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Eating Planet, nutrition today: a challenge for mankind and for the planet.
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2012NUTRITION TODAY: A CHALLENGE FOR MANKIND AND FOR THE PLANET
BARILLA CENTER FOR FOOD & NUTRITIONIN ASSOCIATION WITH THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE
EATING PLANET
Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition
eating planet 2012nutrition today: a challenge for mankind and for the planet
barilla center for food & [email protected]
advisory boardBarbara Buchner, Claude Fischler, John Reilly, Gabriele Riccardi, Camillo Ricordi, Umberto Veronesi
in collaboration withWorldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C.Nourishing the PlanetEditor: Danielle NierenbergThe European House – Ambrosetti
Editor: Luigi Rubinelli
editorial productionEdizioni Ambiente srlwww.edizioniambiente.it
Editorial Supervision: Anna SatolliDesign: GrafCo3 MilanInfographics: Tati CervettoEnglish Translation from the Italian by: Antony Shugaar; chapter 2 by Jonathan Hine
Charts, graphic elements, and tables that do not explicitly states their source should be assumed to be the creations of the authors.
© 2012, Barilla Center for Food & NutritionVia Mantova 166, 43122 Parma, Italy
© 2012, Edizioni AmbienteVia Natale Battaglia 10, 20127 Milan, Italytel. 02.45487277, fax 02.45487333
Printed in April 2012by Genesi Gruppo Editoriale – Città di Castello (PG)
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the websites of edizioni ambientewww.edizioniambiente.itwww.nextville.itwww.reteambiente.itwww.verdenero.itAnd follow us on Facebook.com/EdizioniAmbiente
2012NUTRITION TODAY: A CHALLENGE FOR MANKIND AND FOR THE PLANET
BARILLA CENTER FOR FOOD & NUTRITIONIN COLLABORATION WITH WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE
EATING PLANET
Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition
eating planet 2012nutrition today: a challenge for mankind and for the planet
introductionGuido Barilla, BCFN: the Answers to Three Paradoxes XI
prefaceMario Monti, The Political Challenge of Food XV
executive summary 3
1. the challenges of foodintroduction
Danielle Nierenberg, Worldwatch Institute: It’s Possible to Work at All Scales, Small and Large 10
food for all 14
1.1 How Rich Nations Squander Food 151.2 New Techniques for the Transformation of Food 161.3 Eating Better 171.4 School Lunches and Nutrition 181.5 Buying Local 18
food for sustainable growth 20
1.6 Rethinking the Green Revolution 211.7 Yields and Environmental Sustainability 211.8 Food Sustainability and Climate Change 221.9 Integrated Animal Husbandry for Better Sustainability 26
food for health 28
1.10 Not by Calories Alone 281.11 The Role of Vegetables 301.12 Bringing Healthy Food Everywhere 321.13 The Importance of Information 321.14 The Role of Health Structures 33
VI eating planet
food for culture 34
1.15 Relaunching Agricultural Systems 361.16 New Computer and Communications Technologies 361.17 Popularization “In the Field” 381.18 Incentivize Employment of the Young 38
the three objectives of food 39
1.19 Increasing Awareness about the Importance of Agriculture 42
2. food for allintroduction
Raj Patel, How to Respond to Market Excesses 46
facts & figures 50
access to food: present and future challenges 52
2.1 The Global Scope of Food Security and Access Problems 532.2 The “Food Paradox”: Underlying Causes 562.3 Possible Areas for Action 62
a new emergency: dramatic instability in food prices 67
2.4 The BCFN Evaluation Model 672.5 Variables of the Model 682.6 Strategies for Controlling Volatility 75
new tools to measure and promote well-being 81
2.7 Gross Domestic Product Versus Indicators of Well-being 822.8 Subjective Approach Versus Objective Approach:
Different Outlooks in Terms of Measuring Well-being 842.9 The BCFN Indices of Well-being and Sustainability of Well-being 862.10Principal Results of the 2011 BCFN Index 892.11 The Different Dimensions of Sustainability 91
interviews 95
Paul Roberts, In Access the Key Factor Is Diversity 95Ellen Gustafson, Agricultural Policies Must Take into Consideration the Health and Well‑being of Human Beings 98
action plan 102
VIItable of contents
3. food for sustainable growthintroduction
Carlo Petrini, Paying What’s Fair 106
facts & figures 112
the double pyramid: healthy food for people, and sustainable food for the environment 114
3.1 The Food Pyramid as an Educational Tool 1163.2 Some Studies of the Mediterranean Diet 1183.3 The Environmental Pyramid 1213.4 The Double Pyramid for Growing Children 1243.5 The Double Pyramid over the Long Term 129
toward sustainable agriculture 131
3.6 Current Leading Agricultural Paradigms 1363.7 The Sustainability of the Systems Used
to Grow Durum Wheat: the Barilla Case 138
the water economy and the emergency it confronts 150
3.8 The Availability of Water: from Abundance to Scarcity 1513.9 The Right of Access to Water: Reality and Prospects 1553.10Choices and Behaviors for Sustainable Water Consumption 1563.11 National Water Footprints and the Trade in Virtual Water 1603.12 Water Privatization and its Implications 164
interviews 167
Hans R. Herren, The Challenging Transition Toward Sustainable Agriculture 167Tony Allan, Virtual Water Between Underconsumption and Poor Management 170
action plan 173
VIII eating planet
4. food for healthintroduction
Ricardo Uauy, Agriculture, Food, Nutrition and Health 176
facts & figures 180
food for a healthy life 182
4.1 A Few Key Figures: Global Trends in Chronic Diseases and their Social and Economic Impacts 184
4.2 Guidelines for a Healthy Way of Eating and Lifestyle 1874.3 The Most Common Guidelines and Dietary Models 1914.4 Recommendations 193
food and children: educate today for a better life tomorrow 193
4.5 The Spread of Obesity and Overweight in Children and Adolescents and the International Economic and Social Impact 194
4.6 Nutrients in the Different Phases of Growth 1964.7 Guidelines for Healthy Diets and Sound Lifestyles
in Children and Adolescents 2064.8 Recommendations 207
longevity and welfare: the fundamental role of nutrition 209
4.9 Demographics, Longevity, and the Economic and Social Impacts of the Principal Diseases 213
4.10Diet and Lifestyle and Their Effects on Longevity and Diseases of Aging 218
4.11 Inflammatory States and Caloric Restriction: Possible Interventions to Slow the Aging Processes 222
4.12 Recommendations 225
interviews 227
Marion Nestle, Companies Must Behave Responsibly 227Aviva Must, The Responsibility for Children Must Be Shared 231Alex Kalache, Lifestyles Influence the Way We Age 234
action plan 238
IXtable of contents
5. food for cultureintroduction
Shimon Peres, Food for Peace—a Call for the Mobilization of Goodwill 242
facts & figures 244
the cultural dimension of food 246
5.1 The Relationship Between Food and Culture: the Origins 2465.2 How Food Contributes to Communication and Conviviality 2485.3 Delight and Disgust: the Cultural Classification of the Edible 2485.4 Food: Social, Gender, and Power Roles 2505.5 The Symbolic Value of Foods in the Major Religious Faiths 2535.6 Food Prohibitions: Food and Purity 2545.7 Food and Culture: an Indissoluble Bond 255
the great culinary traditions and the reality of food today 255
5.8 The Great Culinary Traditions 2565.9 Food Today: Challenges and Perspectives 2615.10Toward a New Vision of Nutrition 2625.11 Guidelines for Redefining Man’s Relationship with Food 264
the mediterranean culture: the value of a lifestyle and a culinary tradition 267
