Globalising Food

In an increasingly global world, societies are being provisioned from a bewildering array of sources as new countries and new food commodities are drawn into international markets. Globalising Food provides an innovative contribution to the area of political economy of agriculture, food and consumption through a revealing investigation of the globalisation and restructuring of localised agricultural sectors and food systems. The book draws on new theoretical perspectives and wide-ranging case studies from Britain, the USA, India, South Africa, New Zealand and Latin America. The key themes addresses range from giant multinational food corporations, rural industrialisation and World Bank policies, to the regulation of pollution, labour relations, urban food politics and environmental sustainability. Globalising Food offers important insights into the problems, consequences and limits of the industrialisation of agriculture and the provisioning of food in a global world as we approach the new millenium.

Within the international agri-food community at least four theoretical targets are attracting increasing attention. They are: (1) the established notions of networks and commodity chains that are being revisited by way of critical engagement informed by the insights of in-depth empirical work, (2) the metrics of calculation and institutional embedding that underpin the rise and functionality of governance technologies, (3) the place of regional networking in creating conditions that make possible agri-food producer participation in local provisioning and supply, and (4) the geo-historical dimensions of interconnection and interdependency in the agri-food sphere. This volume brings together an interdisciplinary team of anthropologists, economists, business and management academics and geographers to examine a wide range of case studies illustrating various agri-food commodity chains and networks around the world and to discuss how they link globally.

This open access book approaches the anxieties inherent in food consumption and production in Vietnam. The country’s rapid and recent economic integration into global agro-food systems and consumer markets spurred a new quality of food safety concerns, health issues and distrust in food distribution networks that have become increasingly obscured. This edited volume further puts the eating body centre stage by following how gendered body norms, food taboos, power structures and social differentiation shape people’s ambivalent relations with food. It uncovers Vietnam’s trajectories of agricultural modernisation against which consumers and producers manoeuvre amongst food self-sufficiency, security and abundance. Food Anxiety in Globalising Vietnam is explicitly about ‘dangerous’ food – regarding its materiality and meaning. It provides social science perspectives on anxieties related to food and surrounding discourses that travel between the local and the global, the individual and society and into the body. Therefore, the book’s lens of food anxiety matters for social theory and for understanding the embeddedness and discontinuities of food globalizations in Vietnam and beyond. Due to its rich empirical base, methodological approaches and thematic foci, it will appeal to scholars, practitioners and students alike.--

Food Fortification in a Globalized World outlines experiences over the past 50 years—and future potential—for the application of food fortification across a variety of foods in the industrialized and developing world. The book captures recent science and applications trends in fortification, including emerging areas such as biofortification, nutraceuticals and new nutrient intake recommendations, standards, policy and regulation. The book proposes a balanced and effective food fortification strategy for nations to adopt. In covering the most technical scientific details in an approachable style, this work is accessible to a range of practitioners in industry, government, NGOs, academia and research. Food fortification has become an increasingly significant strategy to address gaps in micronutrient intakes in populations with measurable impact in both industrialized and developing countries. While the positive impacts are well recognized there are new concerns in some countries that excessive fortification of foods, outdated nutritional labeling rules and misleading marketing tactics used by food manufacturers may result in young children consuming harmful amounts of some vitamins and minerals. Presents the latest science on fortification for the prevention of micronutrient deficiencies Includes emerging areas such as biofortification, nutraceuticals and new nutrient intake recommendations, standards, regulations, practices and policies from around the world Summarizes evidence of application of food fortification and measured impact on public health Discusses how public policy impacts fortification of foods and nutritional deficiencies Considers the complex economics of and market for fortified foods

By considering the practice of globalisation, these essays describe changes, variations and innovations to Chinese food in many parts of the world. The book reviews and broadens classic theories about ethnic and social identity formation through the examination of Chinese food, providing a powerful testimony to the impact of late 20th century globalisation.

This collection examines expressions of food sovereignty ranging from the direct action tactics of La Vía Campesina in Brazil to the consumer activism of the Slow Food movement and the negotiating stances of states from the global South at WTO negotiations. With each case, the contributors explore how claiming food sovereignty allows individuals to challenge the power of global agribusiness and reject neoliberal market economics.

First Published in 2011. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Does Chinese food taste the same in different parts of the world? What has happened to the Chinese diet in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau? What has affected the foodways of Chinese communities in other Asian countries with large Chinese diasporic communities? What has made Chinese food popular in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan? What has brought about the adoption and adaptation of western food and changes in Chinese diets in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Peking? By considering the practice of globalization, this volume of essays by well-known anthropologists from many locales in Asia, describes changes, variations and innovations to Chinese food in many parts of the world, paying particular attention to questions related to how foods are introduced, maintained, localised and reinvented according to changing lifestyles and social tastes. The book reviews and broadens classic social science theories about ethnic and social identity formation through the examination of Chinese food and eating habits in many locations. It reveals surprising changes and provides a powerful testimony to the impact of late twentieth-century globalization.