What do you think?
Rate this book
Food or War
Ours is the Age of Food. Food is a central obsession in all cultures, nations, the media, and society. Our future supply of food is filled with risk, and history tells us that lack of food leads to war. But it also presents us with spectacular opportunities for fresh human creativity and technological prowess. Julian Cribb describes a new food system capable of meeting our global needs on this hot and overcrowded planet. This book is for anyone concerned about the health, safety, affordability, diversity, and sustainability of their food - and the peace of our planet. It is not just timely - its message is of the greatest urgency. Audiences include consumers, 'foodies', policymakers, researchers, cooks, chefs and farmers. Indeed, anyone who cares about their food, where it comes from and what it means for them, their children and grandchildren.
350 pages, Paperback
Published October 3, 2019
About the author
Julian Cribb
12 books17 followersJulian Cribb is an Australian author and science communicator.
He is a Fellow of the UK Royal Society for the Arts, the Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering (ATSE) and the Australian National University Emeritus Faculty.
His career includes appointments as scientific editor for The Australian newspaper, director of national awareness for CSIRO, editor of several newspaper including the National Farmer and Sunday Independent, member of numerous scientific boards and advisory panels, and president of national professional bodies for agricultural journalism and science communication.
His published work includes over 9000 articles, 3000 science media releases and 12 books. He has received 32 awards for journalism. He was nominated for ACT Senior Australian of the Year in 2019.
His main literary focus is the existential risk faced by humanity. This includes four books: The Coming Famine (UCP 2010) explored the question of how we can feed 10 billion humans this century; Poisoned Planet (A&U 2014) examines the contamination of the Earth system and humanity by anthropogenic chemicals and how to prevent it. Surviving the 21st Century (Springer 2017) tackles the huge existential crisis now facing humanity - and what we can do about it. His latest book Food or War (Cambridge University Press 2019) looks explores how food can help prevent human conflict in the C21st.
He is a Fellow of the UK Royal Society for the Arts, the Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering (ATSE) and the Australian National University Emeritus Faculty.
His career includes appointments as scientific editor for The Australian newspaper, director of national awareness for CSIRO, editor of several newspaper including the National Farmer and Sunday Independent, member of numerous scientific boards and advisory panels, and president of national professional bodies for agricultural journalism and science communication.
His published work includes over 9000 articles, 3000 science media releases and 12 books. He has received 32 awards for journalism. He was nominated for ACT Senior Australian of the Year in 2019.
His main literary focus is the existential risk faced by humanity. This includes four books: The Coming Famine (UCP 2010) explored the question of how we can feed 10 billion humans this century; Poisoned Planet (A&U 2014) examines the contamination of the Earth system and humanity by anthropogenic chemicals and how to prevent it. Surviving the 21st Century (Springer 2017) tackles the huge existential crisis now facing humanity - and what we can do about it. His latest book Food or War (Cambridge University Press 2019) looks explores how food can help prevent human conflict in the C21st.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 6, 2019
There are many explanations as to why the varieties of foods across our planet are diminishing yet the bullying nature of globalisation continues to cause scarcity and tension around food affecting billions of people every day. Until you read Food or War, many still apathetically believe 'that's just the way it is'.
The main reasons for the diminution of (once common) foods include man-made desertification through removal of biodiversity for cash crops, forced relocations of people from their lands and therefore access, and the loss of knowledge about how to grow food as the most basic form of self sufficiency.
Regenerative agricultural practices and more people (not robots) actually growing food for their local regions increases the value of that local food economy and with it, enterprise and meaningful employment opportunities.
Small is beautiful relates to the ability and capacity of small scale farming to grow a wider variety of produce, created with love and care within existing ecosystems so collaboration, not competition, is the guiding principle.
Of course, the 'market' is key as to who will buy the produce and how it will (can) be distributed efficiently; Joel Salatin from Polyface Farms sells only within a certain radius of his family's farms so LOCAL (freshness, quality, access, connection) are all achieved as measures of satisfaction from the eaters.
Globalisation of food has stripped provenance and care from how food is grown so huge quantities of cheap stuff can be picked, plucked, pulled and packed before it is ripe, sprayed with a variety of retardents to slow down natural biological functions them shipped around the world. This new normal is killing the planet and the perfect storm of collapse is close.
The main reasons for the diminution of (once common) foods include man-made desertification through removal of biodiversity for cash crops, forced relocations of people from their lands and therefore access, and the loss of knowledge about how to grow food as the most basic form of self sufficiency.
Regenerative agricultural practices and more people (not robots) actually growing food for their local regions increases the value of that local food economy and with it, enterprise and meaningful employment opportunities.
Small is beautiful relates to the ability and capacity of small scale farming to grow a wider variety of produce, created with love and care within existing ecosystems so collaboration, not competition, is the guiding principle.
