Food and Society

Mark Gibson

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9780128118085
• eBook ISBN:
  9780128118092
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Food and Society provides a broad spectrum of information to help readers understand how the food industry has evolved from the 20th century to present. It includes information anyone would need to prepare for the future of the food industry, including discussions on the drivers that have, and may, affect food supplies. From a historical perspective, readers will learn about past and present challenges in food trends, nutrition, genetically modified organisms, food security, organic foods, and more. The book offers different perspectives on solutions that have worked in the past, while also helping to anticipate future outcomes in the food supply. Professionals in the food industry, including food scientists, food engineers, nutritionists and agriculturalists will find the information comprehensive and interesting. In addition, the book could even be used as the basis for the development of course materials for educators who need to prepare students entering the food industry. - Includes hot topics in food science, such as GMOs, modern agricultural practices and food waste - Reviews the role of food in society, from consumption, to politics, economics and social trends - Encompasses food safety, security and public health - Discusses changing global trends in food preferences

Part One

The historic political, economic and social constructs of food

Outline

1. Introduction

Part One   The Historic Political, Economic and Social Constructs of Food

Tis education forms the common mind,

Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined

Alexander Pope

Moral Essays

Chapter 1

Sociopolitical food and nutrition

pre-20th century

Abstract

Populations will only increase if and when they have sufficient basic means to do so. One of these basic needs involves access to a plentiful supply of natural resources such as food and water, not to mention the collective organization and governance of its people. Although the latter is not necessarily quite so obvious, we will look at this aspect in more detail later. In this way, with adequate governance, provisions, time, and a smattering of luck, in due course, social evolution and collective ideology have been shaped and reshaped to define humanity, most often for the better. However, this evolutionary process requires a critical mass of people, the majority of which need to be moving collectively in the same direction for things to get started. Yet, the reality for millennia was that population numbers had remained static at around the 200 million mark. That was, until a certain set of circumstances came together, prevailed and which then collectively encouraged the increase in population figures. Such circumstances included the industrial revolution, the industrialization of agriculture, and an age of enlightenment among others.

Keywords

Agricultural revolution; Chemical revolution; Food; Modern agriculture; Nutrition; Period of enlightenment

1. 1.1 The growth of agricultural civilizations
2. 1.2 Modern agriculture: on the shoulders of giants we prosper
   1. 1.2.1 The eighth-century Muslim Agricultural Revolution
   2. 1.2.2 The Columbian Exchange 1492 AD
   3. 1.2.3 Colonial agriculturalism
3. 1.3 The agricultural and industrial revolutions
   1. 1.3.1 Agricultural revolution
   2. 1.3.2 Industrial revolution
4. 1.4 The enlightenment: sociocultural movements
5. 1.5 Health and nutrition: an emerging discipline
   1. 1.5.1 The chemical revolution
      1. 1.5.1.1 Lavoisier, Antoine
      2. 1.5.1.2 Boussingault, Jean Baptiste
      3. 1.5.1.3 Liebig, Justus von
      4. 1.5.1.4 Voit, Carl
6. 1.6 The first dietary studies
   1. 1.6.1 Frankland, Edward
   2. 1.6.2 Voit, Carl
   3. 1.6.3 Rubner, Max
   4. 1.6.4 Atwater, Wilbur Olin
7. References

Populations will only increase if and when they have sufficient basic means to do so. One of these basic needs involves access to a plentiful supply of natural resources such as food and water, not to mention the collective organization and governance of its people. Although the latter is not necessarily quite so obvious, we will look at this aspect in more detail later. In this way, with adequate governance, provisions, time, and a smattering of luck, in due course, social evolution and collective ideology have been shaped and reshaped to define humanity, most often for the better. However, this evolutionary process requires a critical mass of people, the majority of which need to be moving collectively in the same direction for things to get started. Yet, the reality for millennia was that population numbers had remained static at around the 200 million mark. That was, until a certain set of circumstances came together, prevailed and which then collectively encouraged the increase in population figures. Such circumstances included the industrial revolution, the industrialization of agriculture, and an age of enlightenment among others.