5.12 The Salient Characteristics of the Mediterranean Diet 2685.13 The Mediterranean Diet and Commensality 2725.14 Mediterraneity Today: the Decline of a Model 2735.15 How to Recover the Significance of Mediterraneity 280
interviews 282
Joaquín Navarro-Valls, We Must Construct a Culture of Responsibility 282Vandana Shiva, Whoever Controls Food Controls Democracy 284Michael Heasman, The Consumer Culture War and the Food System: What Does This Mean for the Mediterranean Model? 286
action plan 289
notes 290
XI
We live in an era that is characterized by a number of global paradoxes. Three, in particular, have long attracted our attention and reinforced our belief that we are giving birth to a research center with innovative and entirely original characteristics. The first paradox has to do with the coexistence on this planet of more than a billion people who are suffering from hunger, in the face of an equivalent number of people who are suffering the consequences of excess of nutrition, consequences that take the form of grave metabolic diseases such as, for instance, diabetes. And yet, already, as of this writing, the global food sys-tem is capable of ensuring an adequate nutritional intake for all human beings now alive on the planet earth. The underlying causes for these situations are not easy to identify and solve. This however should not discourage us, but if anything, they should serve as a way of encouraging us to identify and propose new and effective solutions.The second paradox has to do with the presence on the planet of approximately three billion head of livestock. One third of the entire world production of food is destined for consumption by livestock. Moreover, the activity of raising live-stock contributes substantially to the phenomena of climate change. In fact it is estimated that it is responsible for at least 50% of all agricultural emissions of greenhouse gases. Once again, these are models we should rethink.The third paradox is bound up with a further form of the improper use of resources on the planet earth: competition between biofuels and food. A grow-ing share of farmland is being set aside for the production of fuel. By so doing, we choose to put fuel in our cars instead of giving food to human beings in need. The growing awareness of these imbalances has driven us to think about the most effective ways to communicate and to involve anyone who might be interested in exploring these topics further in a serious, independent, scien-tifically accurate way. From this need to inform, involve, communicate, and debate with a view to coming up with solutions, we decided to found in 2009 the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN), a center for providing analy-sis and proposals with a multidisciplinary approach that has the objective of exploring in greater depth the major issues linked to nutrition and food on a
introduction byGuido Barilla *
bcfn: the answers to three paradoxes
XII eating planet
global scale. The BCFN is designed to pay close attention to society’s emerg-ing needs, gathering experience and qualified expertise on a worldwide level, encouraging an ongoing and open dialogue.The complexity of the phenomena explored in this context has made it nec-essary to adopt a methodology that goes well beyond the boundaries of the various disciplines; hence the subdivision of the themes studied here into four macro-areas: Food for All, Food for Sustainable Growth, Food for Health, and Food for Culture.The Food for All area takes on the issue of access to food and malnutrition, with the goal of thinking seriously about how best to encourage better governance of the agro-alimentary system on a global scale, with a view to making it possible to undertake a more equitable distribution of food and encourage a more favor-able impact in terms of social well-being, health, and the environment. The Food for Sustainable Growth area explores the issues of the sustainability of the agro-alimentary supply chain, through a balanced use of natural resources and a steady reduction of negative impacts on the environment. The Food for Health area has undertaken a process of study of the relationships that exist between diet and health. The Food for Culture area, last of all, is meant to understand, describe, and render more significant the relationship between man and food.In its first three years of operation, the center has undertaken and produced numerous scientific publications. Guided by institutional timeframes and by the priorities present in terms of international economic and political agendas, it has reinforced, I believe, its own role as a collector and connecter between science and research, on the one hand, and political decisions and government actions on the other hand. It has moreover organized events open to the mem-bers of civil society, including the International Forum on Food & Nutrition, a major opportunity for international interactions with the leading experts in the sector, now on its third annual edition.In line with this general approach, the activities of the BCFN are guided by a multidisciplinary Advisory Board, a body composed of experts belonging to different but complementary sectors, which proposes, analyzes, and develops issues, after which it formulates concrete recommendations concerning those issues. For each area, one or more specific advisors have been identified: Bar-bara Buchner (an expert on energy, climate change, and the environment) and John Reilly (an economist specializing in environmental issues) for the Food for Sustainable Growth area; Mario Monti (an economist and policy maker) for the Food For All area; Umberto Veronesi (an oncologist), Gabriele Riccardi (a nutri-tionist), and Camillo Ricordi (an immunologist) for the Food for Health area; Claude Fischler (a sociologist) for the Food for Culture area.From the work of this group of experts, valuable ideas have emerged in recent years: with a view to understanding in what way diet and nutrition affects our
XIIIintroduction
state of health, we developed the environmental and nutritional double pyra-mid, with the development of the BCFN index of well being, with the analysis of the Water Economy and the nutritional guidelines of the leading interna-tional medical and scientific bodies. Moreover, we have also undertaken in-depth explorations concerning proper nutrition at various ages of life, with a special focus on children.This is how Eating Planet came into being, with the contributions of scientists, political leaders, Nobel laureates, and world-renowned experts, whom we would like to thank here: Tony Allan, Ellen Gustafson, Michael Haesman, Hans Her-ren, Alex Kalache, Mario Monti, Aviva Must, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, Marion Nestle, Danielle Nierenberg, Raj Patel, Shimon Peres, Carlo Petrini, Paul Rob-erts, Vandana Shiva, and Ricardo Uauy. Just three years after the creation of the BCFN, we have decided it would be useful to offer a summary of what we have developed thus far, in order to establish a landmark on our journey and begin to consider new developments. The book that we have put together struck us as the best possible way to document our passion: for man and for his daily life, but also for the work that we do, which demands that we look at more than just our corporate profitability. It demands, we believe, that we lend a hand in an attempt to create a better world.
* President Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition.