Of course, the 'market' is key as to who will buy the produce and how it will (can) be distributed efficiently; Joel Salatin from Polyface Farms sells only within a certain radius of his family's farms so LOCAL (freshness, quality, access, connection) are all achieved as measures of satisfaction from the eaters.
Globalisation of food has stripped provenance and care from how food is grown so huge quantities of cheap stuff can be picked, plucked, pulled and packed before it is ripe, sprayed with a variety of retardents to slow down natural biological functions them shipped around the world. This new normal is killing the planet and the perfect storm of collapse is close.
July 1, 2019
I found the book somewaht interesting, but also disappointing at the same time. The author strives to make the case that the lack of food has been the cause for all wars since the beginning of time. While food scarcity may have contributed to some of them, it was not the major driver as he protrays. He goes into great detail on the subject citing numerous examples. He also does a good job of covering why we are experiencing a food crisis in many parts of the world and the challenges facing us in the coming decades. At the end of the book he lays out his solution for correcting the current situation. Unfortunatley, while some of his solutions are sound, the current world political environment, financial focus and personal eating habits will prevent his rationale from being implemented.
This book is not for everyone. You need to have a passion for the current and future world food shortage to get through this book.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.
This book is not for everyone. You need to have a passion for the current and future world food shortage to get through this book.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.
October 24, 2019
Julian Cribb’s Magical Thinking on Achieving World Peace
Julian Cribb is a science communicator with a novel idea to achieve world peace. He believes that, at the most fundamental level, all conflict on earth is caused by a lack of access to basic resources. His idea is simplistic and not particularly convincing.
Let me begin by stating that I understand that this review verges on the ridiculous, but then again so does this book. If it wasn't published by a serious publishing house I would have scoffed at it from the get go.
Julian Cribb advocates redirecting one-fifth (why one-fifth and not seven-eighths, three-sevenths or five-twelfths is never made clear, it’s merely a number that he plucked out of thin air) of global defence expenditure to unproven and unusual agricultural methods in the hope that the world will somehow magically become peaceful. Why? Well simply because, according to Cribb, once the inconvenient causes of conflict (like politics and religion, which simply don’t fit into his naïve view of the world) are stripped away, all wars are caused by limited access to land, water and food.
He seriously contends that World War Two was fought over food. I’m surprised that he didn’t try to suggest that World War One started for a similar reason, perhaps Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot because Gavrilo Princip was a bit hungry after (unsuccessfully) going hunting with his gun earlier in the day and couldn’t find a decent pljeskavica to eat in Sarajevo.
He refers to the Syrian drought which, I agree, is probably the closest we can get to a case that supports his hypothesis. There was a lot more going on than food and water insecurity, however, like decades of repression under a brutal, dictatorial regime, but that’s politics so completely disregard that.
It was actually political, social and economic factors that helped to pull apart the agricultural system in Syria, it wasn’t driven solely by drought. Damascus subsidised food production through generous fuel subsidies to power diesel water pumps and bought a lot of the food produced in the country at inflated prices. When those policies became economically unsustainable, they were rescinded. That made it difficult for many farmers to continue in their profession. The government’s timing was poor as well. The subsidies were withdrawn at a time of severe drought, which only exacerbated the problems. He’s right to say that a lot of people migrated into cities. That alone didn’t cause the significant problems that Syria faces, however, the lack of employment opportunities and the marginalisation of certain groups of people based on ethnicity, religious affiliation or political ideals did more to foster animosity with the regime than a lack of food. But disregard those factors because they don’t fit Julian’s theory.
The conflict in Yemen is also a weird case to bring up. That conflict is driven more by religious ideology and identity than anything else. Yemen might have been an agricultural powerhouse 5,000 years ago, but it certainly wasn’t one at any point in recent modern history. I think something like 90 percent of its food was imported even before the conflict began. Of course the Saudis are bombing food supply routes and agricultural infrastructure; it’s probably one of the most efficient ways to destroy Houthi morale in an attempt to force them to surrender.
His views on gender are equally simplistic and perplexing. He believes that women are innately more peaceful than men. Tell that to Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher, maybe they were women pretending to be men, or men who did a stellar job of passing as women. Either way, his views are representative of the worst kind of identity politics currently dividing civil society.
Unfortunately, the major arguments in this book could be easily refuted by a primary school child who has only a passing interest in politics and civics. The major conflicts in the world cannot begin to be understood without reference to religion, politics, economics and the myriad other factors that sow discord.
In short, the entire thesis of this book rests on flimsy assertions that only make sense if you completely disregard the complexities of the world. It therefore has no basis in reality. Forget reading it and pick up a book by an actual academic who understands that the world is complex. Mass Starvation by Alex de Waal is just one suggestion.
