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  • Feeding Britain

  • Our Food Problems and How to Fix Them
  • By: Tim Lang
  • Narrated by: Roy McMillan
  • Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (20 ratings)

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Feeding Britain cover art

Feeding Britain

By: Tim Lang
Narrated by: Roy McMillan
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin. 

How does Britain get its food? Why is our current system at breaking point? How can we fix it before it is too late?

British food has changed remarkably in the last half century. As we have become wealthier and more discerning, our food has Europeanised (pizza is children's favourite food) and internationalised (we eat the world's cuisines), yet our food culture remains fragmented, a mix of mass 'ultra-processed' substances alongside food as varied and good as anywhere else on the planet.

This book takes stock of the UK food system: where it comes from, what we eat, its impact, fragilities and strengths. It is a book on the politics of food. It argues that the Brexit vote will force us to review our food system. Such an opportunity is sorely needed. After a brief frenzy of concern following the financial shock of 2008, the UK government has slumped once more into a vague hope that the food system will keep going on as before. Food, they said, just required a burst of agri-technology and more exports to pay for our massive imports.

Feeding Britain argues that this and other approaches are short-sighted, against the public interest and possibly even strategic folly. Setting a new course for UK food is no easy task but it is a process, this book urges, that needs to begin now.

©2020 Tim Lang (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Tim Lang has performed a public service." (Simon Jenkins, Sunday Times)

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Stinking book

Full of data, detail and context. A wake-up call. For the IK. Read it twice!

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Quite literally the same few things repeated over

Quite literally the same few things repeated over. In fact, it's fair to say once you have listened to the introduction then the rest is quite unnecessary.

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important and detailed

Like so many areas of our lives that we have abdicated to inscrutable corporations, the scale of the perverse incentives which drive our behaviours is masked by shiny happy sales techniques. This book uncovers how globalised food markets have led to self perpetuating inequities in health, wealth and ultimately sovereignty. For an island, this is a precarious position to be in. One which pandemics, climate change and the increasingly rapid onset of ecological breakdown will expose our fragile resilience. And it's not just a matter of the Royal Navy securing supply lines. The book takes us through a revealing tour of the history of British food resilience. The reading aloud of detailed supporting statistics some might find detracting, but they are also astounding.
A must read to understand how to avoid further food system and national health deterioration. Solutions provided.

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A missed opportunity - a deeply frustrating book

The author’s knowledge of his specialty is fantastic, and the book has some brilliant sections. However, he desperately needs an editor to keep him focused on his areas of knowledge. Instead the book gets lost in shallow attempts to cover the entire spectrum of economics, politics, inequality, and ecology.

For example, whole areas of economic policy are dismissed out of hand with simplistic one line assertions, when any child taking a GCSE in economics could tell him that these are nuanced debates that have occupied the world’s brightest minds for centuries.

This book has the ingredients to be THE text that teases out the complexities in our food system. Such a shame it is ruined by a lack of focus.

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