XV
Why did I feel a strong intellectual attraction for the work that the Barilla Cen-ter for Food & Nutrition has been doing over the past several years? Because I believe that the enormous problem of access to food represents a synthesis of the difficulties that those who work in the fields of market competition and global governance find themselves dealing with.We live in a context in which, more or less everywhere, decisions are being made in an emergency situation. This is what happened with the financial cri-sis, which was followed by immediate, or almost immediate, action, and by considerable concerted efforts toward a general coordination. After all, it is obvious that no country alone, and no region of the world, alone, could solve the problems of the financial system.An awareness of an emergency surrounds the topic of access to food, as well. At least in the case of financial issues and other macroeconomic problems, we have however observed a dangerous trend: when a problem becomes a real emer-gency, we tend to become frightened. As a result, we are willing to give up part of our national sovereignty because we believe that cooperation is the only way to solve the problem. The minute that the problem seems to be somewhat less urgent and sensitive, on a short term basis, we tend to go back to our old ways of doing things.First of all, I should make two observations concerning specific aspects of the topic of food and the contribution that the EU, in particular, can supply. Agri-culture and food, as well as food security in its financial repercussions, are infi-nitely more complicated problems that are more deeply rooted in our economic system and our society, with much farther reaching and longer lasting conse-quences. This means that, even though the solution of the financial imbalance may be daunting to achieve, solving these problems is an infinitely longer term matter, demanding a prolonged effort, because it sinks its roots deep into the structures of society. Therefore we must guard against the risk of reversibility as soon as a solution to the problem is glimpsed.In that connection, I’m optimistic about the European Union. There are 27 nations, we have decision-making bodies, institutions, and laws, as well as structures to implement those laws. Thus, the risk of reversibility, once a prob-
preface byMario Monti *
the political challenge of food **
XVI eating planet
lem emerges from the state of acute emergency, is less grave in the European Union. Let us take as an example the financial crisis: after all, thanks to the excellent work done by the European Parliament, together with the European Council and the European Commission, we have put together—pretty quickly by European standards—a new system of rules guaranteed by specific authori-ties, on a European level, we have seen to their implementation and supervi-sion, and now those rules will remain in place even once the emergency is over.More specifically, as far as food security is concerned, it is clear that a potential reinforcement of global governance is fundamental. Governance does not mean repression, governance does not mean blocking entrepreneurial initiatives: gov-ernance means governing the markets in general terms, and businessmen, like users and consumers, are the protagonists of the market. Therefore, what is needed, in my opinion, is not an excessively ambitious model of planning to be implemented worldwide, in a country, or in a group of countries. Quite to the contrary, I believe that the context in which it is possible to achieve the greatest return in terms of effectiveness is the capacity to establish increasingly good relationships between political tools and market reactions. There are a few proposals on the subject that I consider to be effective, beginning of course with the idea of once again assigning a central role to food in the international political and economic program. And of course it is fundamental to encourage economic development and promote the increase of agricultural productivity.A third crucial aspect is the modification of the food production and distri-bution chain in an attempt to manage growing price volatility and ensure the existence of safety nets. This, if you like, is where the food sector most closely resembles the financial sector.But even the conclusive point on the production chain—which ends where the food reaches the end users, that is, the eating habits of consumers—is funda-mental. For various reasons that have to do with issues of sustainability, but also due to considerations of individual and family health, this is a sector that should receive much greater investment—in parallel with energy savings and respect for the environment from consumers (private citizens and industry).Allow me to make a slightly more general macropolitical observation: we might say that one of the weak points of the world economical and political models over the past twenty years has been a decline in our focus on distri-bution, understood as the possibility of achieving access to food. But now, all the considerations concerning equality, inequality, and distribution (that is to say, “how” to undertake the distribution desired) come back full-force into the domestic and global political arena.
* Mario Monti (Prime Minister of Italy and also the Minister of Economy and Finance of the Italian Republic; President of the Bocconi University; Member of the
XVIIpreface
Advisory Board of the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition from February 2009 to November 2011.** The considerations set forth in this essay were originally developed on the occasion of the workshop “Can the European Union Face Up to the New Geopolitical and Economic Challenges of Access to Food?” organized by the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition at the European Parliament on June 15, 2011.
table of contents
introduction Worldwatch Institute: It’s Possible to Work at All Scales,
Small and Large by Danielle Nierenberg
food for all1.1 How Rich Nations Squander Food1.2 New Techniques for the Transformation of Food1.3 Eating Better1.4 School Lunches and Nutrition1.5 Buying Local
food for sustainable growth1.6 Rethinking the Green Revolution1.7 Yields and Environmental Sustainability1.8 Food Sustainability and Climate Change1.9 Integrated Animal Husbandry for Better Sustainability
food for health1.10 Not by Calories Alone1.11 The Role of Vegetables1.12 Bringing Healthy Food Everywhere1.13 The Importance of Information1.14 The Role of Health Structures
food for culture1.15 Relaunching Agricultural Systems1.16 New Computer and Communications Technologies1.17 Popularization “In the Field”1.18 Incentivize Employment of the Young
the three objectives of food1.19 Increasing Awareness about the Importance of Agriculture
1.the challenges of foodThe Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project strongly recommends the importance of developing and encouraging new strategies for satisfying the worldwide demand for food in fair and environmentally sustainable ways. In this chapter, we identify existing challenges in the food system and highlight ways to alleviate hunger and poverty while also protecting the environment.
10 eating planet
1. the challenges of foodWorldwatch Institute: It’s Possible to Work at All Scales, Small and LargeDanielle Nierenberg, Director of the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project
In Ahmedabad, India, a group of women farmers and food processors is chang-ing the way Indians eat. These women belong to the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a trade union bringing together more than 1 million poor women workers. Ninety-three percent of the female workforce in India is non-union, making these women nearly invisible—they don’t have access to credit, land or financial services, including bank accounts. But by involving women in food production SEWA is helping women better their livelihoods by becoming more self-sufficient. Fifty-four percent of SEWA’s members are small and mar-ginal farmers.1
SEWA members sort and package rice, marketing it under their own label, and at a SEWA-run farm outside the city women are growing organic rice and vege-tables and producing organic compost on what was once considered unproduc-tive and “marginal” land. “We now earn over 15,000 rupees [US$350] per sea-son, an amount we had never dreamed of earning in a lifetime,” says Surajben Shankasbhai Rathwa, who has been a member since 2003. These women earn more income and eat better than before, and they’re providing an important community service by producing healthy, affordable, and sustainably grown food to local consumers. Most poor households can’t afford high quality food, and the rice and other staples they buy are inferior products—rice grains are often broken or riddled with dirt and stones, and most food is produced with pesticides and artificial fertilizers.2
But the women in SEWA are not only interested in what’s going on in their own community—they’re also interested in what farmers thousands of miles away in sub-Saharan Africa are doing to combat climate change, conserve water, and build soils. During a meeting in early 2011 they wanted to know
boy and the bucket, togoLes Compagnons Ruraux is an NGO based in Togo that educates farmers living in the Kpalimé Cloud Forest about sustainable agriculture practices, including agroforestry and intercropping. The organization also improves local food security by training members of women’s groups to grow and market organic vegetables, medicinal plants, and locally processed palm oil. By working with local residents, the organization aims to keep young adults from migrating to cities.
12 eating planet
figure 1.1
Hunger in the world (1969‑2011)Source: Worldwatch Institute elaboration of data from FAO, “Hunger Statistics,” www.fao.org.