Julian Cribb is a science communicator with a novel idea to achieve world peace. He believes that, at the most fundamental level, all conflict on earth is caused by a lack of access to basic resources. His idea is simplistic and not particularly convincing.
Let me begin by stating that I understand that this review verges on the ridiculous, but then again so does this book. If it wasn't published by a serious publishing house I would have scoffed at it from the get go.
Julian Cribb advocates redirecting one-fifth (why one-fifth and not seven-eighths, three-sevenths or five-twelfths is never made clear, it’s merely a number that he plucked out of thin air) of global defence expenditure to unproven and unusual agricultural methods in the hope that the world will somehow magically become peaceful. Why? Well simply because, according to Cribb, once the inconvenient causes of conflict (like politics and religion, which simply don’t fit into his naïve view of the world) are stripped away, all wars are caused by limited access to land, water and food.
He seriously contends that World War Two was fought over food. I’m surprised that he didn’t try to suggest that World War One started for a similar reason, perhaps Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot because Gavrilo Princip was a bit hungry after (unsuccessfully) going hunting with his gun earlier in the day and couldn’t find a decent pljeskavica to eat in Sarajevo.
He refers to the Syrian drought which, I agree, is probably the closest we can get to a case that supports his hypothesis. There was a lot more going on than food and water insecurity, however, like decades of repression under a brutal, dictatorial regime, but that’s politics so completely disregard that.
It was actually political, social and economic factors that helped to pull apart the agricultural system in Syria, it wasn’t driven solely by drought. Damascus subsidised food production through generous fuel subsidies to power diesel water pumps and bought a lot of the food produced in the country at inflated prices. When those policies became economically unsustainable, they were rescinded. That made it difficult for many farmers to continue in their profession. The government’s timing was poor as well. The subsidies were withdrawn at a time of severe drought, which only exacerbated the problems. He’s right to say that a lot of people migrated into cities. That alone didn’t cause the significant problems that Syria faces, however, the lack of employment opportunities and the marginalisation of certain groups of people based on ethnicity, religious affiliation or political ideals did more to foster animosity with the regime than a lack of food. But disregard those factors because they don’t fit Julian’s theory.
The conflict in Yemen is also a weird case to bring up. That conflict is driven more by religious ideology and identity than anything else. Yemen might have been an agricultural powerhouse 5,000 years ago, but it certainly wasn’t one at any point in recent modern history. I think something like 90 percent of its food was imported even before the conflict began. Of course the Saudis are bombing food supply routes and agricultural infrastructure; it’s probably one of the most efficient ways to destroy Houthi morale in an attempt to force them to surrender.
His views on gender are equally simplistic and perplexing. He believes that women are innately more peaceful than men. Tell that to Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher, maybe they were women pretending to be men, or men who did a stellar job of passing as women. Either way, his views are representative of the worst kind of identity politics currently dividing civil society.
Unfortunately, the major arguments in this book could be easily refuted by a primary school child who has only a passing interest in politics and civics. The major conflicts in the world cannot begin to be understood without reference to religion, politics, economics and the myriad other factors that sow discord.
In short, the entire thesis of this book rests on flimsy assertions that only make sense if you completely disregard the complexities of the world. It therefore has no basis in reality. Forget reading it and pick up a book by an actual academic who understands that the world is complex. Mass Starvation by Alex de Waal is just one suggestion.
May 31, 2019
The book is timely, stimulating and a must read for all serious thinkers on the major existential issue of today. Urban distraction from the precarious state of the world’s food supply and its integral role in migration and war means that, for example the fact that without nitrogen fertilizers produced from fossil fuels, half the world cannot be fed and without gene editing, some pests would overwhelm known techniques of pest control and cause famine. These are today’s expressions of issues that have been with humans for 12000 years, and this is why ancient traditions always include food as a basic morality and governance issue.
Cribb states that ‘the book aims to stimulate world-wide awareness and debate about the difficulty of feeding 10+ billion people in a hot, resource-depleted world, of the high risks of conflict which result from failure and of the wide range of novel approaches, technologies, systems and opportunities for creating a healthy, sustainable global food supply’. He certainly meets his objective. His historical knowledge indicates a sound understanding of the classics and the humanities – two aspects of agriculture and its science that we need to maintain.
This is a definitely a ‘good read’.
Cribb states that ‘the book aims to stimulate world-wide awareness and debate about the difficulty of feeding 10+ billion people in a hot, resource-depleted world, of the high risks of conflict which result from failure and of the wide range of novel approaches, technologies, systems and opportunities for creating a healthy, sustainable global food supply’. He certainly meets his objective. His historical knowledge indicates a sound understanding of the classics and the humanities – two aspects of agriculture and its science that we need to maintain.
This is a definitely a ‘good read’.
