Feeding Britain: Our Food Problems and How to Fix Them

Tim Lang

mar 2020 · Penguin UK

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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 Europeanized (pizza is children's favourite food) and internationalized (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.

'Tim Lang has performed a public service' Simon Jenkins, Sunday Times

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Tim Lang is Professor of Food Policy at City University of London's Centre for Food Policy, which he founded in 1994 and directed until 2016. For four decades he has researched, written, advised and lectured on the food system at international, national and local levels, particularly in relation to health, environment, social justice, the political economy and consumer culture. He previously spent seven years as a hill farmer, an experience which shaped his work ever since.