1,350
1,200
1,050
900
750
600
450
300
150
0
878 853 845 825857 873
915
1,020
925 925
mil
lion
s of p
eopl
e
1969‑71 1979‑81 1990‑92 1995‑97 2000‑02 2004‑06 2008 2009 2010 2011
estimated
what they could learn from their counterparts in an area of the world facing the same challenges—erratic weather events, soil degradation, high food prices, poverty, and malnutrition. These are problems in India and Africa alike, as well as in other parts of the developing world. And while SEWA’s training farms and agricultural credit services won’t change the global food system on their own, they are one step toward enabling agriculture not only to feed the world but also to nourish livelihoods, environmental sustainability, and vibrant rural and urban economies.3
we’re at a turning point. There’s no doubt that the current food system is broken: vast amounts of food are wasted in both rich and poor countries, agri-culture contributes to one-third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, food-related diseases are on the rise, and the environmental impacts of agriculture—including deforestation, water scarcity, and GHG emissions—are increasing.4
Over the last three decades, the Western food system has been built to promote over-consumption of a few consolidated commodities—including rice, wheat, and maize—and has neglected indigenous foods that provide not only calo-
13introduction | the challenges of food
ries but also essential vitamins and micronutrients and tend to be resistant to heat, drought, and disease. One result is that 1.5 billion people in the world are obese or overweight and thus at higher risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other maladies.5
But the challenges we face will not be easy to overcome. Agriculture is at a turning point. It’s been roughly half a century after the Green Revolution, yet nearly 1 billion people in the world go to bed hungry each night and several billion suffer micronutrient deficiencies (figure 1.1).If we begin now, however, we can build a better strategy, vision, and road map for the global food system—a system that nourishes both people and the planet by finding ways to make food production and consumption more economi-cally, environmentally, and socially just and sustainable.The solutions are out there—in market garden projects in rural Niger, at din-ner tables in Italy, on rooftop gardens in Vietnam, at research institutes in Taiwan, in edible school yards in the United States, and in communities all over the world—but they are not getting the attention and the investment they need. This needs to change.
106 eating planet
3.food for sustainable growthPaying What’s FairCarlo Petrini
Sustainability is a concept bound up with an age-old idea: time. It’s a concept that tells us “just how long something can last.” It’s a fine word, and “sustainability” has a fine etymology: it originates with reference to one of the ped-als of a piano, known in English as the sustain pedal. That pedal is pressed when the piano player wishes to prolong a note, to make it endure. In fact, it’s significant that the French term is durabilité, capacity to endure.The clear understanding that the things we plan to do (personal and private actions as well as public or business projects) must be able to last over time and on a number of different levels (social, economic, and environmental) is one of the crucial factors in the future of all human pursuits. Today sustainability is a very widely used term; we’re all thinking a little more about the future. Many of us think about it constantly, because the very idea of sustainability contains a germ of the understanding that the future doesn’t really belong to us, any more than natural resources do. The
future and natural resources are both shared patrimonies, and our generation has the duty of preserving them for the generations still to come. We have certain responsibilities toward those generations. And that is yet another factor: the idea of responsibility toward those who are not yet among us. We have a responsibil-ity to those who will one day come into this world with the same rights that we enjoy: the rights to enjoy flavors, climates, panoramas, health, and quality of life.But that’s not all.We also know that if we wish to protect everything we enjoy ourselves and hope to pass on to future generations, then a single level of action will not suffice. What we need are certain high-level strategic approaches on the part of the governments of the world, along with international treaties and national laws. Along with those factors, it is crucial to be able to rely upon daily acts, indi-
carlo petrini is the presi-dent of the international association, Slow Food.In the 1980s, he founded Arcigola, which in 1989 became the international association, Slow Food.Out of his ideas sprang the first University of Gastro-nomic Sciences and Terra Madre (Mother Earth), a network of more than 2,000 food communities that brings together farm-ers and producers of food from around the world.
107introduction | food for sustainable growth
vidual choices, and the yes-and-no decisions that each of us can make, reorder-ing the priorities of our everyday lives and business. This means that we must put emphasis not only on saving time and making money, or vice versa, making time and saving money. Instead, we should consider the time we spend choos-ing the food we will eat as time invested in the care of our health and the state of the environment at large. We must also consider the money we spend on that food as an indicator of our involvement in a profession, the profession of farming. Farmers should be repaid for the many services that they perform for society and for the Earth, not just for the products that they put on the market. This money pays for certain values, not just for the price of a product.In the general context of sustainability, food is a crucial factor. In terms of sus-tainability and food, the private level, where the actions of individuals take place, is certainly the forum for the most active and conscious decision making. In contrast, the level of politics remains particularly vague and distracted; in many cases, it is even genuinely ignorant. Agriculture is frequently thought of by politicians as a stand-alone sector, a mere producer of goods, of commodi-ties. To politicians, those commodities have only one metric of value, which is the prices they fetch, or else the prices that are influenced by various corrective supports and regulations imposed from above. (Even worse, those prices can be influenced by financial speculations.) All too often, we think of agriculture as a productive sector devoid of the other values that actually do accrue to it. And those factors, as it happens (and this is no accident), are profoundly bound up with the very idea of sustainability.For instance, consider the care of soil and farmland. That care involves a num-ber of skills and bodies of knowledge: how to keep soil alive by the very act of farming, the care taken of a vital biodiversity that can be seen at a glance by observing the plants (whether or not they are cultivated) and the animals (wild or bred), a care that is also concealed in the countless array of microorganisms, the micro-life that makes farmlands fertile and productive, that keeps them rich and abundant for the future, that makes them last.Unfortunately intensive monocultures that are planted and harvested for many years without interruption permanently undermine both farmland and biodi-versity. The failure to properly rotate crops and the misuse of fertilizers and pesticides only make matters worse. Often these practices are justified by say-ing that they are necessary if we wish to increase production. But production for the mere sake of production is not a sustainable activity and, as we shall see, it’s not even necessary. Equally unnecessary and unsustainable is the unbridled spread of concrete over the landscape, which cannot be compatible with the conservation of increasingly endangered natural and agricultural systems. A landscape that is covered with cement can never become fertile again. It is lost forever, and we can never hope to restore it for the use of future generations.