July 1, 2019
Julian Cribb has an unsurpassed breadth and depth of understanding. Earth is his backyard. He understands it, its history and that of mankind, and the melting pot of economic, environmental and social issues in which we bob about.
In 'Food or War' he paints two options for our future, and demonstrates the difficulty and importance of sustainable food production to avoid famine and war. As a solution, Cribb calls for a rethink of agriculture and urban design along ecological lines, recycling water and nutrients, to produce nutritious food in a climate-proof manner. He lays down a challenge to farmers and urbanites alike to put sustainable food first, and avoid a path to famine and conflict.
'Food or War' is a must-read for anyone involved in food production or urban design - or, for that matter, the consumption of food and avoidance of war.
In 'Food or War' he paints two options for our future, and demonstrates the difficulty and importance of sustainable food production to avoid famine and war. As a solution, Cribb calls for a rethink of agriculture and urban design along ecological lines, recycling water and nutrients, to produce nutritious food in a climate-proof manner. He lays down a challenge to farmers and urbanites alike to put sustainable food first, and avoid a path to famine and conflict.
'Food or War' is a must-read for anyone involved in food production or urban design - or, for that matter, the consumption of food and avoidance of war.
May 29, 2019
This book is a timely read that everyone SHOULD read. Its about our planet, our ability to continue on the path we are on and what we can do about it.
I loved that this book also included water rights, big agricultural business, and wars. I thought it was really well written, researched, and timely.
We as a society MUST change our consumption and throw away mentality.
The other wonderful thing was that the author actually offered up ways in which we can start turning the tide against pollution, over farming, over population.
My favorite ways to make things better is to elect more women into office.
Loved the book, even if it was depressing. But gave me hope for a better planet overall.
I loved that this book also included water rights, big agricultural business, and wars. I thought it was really well written, researched, and timely.
We as a society MUST change our consumption and throw away mentality.
The other wonderful thing was that the author actually offered up ways in which we can start turning the tide against pollution, over farming, over population.
My favorite ways to make things better is to elect more women into office.
Loved the book, even if it was depressing. But gave me hope for a better planet overall.
June 5, 2019
Do not eat. Die. Nothing to eat. Death. Little to eat. Hunger. Along the way. Fight. For food. There are 7.7 billion human mouths chewing, munching, picking, biting and gobbling three times a day. Where possible. Rising to 9.8 billion fellow citizens by 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100. According to the United Nations. Now, as in 2019, one billion people are starving. So says the U.N. Half, 500 million, live in countries afflicted by conflict. Syria, Yemen, The Congo and Myanmar to name some. Add to our worldwide jawprint a worldwide climate crisis, a worldwide depletion of resources, and a worldwide poisoning of our land, air and water and things are grim. A fight for survival. Food or War. It need not be so. Read Julian Cribb's book, a guide to surviving humanity's most perilous journey. Without war.
August 15, 2021
A lot of excellent points but formatting didn't work at all for me.
Food Or War is a very interesting title and together with the cover, it gives you the impression that the book itself would be popular science. Instead, I felt like I was reading an essay or an academic paper. Facts were often jotted down under bullet points and there was a bunch of quite small map figures and the language used was highly academic at times.
I suppose I was expecting this to be something else. I do love the amount of research that went into this and a lot of fascinating facts but it didn't work out for me this time.
I'd recommend this one for academic readers interested in this topic. It could be a bit challenging for general audiences.
Food Or War is a very interesting title and together with the cover, it gives you the impression that the book itself would be popular science. Instead, I felt like I was reading an essay or an academic paper. Facts were often jotted down under bullet points and there was a bunch of quite small map figures and the language used was highly academic at times.
I suppose I was expecting this to be something else. I do love the amount of research that went into this and a lot of fascinating facts but it didn't work out for me this time.
I'd recommend this one for academic readers interested in this topic. It could be a bit challenging for general audiences.
May 31, 2019
Food or War details the consequences for the global food supply that humanity faces due to the cascading impacts of climate, resource scarcity, toxicity and other threats – and provides workable solutions. I am convinced that this is going to be one of the most cited books and will be an important source of guidance for future generations. I recommend this book to every single person who loves the planet they live on and cares for the future of their grandkids.”
June 3, 2019
At a time when world hunger is on the rise, many countries now dealing with the double burden of malnutrition and the number of climate refugees increasing, this book clearly explains not only the issues and their potential impact, but, more importantly, it details the solutions.
This book is a must read for all who care about humanity.
This book is a must read for all who care about humanity.
May 30, 2019
An outstanding review of some of the most crucial risks facing us in the next few years. This time it's about the intersection of human need and human nature when it comes to our basic need for food. Cribb marshalls the facts and delivers valuable advice about remedies.
