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posted by on Friday April 21 2017, @05:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the snowpiercer-protein-bars dept.

Among scientists, there is a remarkable consensus that the current [food] policy direction cannot continue. These contradictions are unbearable – literally so, because if the world continues the trend to eat like the West, the burdens on ecosystems, healthcare systems and finance will be unsupportable. That, at least, is the uncomfortable conclusion one must draw, when one looks at the evidence.

But since when has the politics of consumption been about evidence? The few studies conducted into consumers' response to this big picture about unsustainable diets show that consumers become a little indignant when they find out. A careful study by Which? found consumers asking: why weren't we told about this? They want to know more. Rightly so, but how, and from whom?

Hard-pressed teachers turn to commerce for fact sheets. Parents are too often in the dark, if truth be told. Nor could any food label convey the depth and scale of what consumers really need to know. Giant food companies have replaced schools and parents as sources of public "education". They are the Nanny Corporations, replacing the fictitious Nanny State. They filter what people are to know. Coca-Cola's annual marketing budget is US$4billion (£3.18 billion), twice the entire World Health Organisation annual budget in 2014-15, and much more than its budget for non-communicable diseases ($0.32 billion) or for promoting health through the life-course ($0.39 billion).

How can this by unlocked? Consumers buying food too often without knowing the consequences. Politicians distancing themselves from this unfolding disaster. Workers and companies vying with each other to produce more for less. This is crazy ecological economics – self-defeating food culture. It piles up burdens on public health.

It's obvious really – a new politics of food has to unfold in which academics treat consumers with dignity and tell them the truth. Politics follows the public, not the other way round. So it's the public which must be helped. The neoliberal rhetoric is of consumer sovereignty, yet everywhere they are kept in the dark.

That must be why authorities are encouraging entomophagy: "Let them eat bugs!"


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @06:02AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @06:02AM (#497813)

    I pretty much agree with your post but just wanted to highlight this:

    Lastly, what is wrong with lab grown meat? It's going to get here before eating insects becomes mainstream and acceptable to our tastes. The best part is that it IS most likely vegan meat (I'll let a vegan confirm that). What's the difference between growing a side of beef in a large vat and growing a head of cabbage? Nothing died, and I did not have to kill to survive. That's a pretty big deal for most people, and would represent a major turning point in my life.

    I too am looking forward to vat-grown meat as the source of my buffalo wings and steak.

    Hmm, wings might be a bit harder since they'd need something for the bone (boneless wings--blasphemy!), but I'm sure they'll figure it out.