108 eating planet
Fertile soil and biodiversity, moreover, are prerequisites for abundant and healthful food supplies. Those supplies should be characterized by diversity in accordance with the climates and the crops, thus ensuring that they are sustain-able foods. The heroic determination shown by some in the defense of small local agricultural economies, especially those at risk of complete extinction, is much more than a mere exercise in weak-minded nostalgia or the epicurean activity of people who like to consume rare, high-quality foods. Actually that defense is a sustainable action that is valid for all kinds of food production. It is a defense of biodiversity, of communities that are perfectly in harmony with the environment, and all the various factors that go along with that. By this, we are referring to the diversity of flavors and therefore of cultures: further guarantees of sustainability for the future progress of human life on this planet of ours. Because if there’s no diversity there’s no identity; if there’s no exchange, there’s no reciprocal enrichment; if serial standardization triumphs, then we become poor and defenseless, hesitant in the face of the future, with no confidence in our own “durability.”These are only some of the leading values that we ought to pay for—both as individual citizens when we do our grocery shopping, and as a society, a col-lective, when we levy taxes. And we should value good agriculture that respects the natural setting in which it operates. It should be done through serious and carefully monitored parameters. It should further mean including multifunc-tionality in our evaluation of the work done by farms. This should go well beyond lip service: it should take the form of actual strict regulations. And here’s why: multifunctionality—all these values—almost always translates into a more beautiful landscape, panoramas which positive anthropization (the transformation or adaptation of the environment to meet the needs of humans, or by human activity) has rendered even more pleasant and charming. Places where it is unmistakable that someone is taking care of them. Care for a terri-tory is just one more prerequisite of sustainability, and it is a product of the love that we feel for the things among which we live, the things that we use, the things that we transform with respect and which can therefore be perpetuated.Such care and all the other values are almost automatically translated into beauty but also into goodness. They result in the capacity to take the greatest possible benefit from a product, building upon its basic characteristics through agricultural techniques and techniques of transformation, and making its unique and distinctive flavor known far and wide. Beauty and goodness are therefore integral parts of the concept of sustainability. It is time for us to be done, once and for all, with the idea that ethics and aesthetics are two sepa-rate fields, two distinct ideas, two incompatible philosophies of life. Ethics and aesthetics, in the context of sustainability, are so complementary that they ulti-mately become the same thing, a single lighthouse, a guiding beacon.
109introduction | food for sustainable growth
Out of this thinking we can draw up a list of commandments: don’t pollute, don’t overuse chemicals, don’t do harm in the name of mere profit to our resources, to the land, and to farmers. Don’t destroy fertile farmland. Defend biodiversity. Stimulate local economies, traditional crops and products, and small-to-medium-sized farming operations in challenging, isolated, or underfed areas. Establish stronger and closer ties between city-dwellers and farmers and agriculture. Encourage young people to go back to the land.These, then, are a few of the commandments that should be observed in the name of sustainability, a few actions that can be carried out on its behalf at all the levels mentioned above. Actions that, moreover, go hand-in-hand with the beautiful and the good, in a world that actually produces too much food (the total quantity of food produced on Earth is more than enough to feed all the inhabitants of this planet) but wastes nearly as much as it produces. After all, official figures on food waste are absolutely intolerable, not to mention how offensive they are in light of the billion or so people who struggle every day with outright starvation and malnutrition.Here are a few more commandments: produce a little less food, produce better quality food, distribute intelligently, rooting production and consumption as far as possible in the various different territories, acting first and foremost at the local level.To come back to individual city dwellers, the fact that beauty and goodness are at the same time consequences and prerequisites of sustainability can only encourage us to change our routines, beginning with our food choices and our everyday grocery shopping. Very soon, we will discover—if we haven’t already—that eating can be as pleasurable and healthful an activity as it is a sustainable one. Moreover, we can do our part easily without making great sac-rifices. Indeed, doing our part can add small but significant portions of happi-ness to our lives. We can do so by learning to pay what’s fair: the right price, taken together with values.“Eating is an agricultural act,” wrote the farmer-poet Wendell Berry. We can add to that thought that eating is an ecological act, an act that affects the land-scape, an act of profound respect for the diversity of cultures, and a political act. It must also become a sustainable act, because eating is the act that is most directly and intimately linked with everything that surrounds us. Those links are both evident and hidden because they remain impenetrable at the current level of scientific understanding. But the food we eat is surely bound up with the vast and complex system that is the planet in which we live, the biosphere. In other words, the planet is our home, but we are not just its tenants. We are an integral part of it, because we are part of that system. For too long now we have pretended that we are somehow an extraneous entity on that planet. We are guests housed here, and everything on the planet is at our disposal, until
110 eating planet
we run out of it—which has been our reason for failing to act in a sustainable manner. But to do so, to harm our Earth and act so as to keep it from “lasting,” also harms us humans. And so even the selfish considerations that have always characterized us as a species demand that we change so many of our choices, beginning precisely with those choices that really have become insignificant for many of us—far too many of us—just because they are everyday decisions. Among them is the decision of what to eat each day. But that is actually a deci-sion that has the power to change the world.
agrarian landscapes: tokyoThe production of food crops in industrial plants is an increasingly concrete prospect in Japan, where the aging of the farming population is taking on critical aspects: with an average age of 65, with only 5% under 40. Production under controlled conditions furthermore makes it possible to stabilize product quantity and quality.
2012 2030
3. food forsustainable growth
IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
Farming is responsible for 33% of the global production of greenhouse gases and 80% of water is used to produce food.
9 bILLIOn
+3bILLIOn THIRSTY PEOPLE ON EARTHIn 2025, 3 billion people will lack adequate drinking water
33%PRODUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GASES
80%WATER CONSUMPTION
+30%
In 2050, the population of Earth will be 9 billion, compared to 7 billion today
2050
2012
Roughly 43% of all tropical and subtropical forests and 45% of all temperate forests have been converted into farmland The use of climate friendly farming practices
can reduce CO2 emissions generated by farming by 30%
- 30%OF THE EMISSIONS OF CO2 IN AGRICULTURE
COnSUMPTIOn OF VIRTUAL WATER
- 45% OF GREEn “LUnGS”
32% FISHInG RESOURCES In DAnGER OF EXHAUSTIOn
LIVESTOCK bREEDInG
Livestock are the main users of agricultural land: roughly 26% of land is used for pasture or grazing, while a third of all farmland is cultivated for the production of animal feed.
1/3THE PRODUCTION OF ANIMAL FEED
FARMLAND FOR 26%FOR PASTURAGE
USE OF LAND
The consumption of virtual water with a diet rich in meat is close to 5,400 liters, while a diet composed of cereals, fruit, vegetables, and fish uses somewhere between 1,500 and 2,600 liters
32% of the fishing areas have been over fished, impoverished, or exhausted entirely
USE OF bIOFUELSCurrently 1% of all farmland is used for biofuels. By 2030, between 2.5% and 3.8% of all farmland will be used for biofuels
1%3.8%
5,400 LITERS
2,600LITERS
1,500LITERS
By the year 2050 the amount of arable land will diminish due to climate change and the geography of agricultural production will be radically modified
- 8/20% ARAbLE LAnD
112 eating planet
2012 2030
3. food forsustainable growth
IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY
Farming is responsible for 33% of the global production of greenhouse gases and 80% of water is used to produce food.