February 23, 2021
Food or war? The author sets out to convince the reader that the majority of wars have been fought over food. By cherry picking history, you could conclude that & many other things, but the reality is that for the most part wars are fought for power. To see who has the biggest ding dong. Sometimes as with King Alfred The Great, the wars are fought for religion rather than to see who has the biggest ding dong. King Alfred wanted there to be one "Englaland" all peoples speaking one language & all practicing one religion. He wanted the Danes, Northmen, & anyone else out of his country if they didn't convert to his religion.
The author lost me almost immediately with his weak history of the Viking era. We know very little of the "Northmen" or the "Danes" from the Viking era because nothing was written down in their cultures. Everything was verbal. The first written accounts were from the monks who witnessed the Viking ships arrive on their shores to ravage & pillage. Having the view point of only one side of the story is hardly accurate & that is the view the author has. It is very disappointing. His view is so misguided he even seems to view the "Vikings" as a race rather than an activity, "To go Viking." He claims that "Vikings" fought for food. Sure, they wanted land, but they fought for much more than just food. They fought for glory, they fought to make a name of themselves to be retold long after they are gone. They fought to go to Valhalla (die with a sword in their hand), they fought for riches & fame. Sound familiar like maybe having a big ol' ding dong?
I'm not a history professor, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but as the author moves forward in history, it seems like he has a better grasp of it. Probably because so much more of human history gets recorded. He even mentions when Stalin had his farmers murdered because his people were starving & he viewed his own farmers as his enemies. When this made the food crisis worse, he killed more farmers. Yeah that'll fix it! Then in 1975 Cambodia decided to try out the USSR's & The People's Republic of China's failed farmer killings & started to kill off their rice farmers.
The author then continues along in this slog of a read to try to force his idea that wars are started due to a lack of food. It's a great way to twist it. I'll give him that, but common sense & history say otherwise. Armies must be fed. So a army or war can cause hunger or starvation either by large marching armies moving through the land & ravaging it's resources like a swarm of locusts or because of sieges where one side tries to starve the other. I'm not saying that food has never been a cause for war, just that it's not the cause as the author wants us to believe.
He then discusses the different ways humans are producing food. Things like mono cropping, concentrated feed lots, eco farming, organic farming, gene editing (CRISPER), biotechnology, GMO's, chemicals, etc.
An interesting thing he suggests is that gender confusion has been caused by the chemicals in our food. I told this to my husband & he scoffed at it. The thing is, I can see this being real. My reason is because chemicals in our environment have already been proven to alter the sexes of frogs. This is real & it's happening now. So why not mess up humans too? With an author who speaks out against pseudo foods aka processed "foods" & chemicals you'd think he'd be against GMO's & other unnatural practices right? Wrong.
The author thinks the only mistake made with Genetic Engineering is not being open about it with the public. He's all for GMO rice & many other genetically modified franken foods. Yet he is anti chemicals. But but but, GM "foods" are engineered to survive being doused in copious amounts of chemicals while everything around them dies. This is hardly environmentally friendly or good for us. It seems the author has fallen for the Kool Aid that we need GMO's & CRISPER to feed the world. He would be far better looking at all the waste humans create. Humans throw out a shameful amount of food while overeating & getting fatter every day. We don't need to produce more food, we need to eat less & eat real food, not franken foods or processed factory foods that have been engineered to cause overeating.
The author promotes & encourages gene editing, farm robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, advanced pest control, biocultured "food" & more. I've already covered why gene editing isn't a good idea, how about nanotechnology? This is still way too new & nano particles are so small, it is believed they have the potential to wreck havoc on not only our bodies but also our ecosystems. What about biocultured "food"? He thinks that we humans wont like it at first but as with synthetic materials aka oil byproducts we will learn to love it. Sorry but I don't want to eat biocultured steak or fish. Nor do I want to eat farmed fish. I find all of this deeply disturbing & going further from the natural world rather than embracing it.
The author feels we should reallocate 20% of spending money away from defense & towards "peace through food". This is a noble idea, but no matter what the author wants us to believe, war is not about food. When a country no longer has the biggest ding dong, another country is sure to move in for the kill & be the new biggest ding dong on the planet. I'll gladly keep that defense budget high thank you very much. My freedom is pretty important to me. But hey, I'm an American & the author's Australian so we clearly have much different views on the value of personal freedom.
The only thing I agree with the author on is raising a new generation of food aware children. However, I think my view of "food aware" & the authors view are vastly different. I'm for getting kids back in gardens & farms. Lets have a garden in every school from elementary all the way through college. Let's bring back home economics & wood shop. I strongly believe that we have this massive food problem because many folks have no clue how food comes to be on grocery store shelves. They don't know that certain foods grow in the dirt or that other foods are from animals, or that an apple grows on a tree or leather is from cattle or goats etc.
