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Food: a Fundamental Ingredient In The History of Humanity taken from An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage CS110 Microcomputer Project - Chiara Cervini – December 2013. Contents . There are many ways to look at the past …. …as a list of important dates. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
FOOD: A FUNDAMENTAL INGREDIENT IN THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY
taken from An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage
CS110 Microcomputer Project - Chiara Cervini – December 2013
Contents
There are many ways to look at the past…
…as a list of important dates
As a conveyor belt of kings and queens...
As a series of rising and falling empires
or as a narrative of political, philosophical or technological progress.
It is possible to observe history from another point of view, less conventional maybe, but likewise significant for humanity…
…and that is through
Food: Agent of Change
… It has acted as a catalyst of social
transformation and
organization through,
Throughout history, food has done
more than just provide sustenance …
Geopolitical Competition
Industrial Development
Military Conflict
… and
Economic Expansion
Food’s first transformative role acted as a foundation for entire
civilizations.
Agriculture: Aggregation
The adoption of agriculture
made
new settled lifestyles possible
and set mankind on the path to the modern world.
From hunting and gathering
to
Farming in a
continuous way.
First Stable Civilizations
First Staple Crops
Wheat MaizeMillet
Barley Rice Potatoes
The staple crops that supported the first civilizations, i.e.
• barley and wheat in the Near East• millet and rice in Asia • maize and potatoes in the Americas,
were not simply discovered by chance.
Crop SelectionThe first Genetic Engineers were farmers.
Instead, they emerged through a
complex process of co-evolution,
as desirable traits were selected and propagated by early farmers.
New Species
New Tools
New Processes
New Social Organization
Political, economic and religious structures of ancient societies were based upon the systems of food production and distribution
The
production of …
Agricultural food surpluses and…
Development of Communal Food Storage and …
Food Conservation
Fostered…
Political Centralization
Agricultural fertility rituals developed into state religions
FOOD became a means
of …
Payment and taxation
Power
Influence and display of status
Food-trade routes acted as
international communication networks
and fostered cultural and religious
exchange
compiled the first attempts at
world maps
Early Geographers
The European desire to circumvent the
Arab Spice Monopoly
led to …
First Colonial Outposts
And later on to…
Imperialism
Industrial Revolution
Plantations: Sugar and Potatoes
Sugar: West Indies
Europe: Potatoes
Sugar and
potatoes provided cheap sustenance for the workers in
the new factories of the industrial age.
Potatoes became a staple food. Compared to cereal crops, they produced more calories per given area of land.
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Groundnut in shell
Lentils Potato Rice, paddy Sweet potatoes Wheat
Calories(kcal/m2-crop)
1845: Great Irish Potato Famine
Food and War
The use of FOOD as a
weapon of war
is timeless.
In Europe, Napoleon’s rise and fall was
intimately connected…
…with his ability to FEED his vast armies.
Ideological Weapon
Artificial Faminewas used during the
Cold War between
capitalism and communism.
The Green Revolution
Green Revolution
Norman BorlaugGeneticist
Wins the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970
o Increase per hectare crop yields of wheat, corn, and rice
Creates new hybrid varieties
Objective: Food Security
o Facilitate harvest through mechanization.
Norin 10 Dwarf Wheat
Hybrid rice
Green Revolution
Industrial Agriculture
19%
19%
11%10%
9%
6%
5%4%
3%3%
Agrochemical Industry% Market Share
Bayer (Germany)
Syngenta (Switzerland)
BASF (Germany)
Dow AgroSciences (USA)
Monsanto (USA)
DuPont (USA)
Makhteshim Agan (Israel)
Nufarm (Australia)
Sumitomo Chemical (Japan)
Arysta Lifescience (Japan)
Companies
Source: Agrow World Crop Protection News, August 2008
Industrial Livestock
Intensive Agriculture
$0 $200 $400 $600 $800 $1,000 $1,200
Potash Corp (Canada)
Yara (Norway)
Mosaic (USA) (Cargill has 55% stake)
Israel Chemicals Ltd. (Israel)
Agrium (Canada)
K+S Group (Germany)
Sociedad Quimica y Minera (Chile)
Fertilizer Industry2007 Net Income (US$ millions)
Intensive Agriculture
Source: Potash Corp, 2007
Modern Food Debates
Taking a long-term historical perspective also provides a new way to illuminate
modern debates about food, such as…
The Globalization of Food
In modern times food has become a battlefield for other issues, including trade and development
Sustainable Agriculture
OGM Yes, OGM No
Biofuel Yes
Biofuel No
Food Poverty
16.8 %
0
40.4
50.9
0.04 0.04
% by Region
People Living on $1.25 Per Day
East Asia and Pacif ic Latin America and the Caribbean
South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa
Europe and Central Asia Middle East and North Africa
Food Poverty
Source: World Bank
Food Localism
Nutrition
Food’s historical influence can be seen all around us,
and not just in the kitchen, at the dining table or in the supermarket …
… food choices made in the past have had far-reaching consequences, and have in unexpected ways shaped the world in which we now live…
That food has been such an important ingredient in human affairs might seem strange, but it would be far more surprising if it had not.
After all, everything that every person has ever done, throughout history, has literally been fuelled by food.
The End