Ever since civilizations first began to participate in sedentary cultivation rather than hunting and gathering, they were naturally inclined to share the fortunes and failures of their labors with the rest of the community (next section). As such a hitherto unknown concept of food security emerged, adapted, and evolved. Such is its importance, though that no book about food and society would be complete without something in the way of explanation of the food security concept. Consequently, this and many other food-related topics are included. In this way, the whole picture of food and society comes together from the macro- to the microenvironment of food.

1.1. The growth of agricultural civilizations

Pinning down the birth of modern humanity is fraught with disagreement and contention. The problem is there are numerous theories, scholarly and otherwise, that try to describe the specific origins of the agricultural evolution and the subsequent impetus that gave rise to the complete transition from hunter-gatherer to the very origins of agriculture as we know it today. Many such theories include the demographic, oasis, evolutionary, or socioeconomic hypotheses among others (Childe, 1936; Sauer, 1952; Binford, 1968; Rindos, 1987; Hayden, 1992, 1995; Weisdorf, 2005; Rosen, 2007). However, such theories aside it was widely understood or at least acknowledged that the genuine origins of farming evolved somewhat simultaneously and somewhat independently around 10,000 years ago at several sites around the world. This change (or growth if one prefers) has been said to have been largely fueled as a direct result of the abundance of freshwater—important and undoubtedly of great overriding geologic influence. This was collectively encouraged as previous bands of mobile hunter-gatherers came to understand the numerous benefits of living a static existence nearby to rivers, springs, and lakes (Miller, 1980; Gopher et al., 2001; Weisdorf, 2005; Guisepi, 2009; UOR, 2009). Consequent growth from this mini agrarian revolution, coined in 1935 by philologist turned archaeologist V. Gordon Childe as the “Neolithic Revolution,” was understood to be pivotal, or the primary mover in “sedentary cultivation.” Directly resulting from such a fundamental change in living styles, Weisdorf (2005) claims that the transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculturalist at this juncture has been universally recognized as one of the most crucial moments in human civili...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Table of equations
• Contributors
• Biography
• Foreword
• Preface: What role food?
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Part One. The historic political, economic and social constructs of food
• Chapter 1. Sociopolitical food and nutrition: pre-20th century
• Chapter 2. The 20th century: winds of change (1900–45)
• Chapter 3. Food, rights, and politics: the post-war years (1945–60)
• Chapter 4. Mixed blessings: a time of hope and crisis (1960–2000)
• Chapter 5. The 21st century: ideological convergence
• Part Two. Food and...
• Chapter 6. The beginnings of modern development theory
• Chapter 7. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
• Chapter 8. Organic food and agriculture
• Chapter 9. From agriculture to the global food chain/system
• Chapter 10. Global food waste
• Chapter 11. The Hunger files: food security
• Chapter 12. Food: natural and environmental considerations
• Chapter 13. Food: population rise and sustainability
• Part Three. Anthropology of food
• Chapter 14. Governance and food
• Chapter 15. Food and social trends
• Chapter 16. Trending foods and beverages
• Chapter 17. Food, culture, and food tourism
• Chapter 18. Feeding the future: challenges and limitations
• Part Four. Food, service, and other deliverables in the hospitality sector
• Chapter 19. The sociology of the chef: a new theoretical proposition from the open professional kitchen
• Chapter 20. Food ingredients
• Chapter 21. The role of information technology in the food industry
• Chapter 22. Food service in hospitality management
• Chapter 23. The power of service quality: front-of-house service skills
• Chapter 24. The financial environment: Culinary math
• Chapter 25. Controlling costs and purchasing food
• Chapter 26. F&B spatial design and functionality
• Part Five. Summary
• Index