‘Either we can have the price of food going up in a world where people can afford it, or we can live in a world where we’re content to let the poor people die,’ says Raj Patel

How is it possible that there are more than 850 million people going hungry every day while there are one billion overweight people in the world?

“I’m seeing everywhere a great deal of concern about obesity, and it seems largely disconnected around the issues of production. People are worried about obesity, but they can’t quite make the link between why we’re more obese and why there are farmers in the field who are committing suicide,” says author Raj Patel in the energetic and passionate tone of an activist and academic. His new book, Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World’s Food System (HarperCollins Canada, 448 pp.) probes skilfully into the underlying causes of this global crisis.

In Stuffed and Starved, he has woven together an intricate web of interconnectivity, allowing readers to have a long, hard look at the global food system, pulling together insights from all corners of the globe and crystallizing the links between seemingly disparate pieces.

From the landless peasant movement in Brazil, to the Slow Food movement in Italy, to the plight of farmers in India, France, North America and elsewhere, he has seen both the desolate despondency and shining examples of hope that are emerging around the globe. “Unless you’re a corporate food executive, the food system isn’t working for you,” he writes. Navigating through unjust free-trade mechanisms that have left millions crippled by staggering debt and poverty and the domination of a select group of cash crops, he shows readers that it’s not just the food we eat, but the architecture of our lives and living spaces that have been affected.

The book can be summed up in two points, Patel says. “People can and should think about how their food gets to them,” and “In order to reclaim our food, and to be able to conquer obesity and all the rest of it, the one thing we need to do is to enjoy food more.”

It may sound odd until one looks a little deeper at this statement. “But actually to enjoy food more means to care about it, to care about the seasons its grown in, to care about who grows it, where it’s grown, how it’s grown and also to enjoy the taste.” To be able to do this, what we need, is time and money, Patel says.

“To engage with food means engaging politically to make sure that we do have the time and money so that everyone, and not just the rich, can do this,” he adds.

Patel is quick to point out that we need a broader view of how we feed ourselves than choosing between imported tropical fruit from abroad or the wilting local potatoes during Alberta’s winter. He says that the other side of being able to access and appreciate food is eating with the seasons. “Most of us don’t know when tomato season is or when the seasons for certain fruits are,” he says. “We do feel that food will be there 24/7. All we have to do is pop into the supermarkets and the world’s bounty will be at our feet. I think this cheapens the taste of it.”

Food trends are changing. Patel says that five years ago, it would not have been possible to publish a book like this, but today, there is more overall concern about what we’re eating and how it affects not only our bodies but also the planet. And the climate — due to the rise in biofuel production, a devastating drought in Australia and various other factors, agflation (the increase in the price of food over the past several years) has been hurting people the world over, particularly those on low incomes.

“As the climate becomes more and more erratic, the price of food is going to go up. We face a choice,” Patel says. “Either we can have that price of food going up in a world where people can afford it, or we can live in a world where we’re content to let the poor people die.”

The world over, Patel shows in his book how local people are being priced out of the market, even while they might be producing cash crops to sell on the world market. “In Haiti, we’re seeing people making cakes out of mud, margarine and salt, and they’re selling those because they can’t afford to buy the food that is there. At the moment, we’re heading toward a world that’s not just, in which poor people are left out in the cold.”

For Patel, the personal and the political are intimately intertwined, and there is nothing more integral to human life than food. “If you look at all the trends, it’s not looking good, but what the movement toward sustainable food is doing is putting another dish on the table. More just. More sustainable. Better for you — and that’s a dish well-worth savouring.”