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moopy_27's review against another edition
4.0
Really informational and easy to read, which is always a great combination. I am amazed at how much was going on behind the scenes of growing and providing food, and how much I didn't know about the injustice happening with third world farmers and multinational corporations. Highly recommend!
Fuck Monsanto!!!
Fuck Monsanto!!!
mscalls's review against another edition
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
rachelb36's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
"The cheapness of industrially produced food and expensiveness of organic foods does not reflect their cost of production but the heavy subsidies given to industrial agriculture." p 119
This is a book about how agro giants are taking over food production and destroying crop diversity, livelihoods, etc.
The author is Indian and the book focuses on the agricultural landscape of India, which was a refreshing perspective. Sadly, mentions of the U.S. were (rightly) negative.
Also sad is the misplaced worship of food culture. In India, seeds and harvests are worshiped. In the U.S., agro profits made from exploitation are worshiped.
The book was really informative. I knew a little about the subject going on, but the book provided me with a much more thorough understanding.
It's not necessarily the easiest to read, though, since there are a lot of statistics and acronyms used. Also, this is relatively old now (published in 2000), so while the general ideas are still valid, the actual numbers aren't current.
It's certainly worth a read, especially considering it's so short (under 150 pages!).
"The cheapness of industrially produced food and expensiveness of organic foods does not reflect their cost of production but the heavy subsidies given to industrial agriculture." p 119
This is a book about how agro giants are taking over food production and destroying crop diversity, livelihoods, etc.
The author is Indian and the book focuses on the agricultural landscape of India, which was a refreshing perspective. Sadly, mentions of the U.S. were (rightly) negative.
Also sad is the misplaced worship of food culture. In India, seeds and harvests are worshiped. In the U.S., agro profits made from exploitation are worshiped.
The book was really informative. I knew a little about the subject going on, but the book provided me with a much more thorough understanding.
It's not necessarily the easiest to read, though, since there are a lot of statistics and acronyms used. Also, this is relatively old now (published in 2000), so while the general ideas are still valid, the actual numbers aren't current.
It's certainly worth a read, especially considering it's so short (under 150 pages!).
octavia_cade's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
This was published back in 2000, and while I'd like to think that in the subsequent 23 years corporate greed has been booted from the food industry, I suspect that if I did I'd be very disappointed. This short book makes no bones about the damage that the World Trade Organisation and its corporate supporters have done to food production. The lack of diversity, the grab for genetic patents, the flat-out lies and essentially mob tactics that bully farmers into using products that will only make them poorer and more beholden, as well as the environmental consequences of monoculture and pesticide use... it's all depressingly laid out, with lots of accessible examples so that readers can understand the scale of the scam. The book has a strong focus on India, which is interesting (I don't know a lot about farming in India, not being from there) and so there's a lot of emphasis on small-scale farming, and the effects of the above on the sustainable, local communities there. Shocker: they are not good.
On the bright side, Shiva's argument that community mobilisation has (and can) succeed in combating this sort of food exploitation is both encouraging and well-taken. I hadn't heard the phrase "food democracy" before, but it makes perfect sense. Food's a necessity for all living things, and so deliberately undermining its production in the desperate search for profit before all else is hopelessly shortsighted and, honestly, just plain morally void.
On the bright side, Shiva's argument that community mobilisation has (and can) succeed in combating this sort of food exploitation is both encouraging and well-taken. I hadn't heard the phrase "food democracy" before, but it makes perfect sense. Food's a necessity for all living things, and so deliberately undermining its production in the desperate search for profit before all else is hopelessly shortsighted and, honestly, just plain morally void.
savannapierceshimomura's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.75
Very jam packed with info
hkingcrab's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
fast-paced
4.0
Shiva writes in a direct, concise, but illustrative way that traces various foods to their indigenous roots, focusing on India, and the harms of industrialized farming and monopolies.
If you need an introduction to food, geography, and inequity, I highly recommend this book!
If you need an introduction to food, geography, and inequity, I highly recommend this book!
bremenwhitlock's review against another edition
5.0
This was an incredible collection of research presented in a digestible manner. I can hardly believe it was written two decades ago, and it makes me so angry how the problems addressed here have been rebirthed in new forms today. I will definitely be reading more of Dr. Shiva's work, and if it just so happens that a new edition comes out with updated research and an examination of the history of GMOs, WTO, and the state of industrial agriculture as well I would buy it in a heartbeat.
guinness74's review against another edition
3.0
I feel the content of this book is well-researched and the drive behind it is emotionally intense, but the prose seems disconnected and doesn't flow very well. It seems if this would be more of a scientific paper than a book. Certainly it is a provocative look at the industrialization and corporatizing of the food industry for seeds to livestock. I'm inclined to agree with quite a bit in the book, but I feel it's presented poorly. There are also moments of repetitiveness that I feel an editor would quickly streamline and the book could be better. A good read, but poorly managed.