessons of the past to design food systems to feed all humankind in the future. "For the first time in human history, there is food in abundance throughout the world. More people than ever before are now freed of the struggle for daily survival, yet few of us are aware of how food lands on our plates. Behind every meal you eat, there is a story. Hamburgers in Paradise explains how. In this wise and passionate book, Louise Fresco takes readers on an enticing cultural journey to show how science has enabled us to overcome past scarcities—and why we have every reason to be optimistic about the future. Using hamburgers in the Garden of Eden as a metaphor for the confusion surrounding food today, she looks at everything from the dominance of supermarkets and the decrease of biodiversity to organic foods and GMOs. She casts doubt on many popular claims about sustainability, and takes issue with naïve rejections of globalization and the idealization of "true and honest" food. Fresco explores topics such as agriculture in human history, poverty and development, and surplus and obesity. She provides insightful discussions of basic foods such as bread, fish, and meat, and intertwines them with social topics like slow food and other gastronomy movements, the fear of technology and risk, food and climate change, the agricultural landscape, urban food systems, and food in art. The culmination of decades of research, Hamburgers in Paradise provides valuable insights into how our food is produced, how it is consumed, and how we can use the lessons of the past to design food systems to feed all humankind in the future"--Publisher's description For the first time in human history, there is food in abundance throughout the world. More people than ever before are now freed of the struggle for daily survival, yet few of us are aware of how food lands on our plates. Behind every meal you eat, there is a story. Hamburgers in Paradise explains how. In this wise and passionate book, Louise Fresco takes readers on an enticing cultural journey to show how science has enabled us to overcome past scarcities--and why we have every reason to be optimistic about the future. Using hamburgers in the Garden of Eden as a metaphor for the confusion surrounding food today, she looks at everything from the dominance of supermarkets and the decrease of biodiversity to organic foods and GMOs. She casts doubt on many popular claims about sustainability, and takes issue with naive rejections of globalization and the idealization of "true and honest" food. Fresco explores topics such as agriculture in human history, poverty and development, and surplus and obesity. She provides insightful discussions of basic foods such as bread, fish, and meat, and intertwines them with social topics like slow food and other gastronomy movements, the fear of technology and risk, food and climate change, the agricultural landscape, urban food systems, and food in art. The culmination of decades of research, Hamburgers in Paradise provides valuable insights into how our food is produced, how it is consumed, and how we can use the lessons of the past to design food systems to feed all humankind in the future. -- Inside jacket flaps