9 bILLIOn
+3bILLIOn THIRSTY PEOPLE ON EARTHIn 2025, 3 billion people will lack adequate drinking water
33%PRODUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GASES
80%WATER CONSUMPTION
+30%
In 2050, the population of Earth will be 9 billion, compared to 7 billion today
2050
2012
Roughly 43% of all tropical and subtropical forests and 45% of all temperate forests have been converted into farmland The use of climate friendly farming practices
can reduce CO2 emissions generated by farming by 30%
- 30%OF THE EMISSIONS OF CO2 IN AGRICULTURE
COnSUMPTIOn OF VIRTUAL WATER
- 45% OF GREEn “LUnGS”
32% FISHInG RESOURCES In DAnGER OF EXHAUSTIOn
LIVESTOCK bREEDInG
Livestock are the main users of agricultural land: roughly 26% of land is used for pasture or grazing, while a third of all farmland is cultivated for the production of animal feed.
1/3THE PRODUCTION OF ANIMAL FEED
FARMLAND FOR 26%FOR PASTURAGE
USE OF LAND
The consumption of virtual water with a diet rich in meat is close to 5,400 liters, while a diet composed of cereals, fruit, vegetables, and fish uses somewhere between 1,500 and 2,600 liters
32% of the fishing areas have been over fished, impoverished, or exhausted entirely
USE OF bIOFUELSCurrently 1% of all farmland is used for biofuels. By 2030, between 2.5% and 3.8% of all farmland will be used for biofuels
1%3.8%
5,400 LITERS
2,600LITERS
1,500LITERS
By the year 2050 the amount of arable land will diminish due to climate change and the geography of agricultural production will be radically modified
- 8/20% ARAbLE LAnD
113facts & figures | food for sustainable growth
114 eating planet
the double pyramid: healthy food for people, and sustainable food for the environment
It’s impossible to get a grip on the topic of development unless we put into the foreground all the pieces that make up the vast system that transports food from farms to tables. The reason is simple: it is from this “agro-alimentary” sector that many of the problems—and a great many of the solutions—of sus-tainability first arise. Further, the sustainability of the agro-alimentary chain of production depends not only on the commitment of the farmers, the producers, and the distributors, but also—and perhaps even more so—on the behaviors of individuals and families, who have such a powerful effect on the entire market with the daily choices and decisions they make.But there is a key difference between the food sector and other sectors. In transportation, for instance, your having a car interferes a little bit with my enjoyment of my own car, and millions of other cars—and the traffic jams and congestion they create—can make owning a car almost pointless. In other words, the collective advantage is frequently at odds with individual advan-tages. But in the food sector, asking people to be more responsible in no way diminishes their well-being. Quite the opposite, in fact: it is fair to say that the reduction of one’s “nutritional environmental footprint”—which benefits everyone—not only incurs no additional costs, it actually benefits one’s own health as well. In fact, the BCFN has analyzed the data available concerning the ecological footprint of certain foods and has discovered unexpected and interesting “environmental” qualities of those products that nutritionists tell us we ought to eat more of. It has been shown that if you adopt as a regular menu the choices that appear on the classic food pyramid (which places at the top the foods that should be consumed less frequently and at the base the foods that it is healthiest to eat in abundance), not only do you respect your own health, but also the health of the planet we inhabit.In 2010 the BCFN created and published the Double Food and Environmen-tal Pyramid, a communications tool for linking the nutritional aspects and the environmental impacts of food. In 2011, on the basis of further analysis, the Double Pyramid was updated and redesigned in the version shown in Figure 3.1.In the food pyramid on the left, the level of each food category suggests the proper frequency of consumption. While it is crucial to ensure the greatest pos-sible variety in one’s diet, the foods closest to the top of the pyramid should be eaten least frequently, and the foods at the base of the pyramid should be part of every meal. The food/nutritional section of the Double Pyramid was built with an eye to the model of the Mediterranean diet, which is the tradi-tional approach to food adopted in such Mediterranean basin countries as Italy,
115the double pyramid | food for sustainable growth
Spain, Portugal, Greece, and southern France. The Mediterranean diet stands out for its completeness and its remarkable nutritional balance. It has been rec-ognized by a number of nutritional scientists as one of the finest diets available, hands down, when it comes to physical health and the prevention of chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases.The new portion of the Double Pyramid is the environmental pyramid, shown on the right in figure 3.1. It was built by reclassifying the same foods that appear in the nutritional pyramid in terms of their impact on the environment: those closest to the base have the greatest environmental impact, and those closest to the top are most eco-sustainable. This pairing of the two pyramids shows that the sequence of foods is roughly the same, though inverted; this correlation, in fact, becomes unmistakable if you turn the environmental pyramid upside-down.The double pyramid makes it easy to see that the foods recommended for greatest consumption are, generally speaking, also the foods that result in the smallest and most limited environmental impact. Conversely, the foods that are recommended for the most restricted consumption are also the foods that have the greatest environmental impact. This brings together, in a single food model, two different but equally significant objectives: personal health and safeguarding the environment.
figure 3.1
The model of the food and environment double pyramidSource: BCFN, 2011.
environmental pyramid
food pyramid
low high
high low
sugg
este
d co
nsum
ptio
n
envi
ronm
enta
l im
pact
SweetsRed Meat
Red meat
CheeseFish
OilPoultry
Legumes, SweetsYogurt, Eggs
Bread, PastaMilk, Rice,
Cookies
FruitPotatoes
VegetablesFruit
Vegetables
Bread, Pasta,Rice, Potatoes,
Legumes
CheesesEggs
White MeatFish
CookiesMilk
Yogurt
Oil
116 eating planet
3.1 the food pyramid as an educational tool
In recent years, there has been a striking increase in the number of people who can freely choose what, and how much, they eat. These people, however, are at great risk of developing imbalanced diets because they lack an adequate food culture or widespread nutritional guidelines that are clearly understood and easy to apply. One unmistakable indicator of this fact is the recent galloping spread of pathologies caused by excessive consumption of the wrong kinds of food (as well as a concomitant decline in physical activity among all age groups).The American physiologist Ancel Keys, who published the best-seller Eat Well and Stay Well in 1958, was one of the first to explain to a worldwide audience why people were longer-lived in certain regions. The secret of longevity lies in the balanced consumption of all natural foods, with an emphasis, in terms of frequency and quantity, on fruit, vegetable, and grain products. At the same time, it is important to reduce the consumption of foods rich in saturated fats, meats, and sweets. In particular, Keys discovered that it was due to this diet (which he dubbed the “Mediterranean diet”) that rates of death from heart dis-ease in the countries of southern Europe and North Africa were much lower than the rates found in English-speaking and other northern countries, where the diet tended to be rich in saturated fat. Unfortunately, since then the Medi-terranean diet, in Italy and elsewhere, has been challenged by competition from global food models (first and foremost, American fast food).We hope to help reverse this sad trend with the Double Pyramid, which has two strengths: it is an excellent synthesis of the principal knowledge developed by medicine and by food studies, and it is a powerful educational tool for changing patterns of consumption, thanks to its simple and intuitive graphic nature.
