politics of food never ends…

food

Food is also affecting climate change? Unfortunately, yes.

Deforestation for agricultural production, carbon footprints of meat, synthetic fertilizers for crops which are produced from fossil fuels and food waste that goes to landfills and produces methane. According to a study published in Nature Food the food system contributes about 35% of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions.

In ancient times humans used to hunt and grow crops in order to survive. But at some point in our lives, humans started to use food for the purposes of money, wealth and expansion of power. I wonder what point in time the shift happened?

About ten-thousand years ago, at the end of the last glacial period, the climate started to warm up. Plants started to grow and humans began to cultivate land. The fertile land produced many different types of food in every season. People built semi-permanent structures in the area. They helped each other in the community and started agricultural life. Over time, people started to choose better-quality seeds for cultivation and grew plenty of crops for the community to eat. Women were able to give birth with better peace of mind. The population grew rapidly and little communities became cities and eventually a civilization.

As the civilization became bigger, leaders made their own community rules such as paying tax or offering crops to the group leader.

From the civilization of ancient Greece to the era of ancient Rome, Europe developed food culture by trading food between civilized cities. Varieties of food embellished Roman nobilities’ tables and Roman food culture spread all over Europe. Spices were especially important. Peppers became such a valuable thing in Europe that they helped to determine European history. Peppers were sold in India and traveled to Europe by traders and sold for 100 times the original cost! The traders never told Europeans where the spices were from in order to keep the sale prices mind-blowingly high. And you can imagine those who trade spices for very high prices brought wealth to their countries.

If you see on the world map, the Arabian Peninsula is right between India and Europe. After the the days of the Roman Empire started to decline around 476 AD (about 1946 years ago), Islam began to spread along trade routes throughout the Arabian Peninsula. They used the Silk Road (several trade routes that went across Asia with the West) to carry spices and other trading goods to Europe, Northern Africa, and Asia. It also resulted in the spread of Islam. As the result of the trading success, Mediterranean food is one of the best-known cuisines in the world.

Between 1271 and 1295, explorer Marco Polo traveled through Asia along the Silk Road. The traveling experience was written in a book called 'The Travels of Marco Polo' which showed that most of the trade in the West was with what is now considered Asia. Obviously back then there were no satellites or airplanes to map out the exact shape of the world. People in Europe had no idea that there was such a place called Asia.

That book gave Europeans the idea of getting the spices directly from Asia by boat! Imagine how much energy, money and economic impact moved as a result of peppers!

One of the challengers was the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. He was determined to find a direct water route going west to get to Asia from Europe and he thought it should be an easy trip. But actually he landed on a small island in the Bahamas, and believed that he had reached East Asia until he died. This discovery of 'The New World' led to European colonization soon after.

The Europeans' arrival was a disaster for Native inhabitants of the Americas. Many diseases Columbus' team brought with them killed a lot of Native Americans. Columbus brought seeds of fruit and vegetables back to Europe from this trip. What an unfair exchange…


Just like peppers, sugar also became valuable and popular especially in Europe. And sugar changed world history… Yes, sugar.

Europeans were obsessed with sugar and confections were symbols of wealth. So they wanted to produce more sugar to bring wealth to the county. But sugar cane doesn’t grow in Europe. Around 1500 Portuguese started large-scale sugar plantations in their colonies bringing slaves from Africa to work in the harsh environment without pay. That made Portugal wealthy while giving Europeans an idea and that caused the worst trade in history.

The manufactured goods from Europe were exchanged for enslaved people in Africa and the enslaved people were exchanged for sugars in the West Indies. This inhumane trade brought Europe, especially England, prosperity and profitability. And later, the wealth from the profit led to the Industrial Revolution.

During the Industrial Revolution, sugar was used as a nutrient for workers. This slavery history is terrible and it’s hard for us to imagine how bad it was for the victims. And there was another hidden problem. Sugar cane plantations developed monoculture farming which means only one type of a crop in the area - they are not able to grow a sufficient diversity of food to feed themselves to feed their families. The monoculture farming upset the natural balance of the soil but benefitted the colonists' because it created wealth.

Unfortunately monoculture farming still exists in former colonies and desertification and deforestation due to climate change and social inequality present additional challenges to those who live in these regions.

Global warming has accelerated since 1850, when the Industrial Revolution began.

During the Industrial Revolution, food became industrialized as well.

Canning processes were created to extend the shelf life of foods. Developments in food transportation like refrigerated rail cars helped beef production and sales expand across the US. Food processing, preserving and refrigeration technology changed our food culture dramatically.

After WW2 supermarkets became dominant in the US. The self-service market sold individually-wrapped packages for snacks. Fresh vegetables were also wrapped in plastic so they wouldn't have to be weighed. And slices of meat were packed in a styrofoam tray wrapped with cellophane. That made the shopping quicker, easier and cheaper than going to the specialty stores. This production helped the US population growth.

But now, food waste is becoming a global issue while some countries have food shortages. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), About 17% of global food production each year is wasted. But still, over 800 million people around the world go hungry. Why are these opposite issues happening at the same time?

Probably social inequality caused this issue and I started to understand why this is happening. Economic freedom makes the rich become richer and poor get poorer. That is proportional to the waste and hunger issues the world faces. It sounds like the story of peppers or sugar in the 1500's. Are we now repeating that dark history? Did the cruelty and injustice ever stop?

We are smart. I am trying to figure out what I can do for all of us to be happy in the world. For now, I hope this story made you step forward a little. Because my step plus all of yours, it will be a giant step.