The Great Food Gamble - Softcover

Humphrys, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340770457 ISBN 13: 9780340770450

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 2001

Synopsis

John Humphrys is passionate about the state of British food, farming, fishing and agriculture. Here, he looks back to the days of organic farming in England when people shared and swapped food and considered the wildlife as well as the farmed animals, crops and fruits. He examines today's travesties: factory farming, pouring chemicals into the land, the scandal of the supermarket wars and cheap imported goods. He then turns to the future and asks: Can we save this ravaged earth and rebuild our community values? Most of all, can we reverse the damage to ourselves and our long-term health that may result from what we eat? With his sharp observations and deep research, John Humphrys' book requires the full attention of anyone who cares about themselves or the future.

About this title

Review

John Humphrys, broadcaster, writer, farmer and consumer, has written The Great Food Gamble to address the serious questions he and many of his audience have about the food on our tables in the wake of BSE, foot and mouth, and concerns about the effects of factory farming practices on the nation's health and environment. Humphrys knowledgeably traces such intensive agricultural practices to British food policy from the end of the Second World War to ask whether the relentless drive for more and more food has been a mistake and whether the risks we run are worth it to have what may ultimately prove to be an illusion of choice. Are there really no alternatives, he asks? As readers of Devil's Advocate and listeners to Radio 4's Today programme will no doubt expect, Humphrys has a no-nonsense approach. He has little time or patience with mealy-mouthed politicking. Industrial practices, backed up by political will, is costing our health and our environment too dear, he argues. He counts the cost of intensive factory farming, not only in terms of the destruction of our rural heritage, long-term environmental effects and mounting health concerns about the use of antibiotics and pesticides, but the hard cash cost of subsidies and cleaning up pollution that put the lie to the food industry's claim of providing "cheap" food. Humphrys adds his voice to the great food industry debate along with George Monbiot's critique of the supermarket's control of food production in Captive State and Eric Schlosser's stomach-churning analysis of our unfortunate infatuation with fast food in Fast Food Nation. Humphrys' prose is unashamedly popular: evocative and even nostalgic for a fast disappearing experience of the British countryside, even as he stops short of being romantic. If this means that he substitutes rhetoric for detail, he remains bang on target and knows that to engage people in this debate and connect it effectively to their lives is the most effective way to counter the enormous power wielded by the other side. A bitter harvest indeed. --Fiona Buckland

Review

Compelling (Observer)

Thought-provoking, well-researched (Fordyce Maxwell, Scotsman)

Incisive and readable (Mick Hume, The Times)

Humphrys's level-headedness makes the arguments all the more powerful (Paul Heiney, The Sunday Times)

This could be the best diet book ever written (The Sunday Times)

Without being sentimental, it is a passionate discourse... well-written and accessible. My only concern is that its message is likely to be ignored where it matters most. (Tim Lang, Independent)

A concise, no-nonsense assessment of the true cost of cheap food: to the environment, the livestock, and the nation's long-term health. (Daily Mail)

About this edition

• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0340770457
• ISBN 13: 9780340770450
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 356