The author also pushes global warming. I personally don't know what to think. On one hand, I believe it, but then many scientists say it's the natural heating & cooling of the planet. The author even points out different heating & cooling periods of the earth. This would actually support that global warming is a hoax. The author says it's not a hoax. While I don't like being lied to (I don't know which side is lying), I do believe in caring for our Mother Earth. This is our home. I respect the planet. I am an eco farmer. I don't use chemicals. I don't lock up my animals, they are pastoral, I grow my food in soil rich in my own composted materials. I grow with the seasons & work with the land, not against it. I desperately want people to care about our planet. But is global warming real? I just don't know.
Last, the author thinks that women should take the place of men in business, politics, government, & religion. I can understand this to a certain degree because most women don't have the "I have to prove I have the biggest ding dong" problem that most men have, but I hardly see women solving the worlds problems. Personally as a woman, I find when men & women work together as equals we have the greatest success. Both sexes have much to offer & it provides a beautiful harmony. Neither sex is perfect, but together we can accomplish great things.
The author lost me almost immediately with his weak history of the Viking era. We know very little of the "Northmen" or the "Danes" from the Viking era because nothing was written down in their cultures. Everything was verbal. The first written accounts were from the monks who witnessed the Viking ships arrive on their shores to ravage & pillage. Having the view point of only one side of the story is hardly accurate & that is the view the author has. It is very disappointing. His view is so misguided he even seems to view the "Vikings" as a race rather than an activity, "To go Viking." He claims that "Vikings" fought for food. Sure, they wanted land, but they fought for much more than just food. They fought for glory, they fought to make a name of themselves to be retold long after they are gone. They fought to go to Valhalla (die with a sword in their hand), they fought for riches & fame. Sound familiar like maybe having a big ol' ding dong?
I'm not a history professor, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but as the author moves forward in history, it seems like he has a better grasp of it. Probably because so much more of human history gets recorded. He even mentions when Stalin had his farmers murdered because his people were starving & he viewed his own farmers as his enemies. When this made the food crisis worse, he killed more farmers. Yeah that'll fix it! Then in 1975 Cambodia decided to try out the USSR's & The People's Republic of China's failed farmer killings & started to kill off their rice farmers.
The author then continues along in this slog of a read to try to force his idea that wars are started due to a lack of food. It's a great way to twist it. I'll give him that, but common sense & history say otherwise. Armies must be fed. So a army or war can cause hunger or starvation either by large marching armies moving through the land & ravaging it's resources like a swarm of locusts or because of sieges where one side tries to starve the other. I'm not saying that food has never been a cause for war, just that it's not the cause as the author wants us to believe.
He then discusses the different ways humans are producing food. Things like mono cropping, concentrated feed lots, eco farming, organic farming, gene editing (CRISPER), biotechnology, GMO's, chemicals, etc.
An interesting thing he suggests is that gender confusion has been caused by the chemicals in our food. I told this to my husband & he scoffed at it. The thing is, I can see this being real. My reason is because chemicals in our environment have already been proven to alter the sexes of frogs. This is real & it's happening now. So why not mess up humans too? With an author who speaks out against pseudo foods aka processed "foods" & chemicals you'd think he'd be against GMO's & other unnatural practices right? Wrong.
The author thinks the only mistake made with Genetic Engineering is not being open about it with the public. He's all for GMO rice & many other genetically modified franken foods. Yet he is anti chemicals. But but but, GM "foods" are engineered to survive being doused in copious amounts of chemicals while everything around them dies. This is hardly environmentally friendly or good for us. It seems the author has fallen for the Kool Aid that we need GMO's & CRISPER to feed the world. He would be far better looking at all the waste humans create. Humans throw out a shameful amount of food while overeating & getting fatter every day. We don't need to produce more food, we need to eat less & eat real food, not franken foods or processed factory foods that have been engineered to cause overeating.
The author promotes & encourages gene editing, farm robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, advanced pest control, biocultured "food" & more. I've already covered why gene editing isn't a good idea, how about nanotechnology? This is still way too new & nano particles are so small, it is believed they have the potential to wreck havoc on not only our bodies but also our ecosystems. What about biocultured "food"? He thinks that we humans wont like it at first but as with synthetic materials aka oil byproducts we will learn to love it. Sorry but I don't want to eat biocultured steak or fish. Nor do I want to eat farmed fish. I find all of this deeply disturbing & going further from the natural world rather than embracing it.
The author feels we should reallocate 20% of spending money away from defense & towards "peace through food". This is a noble idea, but no matter what the author wants us to believe, war is not about food. When a country no longer has the biggest ding dong, another country is sure to move in for the kill & be the new biggest ding dong on the planet. I'll gladly keep that defense budget high thank you very much. My freedom is pretty important to me. But hey, I'm an American & the author's Australian so we clearly have much different views on the value of personal freedom.
