The End of Food - Softcover

'Indispensable ... the best analysis of the global food economy you are likely to find' Michael Pollan, author of In Defence of Food 'The coming food crisis ... is as intractable as global warming, and no less urgent' Economist 'What Roberts is telling us, essentially, is that our food is not cheap; it just seems to be cheap. One day we'll find out how expensive it really is. Or rather, was' William Leith, Evening Standard 'Other books have documented the growing food demands of the developing world ... What sets Roberts apart is how he pulls these topics together into a panorama of the food economy as a whole' Bloomberg.com

The emergence of large-scale food production gave us unprecedented abundance - but at a steep and ultimately unsustainable price. Relentless cost-cutting has made our food systems vulnerable to contamination and disease. More than a billion people are overweight or obese, yet roughly the same number are still malnourished. Over-crowded countries like China are already planning for tightened global food supplies. As the world veers back to a time of hunger and uncertainty, Paul Roberts explores the vulnerable miracle of our modern food economy and pinpoints the decisions we must make to avoid the coming meltdown.