the base of the pyramid. Let’s take a more detailed look at the food pyra-mid. The general pattern is obvious: at the base we find plant-based foods, typ-ical of the dietary habits of the Mediterranean region, that are rich in nutrients (vitamins, mineral salts, water) and protective compounds (fibers and plant-based bioactive compounds). As we move upward, we find foods with progres-sively greater energy density (very much present in the American diet), which ought to be consumed in smaller quantities.The first level contains fruits and vegetables, which are foods with limited caloric content that provide the body with water, carbohydrates, vitamins, min-erals, and fiber. Protein and fat content is very low. The carbohydrates found in fruit and vegetables consist for the most part of simple sugars, which can be eas-ily utilized by the body, and small amounts of starch. Plant-based foods are also the chief source of fiber, which helps regulate intestinal function and makes us feel full, which contributes to lower consumption of high-energy foods.Continuing upward, we find pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, and legumes. Pasta
117the double pyramid | food for sustainable growth
is rich in starch, with a substantial protein content and a negligible lipid ratio. Rice, like all cereal grains, has high starch content, low protein content, and even lower fat content. Rice also contains small quantities of minerals and B vitamins. Potatoes have very low fat and protein content, while they are rich in starch and carbohydrates. They are also a very significant source of potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. Bread is a staple, because it contains the necessary level of carbohydrates to provide the human body with the ideal fuel. Last of all, legumes are the highest-protein plant-based foods known (proteins of excel-lent quality) and also contain lots of fiber. Legume proteins are rich in essential amino acids and are easily digested. Legumes are also an excellent source of B vitamins (especially B1, niacin, and B12) and such minerals as iron and zinc. They are a good alternative to meat.One level farther up we find extra-virgin olive oil, which is composed of tri-glycerides (rich in monounsaturated fatty acids), essential fatty acids, vita-min E, polyphenols, and phytosterols. Just beyond that we come to milk and yogurt. Milk is almost 90 percent water, with trace contents of high-quality proteins, mostly easily digested short-chain saturated fats (many of which are also rich in animal fats that encourage the rise of plasma cholesterol levels and should therefore be consumed in moderation) and sugars (chiefly lactose, which is made up of galactose and glucose). The vitamins found in the largest quan-tities in milk are A, B1, B2, B12, and pantothenic acid. Milk is also the chief source of calcium in the human diet. Yogurt, like milk, is a food with high nutritional value. It may be more easily digested than milk by people who suf-fer from lactose intolerance.
the second part of the pyramid. At the next higher level, we find a vast assortment of diverse products, such as cheeses, white meats, fish, eggs, and cookies. Cheeses contain proteins and fats, but practically no carbohydrates at all. Cheeses also contain significant amounts of calcium in a form that is well absorbed into the bloodstream. B vitamins are present in small quantities and there is a good quantity of vitamin A. Then come fish and eggs; fish contain proteins with an elevated metabolic value and variable quantities of fats up to 10 percent of the weight of the food. Fish fats contain polyunsaturated fatty acids, which belong to the category of essential fatty acids; the family of the omega-3 fatty acids, in particular, is considered to be beneficial in the preven-tion of cardio-circulatory diseases. Eggs contain proteins with such a high met-abolic value that for years the protein composition of eggs was the benchmark used to evaluate the proteins of other foods. Cookies are composed of a wide variety of ingredients with different nutrient and energy content. In general terms, there is a significant content of simple sugars, while the fat content is quite variable, on average between 9 percent and 25 percent.
118 eating planet
The consumption of meat, especially lean meat, is important because it helps to provide high quality proteins, which are crucial to children’s growth and to the formation of muscles. About half of the proteins in meat consist of amino acids that are essential to the human organism. We also find B vitamins (in particu-lar, B12), selenium, copper, and zinc. Fat content is variable. It can range from virtually zero to almost 30 percent, depending on the kind of meat. The fats are mainly saturated and monounsaturated, with a small proportion of polyun-saturated fats. White meats are therefore recommended and the consumption of red meat should be reduced. This is evident in the many versions of the food pyramid developed by national and international institutes that place red meat at the very top of the pyramid, along with sweets (which are rich in fats and simple sugars) and should be consumed in moderation.
3.2 some studies of the mediterranean diet
From an analysis of the many reference studies, we can see that one protective factor against many of the most common chronic diseases—especially cardio-vascular diseases and tumors, but also Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases—is the adoption of a way of eating based on the Mediterranean nutritional model, which is the same model employed by the BCFN for the construction of the food pyramid. That diet is characterized by high consumption of vegetables, legumes, fresh and dried fruit, olive oil, and cereal grains (which in the past were largely unrefined); moderate consumption of fish and dairy products (especially cheese and yogurt) and wine; and limited consumption of red meat, white meat, and animal fats.The consumption patterns typical of the Mediterranean diet in fact appear to be consistent with the nutritional guidelines set forth by the most respected international scientific societies and institutions working on the most common pathologies of our time (in particular, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and dia-betes).The nutritional value of the Mediterranean diet was scientifically proven by the well-known “Seven Countries Study” conducted by Ancel Keys. In that study, the diets adopted by various populations were compared to determine their benefits and critical points. The study demonstrated associations between types of diet and the risk of developing chronic diseases. It also showed that elevated levels of saturated fatty acids in the diet and of cholesterol in the bloodstream are factors capable of explaining the difference in rates of mortality and pre-dicting future rates of coronary disease in the populations studied.From Keys’s study to the present day, extensive research has analyzed the links between ways of eating and the rise of chronic diseases. Beginning in the mid-1990s, a series of studies has also shown a strong correlation between diet
new places of knowledgeCommunity gardens and vegetable patches are becoming, especially in big cities, increasingly common, and not only for food production, but also as means for teaching about food and food production. Popular with families and used by schools, they offer a chance to experience, “in the field,” where food comes from, for people who live in major urban areas.
120 eating planet
figure 3.2
The graphic representation of food advice issued by the USDASource: USDA, 2011.
and longevity. For instance, that a study appearing in the PubMed scientific database, over a three-month time span, found some 70 scientific publications focusing on the Mediterranean diet. Those publications presented the findings of clinical or epidemiological studies showing that following the Mediterranean diet resulted in measurable benefits in a broad array of areas of human health, including metabolic conditions, cardiovascular diseases, neurological or psy-chiatric diseases (for instance, Alzheimer’s disease), respiratory diseases or aller-gies, sexual disturbances (both female and male; for instance, erectile dysfunc-tion), as well as a number of oncological (cancer-related) pathologies. A recent broad-based European study by EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition), which evaluated 485,044 adult subjects over a period of about nine years, showed that strict adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with a significant reduction (-33 percent) of the risk of developing a gastric carcinoma. Last of all, it is worth noting that research shows that the Mediterranean diet has a positive impact at all ages, from the prenatal period into advanced old age.
from the pyramid to the dinner plate. A major international effort is under way to make the arguments of the food pyramid and the Mediterranean diet increasingly accessible to ordinary people. One example is what the United States
121the double pyramid | food for sustainable growth
Department of Agriculture is doing in America with the USDA food plate, a dif-ferent visual translation of the contents of the Food Pyramid (figure 3.2).However a healthy diet is depicted, it is clear that a large share of the most respected scientific research on the relationship between diet and chronic dis-eases shows, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the Mediterranean dietary model must be taken as a point of reference for proper nutrition and that “healthy” lifestyles should be associated with that diet. Figure 3.3 shows the guidelines for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and tumors.