The only thing I agree with the author on is raising a new generation of food aware children. However, I think my view of "food aware" & the authors view are vastly different. I'm for getting kids back in gardens & farms. Lets have a garden in every school from elementary all the way through college. Let's bring back home economics & wood shop. I strongly believe that we have this massive food problem because many folks have no clue how food comes to be on grocery store shelves. They don't know that certain foods grow in the dirt or that other foods are from animals, or that an apple grows on a tree or leather is from cattle or goats etc.
The author also pushes global warming. I personally don't know what to think. On one hand, I believe it, but then many scientists say it's the natural heating & cooling of the planet. The author even points out different heating & cooling periods of the earth. This would actually support that global warming is a hoax. The author says it's not a hoax. While I don't like being lied to (I don't know which side is lying), I do believe in caring for our Mother Earth. This is our home. I respect the planet. I am an eco farmer. I don't use chemicals. I don't lock up my animals, they are pastoral, I grow my food in soil rich in my own composted materials. I grow with the seasons & work with the land, not against it. I desperately want people to care about our planet. But is global warming real? I just don't know.
Last, the author thinks that women should take the place of men in business, politics, government, & religion. I can understand this to a certain degree because most women don't have the "I have to prove I have the biggest ding dong" problem that most men have, but I hardly see women solving the worlds problems. Personally as a woman, I find when men & women work together as equals we have the greatest success. Both sexes have much to offer & it provides a beautiful harmony. Neither sex is perfect, but together we can accomplish great things.
May 29, 2019
Insane Conspiracy Theories Bring Every Other Claim Into Question. I *wanted* to like this book. I *really* did. The premise is something I'm interested in and could see happening - if we do not solve the global food system and make it truly sustainable for billions of people, the food crises resulting from our failure to solve this problem *will* lead directly to war.
But in Chapter 4 in particular, and in particular the section of Chapter 4 regarding "Food or Poison", the author seriously espouses several claims that are truly nothing more than conspiracy theories claimed only by the truly scientifically illiterate, such as that autism, male infertility, depression, and even gender identification are caused by chemicals in both pesticides used in growing food and in the packaging used to store and present food.
The fact that the author would even seriously consider such claims, much less try to seriously propose them, brings into question literally every other claim that the author makes throughout this book, and thus this book must be given 0 stars - it is absolutely not worthy of human consumption.
Hell, Jeremy Robinson's book HUNGER, a fiction tale wherein world hunger is solved via genetic modification that then turns everything that eats the modified food into monsters - is more believable than this purportedly nonfiction tale.
But in Chapter 4 in particular, and in particular the section of Chapter 4 regarding "Food or Poison", the author seriously espouses several claims that are truly nothing more than conspiracy theories claimed only by the truly scientifically illiterate, such as that autism, male infertility, depression, and even gender identification are caused by chemicals in both pesticides used in growing food and in the packaging used to store and present food.
The fact that the author would even seriously consider such claims, much less try to seriously propose them, brings into question literally every other claim that the author makes throughout this book, and thus this book must be given 0 stars - it is absolutely not worthy of human consumption.
Hell, Jeremy Robinson's book HUNGER, a fiction tale wherein world hunger is solved via genetic modification that then turns everything that eats the modified food into monsters - is more believable than this purportedly nonfiction tale.
October 31, 2019
Review coming soon.
May 17, 2021
FOOD OR WAR by Julian Cribb (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
This extraordinary book offers the key to many things and links questions usually dealt with in separate compartments. The understanding it brings enables the world with its conflicts and politics to be seen in a much simpler light.
Many conflicts revolve around basic needs, especially food. Food production depends on land, soil fertility, water and predictable weather. The methods of industrial agriculture are stressing the very elements on which food production depends. They are wasting, depleting and polluting water, destroying and poisoning the soil, emitting enormous quantities of greenhouse gases, destroying oceans and rivers and groundwater, causing deforestation, decimating biodiversity, institutionalising cruelty to animals and eliminating small farmers. They also have health consequences, including lifestyle diseases, obesity, malnutrition and epidemics. As such, industrial agriculture is unsustainable.
Cribb examines the two-way link between conflict and food: hunger and malnutrition as a source of conflict and migrations, and hunger as a war strategy. On page 21, he provides a table of catastrophic famines in recent history, with death tolls. Many of us today have never known hunger and will be surprised to learn that it has been a constant throughout human history. As a problem, it is far from solved. Cribb analyses the critical situation in large geographical areas and how governments are responding: USA, Africa, China and South Asia. Here there are many surprises and lessons for governments.
Hunger, famine, migrations and conflict can be triggered by many things, including global warming, extreme weather events, drought and crop failures.
