Book description
*Cities cover just 2% of the world's surface, but consume 75% of the
world's resources
*Global food production increased by 145% in the last 4 decades of
the 20th century - yet an estimated 800 million people are still hungry
*In 2005 British supermarkets sent half a million tonnes of edible
food to landfill - the whole food sector put together sent 17 million tonnes
*One quarter of the British population is obese - one in three meals
we eat is a ready meal
WHY?
The relationship between food and cities is fundamental to our every
day lives. Food shapes cities, and through them, it moulds us - along
with the countryside that feeds us. The gargantuan effort necessary to
feed cities arguably has a greater social and physical impact on us
and our planet than anything else we do. Yet few of us are conscious
of the process and we rarely stop to wonder how food reaches our
plates. Hungry City examines the way in which modern food
production has damaged the balance of human existence, and reveals
that we have yet to resolve a centuries-old dilemma - one which holds
the key to a host of current problems, from obesity, the inexorable
rise of the supermarkets, to the destruction of the natural world.
Carolyn Steel follows food on its journey - from the land (and sea)
to market and supermarket, kitchen to table, waste-dump and back again
- exploring the historical roots and the contemporary issues at each
stage of food's cycle. She shows how our lives and our environment are
being manipulated but explains how we can change things for the
better. Original, inspiring and written with infectious enthusiasm and
belief, Hungry City illuminates an issue that is fundamental to
us all.
Carolyn Steel is an architect, lecturer and writer. Since training at
Cambridge, she has combined architectural practice with teaching and
research into the everyday lives of cities, running design studios at
the LSE, Metropolitan University and at Cambridge, where her lecture
course 'Food and the City' is an established part of the degree
programme. As well as being a director of Cullum and Nightingale
Architects, she was a Rome scholar, has written for the architectural
press, and has presented on the BBC's
One Foot in the Past
.