3.3 the environmental pyramid
The food pyramid based on the Mediterranean diet is clearly among the healthiest dietary approaches available. But what about its impacts on the health of the environment? The BCFN Environmental Pyramid is an effort to illustrate those impacts. It was constructed from research tracing the envi-ronmental effects of various food types using the life-cycle assessment (LCA) method. LCA analysis follows a product or service throughout its entire life in order to evaluate the energy and environmental loads imposed by its produc-tion. LCA begins with the initial cultivation or extraction of raw materials, and follows them through processing, fabrication, assembly, transport, distribution, use, reuse, recycling, and final disposal. The LCA approach offers the most objective and complete evaluation possible of the system (figure 3.4).
figure 3.3
Scheme of medical guidelinesSource: BCFN, 2009.
healthy diet and lifestyle
30 minutes of physical activity every day
Avoid conditions of overweight and obesity
Avoid the excessive consumption of alcohol Don’t smoke
Adopt a balanced dietIncrease the consumption of fruit and vegetables
Prefer complex carbohydrates and increase the consumption of unrefined cereal grains
Increase the consumption of legumes
Consume 2‑3 portions of fish every week
Prefer plant‑based condiments
Restrict the consumption of foods with high fat content
Restrict the consumption of fried foods
Restrict the consumption of meat and poultry to 3‑4 portions a week
Restrict the added consumption of salt
Restrict the consumption of foods and beverages with high sugar content
Avoid the daily use of food supplements
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16
284 eating planet
interview whoever controls food controls democracy
Vandana Shiva
The one billion people starving and the two billion peo-ple sick, and the planet sick—water disappearing, bio-diversity disappearing, the climate damaged—soil losing fertility—are all interconnected. And they are intercon-nected in a model of farming that forgets the nutrition of the soil, it forgets the nutrition of people and puts at the center profits from extraction. That means small farm-ers can’t feed themselves because they are now part of the new dispossessed. Or if they are farming they’re indebted and they are selling what they grow. So of the one bil-lion people who are hungry, 500 million are producers of food. And a system that forgets that food is about nour-ishment then produces non-food. And non-food becomes junk food and junk food creates all kinds of diseases. That’s also the same system that is able to exploit water because it doesn’t have to bear the cost. They can push species to extinction. They can put 40% of the green-house gases into the atmosphere that gives us climate change. So profits lead to destroying food, destroying the Earth, destroying our farmers, destroying our health. Obsession with profits.
Given this, what approach should developing countries take towards agriculture, to prevent the problem getting worse?
Well, I think the most important point is that so-called developing countries are called developing because we weren’t industrialized in the first industrial revolu-tion. And the large majority of people in our countries, even China and India, are small farmers. Africa for sure, Latin America, for sure. And we need to treat our small farmers as our social capital, because small farms produce more. If we start imitating the large scale industrial corporate farming of the West, we will not only destroy our farmers, we will destroy our food security. The second thing we need to do because developing countries happen to lie in the part of the world that has higher bio-diversity, we need to recognize that nature’s capital of bio-diversity is real capital. Not financial loans from banks that are going to take away your land down the line. Not technologies that are already failing us like genetic engineering. We need to have respect for the land, for our farmers,
Vandana Shiva is the founder of Navdanya, a movement for the con-servation of biodiversity and to protect the rights of farmers. She is the founder and director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, whose mission is to solve the most serious social and economic prob-lems in collaboration with local communities and so-cial movements.She has also served as an adviser to the Indian government and for for-eign governments, as well as for such NGOs as the International Forum on Globalization, Women’s Environment and Devel-opment Organization, and Third World Network.
285interviews | food for culture
and for the knowledge that has been older and more time-tested in agriculture. That is what the IAASTD report has pointed out. The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development. That nei-ther the Green Revolution, nor genetic engineering are food security solutions. Ecological farming very often linked and growing out of indigenous knowledge systems is the place to increase your production while conserving your resources.
Do you think that in this process women have a specific role?
Women have a specific role for two reasons. First, when we talk about the long history of agriculture which did not starve people, which did not create obesity, which did not give us diabetes epidemics, that long history was an agriculture and food in which women had the knowledge and control. So we need to turn to women to say how do we feed people with nourishment? That’s why in Nav-danya we run a Grandmothers’ university, so that we learn once again how to give respect to food. The second thing is that the agriculture that is creating all these problems for a billion hungry people, 2 billion obese, is an agriculture that has its roots in war. It came out of war. Agri-chemicals came out of war. And it has its roots in what I call the patriarchal mindset of man as dominator. Man as a violent conqueror of the Earth and people. That model has become too heavy for the food system. We need the non-violence, the diversity, the multifunctionality that women bring to agriculture.
You once said that whoever controls our food system will control our democracy as well. What do you mean, can you explain better?
Well, at one level it is what Kissinger said when he talked about food as a weapon. He said when you control weapons, you control governments and armies. When you control the food you control people. In today’s context, food is being controlled through control of seeds. Monsanto has emerged as the sin-gle biggest player on the seed front. And sadly the US government which has made itself extremely impoverished by outsourcing all its production, is now only collecting royalties from patented seed, taking away the democracy of the third world farmer to have their own seed, taking away the democracy of peo-ple worldwide to choose the food they grow and to know what’s in the food. Food democracy in our times means having seed sovereignty and seed freedom. Therefore no patents on seed. Having the ability to grow your own food, there-fore the defense of the small farm and therefore stopping the perverse subsidies of 400 billion dollars that give industrial farming an unfair benefit to prosper. And third, it means being much more aware of what you’re eating and how it is grown. That means democracy begins with food.
EATING PLANETNUTRITION TODAY: A CHALLENGE FOR MANKIND AND FOR THE PLANET
Can we produce food for all the inhabitants of Earth and distribute it fairly? Is it possible to make the food system more sustainable to help protect the environ-ment and save resources? What are ways to provide better nutrition that help peo-ple maintain good health over the long term? Within the great culinary traditions, is it possible to rediscover the ingredients for healthy, fair, and convivial eating? The paradoxes of the global food system, the cultural value of food, production and consumption trends, and the effects of food production and consumption on health and the environment are some of the major themes of Eating Planet 2012, the first global report on food and nutrition by the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, in collaboration with the Worldwatch Institute. Analysis of these issues and discussions about potential solutions are enriched by the contributions of prestigious experts: Tony Allan, Ellen Gustafson, Michael Heasman, Hans Herren, Alex Kalache, Mario Monti, Aviva Must, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, Marion Nestle, Raj Patel, Shimon Peres, Carlo Petrini, Paul Roberts, Vandana Shiva, Ricardo Uauy.