While Cribb writes relatively little about population, and proposes solutions for feeding a world of 10 billion people, the reader is led to wonder what human population the world could comfortably support. Certainly with unsustainable agricultural methods, food production is fast running up against biophysical limits.
This book is a wake-up call to us all. Far from trivial, our moment at the supermarket check-out can become the most significant act of our day.
This extraordinary book offers the key to many things and links questions usually dealt with in separate compartments. The understanding it brings enables the world with its conflicts and politics to be seen in a much simpler light.
Many conflicts revolve around basic needs, especially food. Food production depends on land, soil fertility, water and predictable weather. The methods of industrial agriculture are stressing the very elements on which food production depends. They are wasting, depleting and polluting water, destroying and poisoning the soil, emitting enormous quantities of greenhouse gases, destroying oceans and rivers and groundwater, causing deforestation, decimating biodiversity, institutionalising cruelty to animals and eliminating small farmers. They also have health consequences, including lifestyle diseases, obesity, malnutrition and epidemics. As such, industrial agriculture is unsustainable.
Cribb examines the two-way link between conflict and food: hunger and malnutrition as a source of conflict and migrations, and hunger as a war strategy. On page 21, he provides a table of catastrophic famines in recent history, with death tolls. Many of us today have never known hunger and will be surprised to learn that it has been a constant throughout human history. As a problem, it is far from solved. Cribb analyses the critical situation in large geographical areas and how governments are responding: USA, Africa, China and South Asia. Here there are many surprises and lessons for governments.
Hunger, famine, migrations and conflict can be triggered by many things, including global warming, extreme weather events, drought and crop failures.
While Cribb writes relatively little about population, and proposes solutions for feeding a world of 10 billion people, the reader is led to wonder what human population the world could comfortably support. Certainly with unsustainable agricultural methods, food production is fast running up against biophysical limits.
This book is a wake-up call to us all. Far from trivial, our moment at the supermarket check-out can become the most significant act of our day.
June 7, 2019
This book is very difficult to read, not because it isn’t well written – quite the contrary, but because it just keeps pounding on one’s mind with a seemingly unending stream of incontrovertible points. Each such point is like another nail in the coffin of ignorance – each like the others, but distinct in its specific nature. One after another! If one wants knowledge about this issue, read the book. In fact, the book should be required reading for those who really want to be prepared for the future, personally, organizationally, nationally and globally. However, be warned that it is impossible to claim ignorance or lack of concern thereafter. On the other hand, being aware that this book exists, but ignoring it is tantamount to criminal wilful ignorance.
In Chapter 2, it quickly becomes clear to the reader that there are myriad examples to support Julian’s argument that food insecurity/deprivation and conflict/war are tightly interconnected. In fact, it becomes hard to avoid the conclusion that, where one occurs, the other must also be present or rapidly approaching.
In Chapter 2, it quickly becomes clear to the reader that there are myriad examples to support Julian’s argument that food insecurity/deprivation and conflict/war are tightly interconnected. In fact, it becomes hard to avoid the conclusion that, where one occurs, the other must also be present or rapidly approaching.
June 8, 2020
A timely, fascinating, and somewhat confronting treatise on the relationships between land, water, food production, environment and the economic and political drivers of war. While I was not completely convinced by the arguments about the link between food and war, I was impressed with the analysis of our usage and management of resources and the broader historical and geopolitical analysis. It took me quite a while to finish this book as I found the material in each section required time to process and frankly, it was quite depressing. It was well constructed and worth reading, but quite hard work at times.
November 2, 2019
This book provides an informative view of how food and war are related to each other. The concepts are well-researched and the writing style of the author is easy to read.
People who enjoy multi-disciplinary approach on certain topics will enjoy how this book tackled the historical, political, social, economic, and scientific aspect food.
I will never look at my food the same way after reading this book.
People who enjoy multi-disciplinary approach on certain topics will enjoy how this book tackled the historical, political, social, economic, and scientific aspect food.
I will never look at my food the same way after reading this book.
October 7, 2020
This is a great book in terms of understanding the importance of food to our society and it's role in creating conflict. The book rightly focuses on sustainability of human population numbers given the hard limits on resources that we face. Unfortunately, this topic seems to be largely overlooked in most of the environmental debate.
March 27, 2021
Read urban farming chapters, intro, not whole thing— very gripping. Regenerative farming and women’s involvement among fixes recommended by author at end of book. Good news: cities could supply all its own food needs by cutting waste and vertical farming, recycling water & nutrients & other intensive farming methods.
April 4, 2020
The history parts of the book to me was quite boring but it was really interesting looking at agriculture and food in a economic point of view and I enjoyed the part where the author suggestion some solutions for the future
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews