num_pages: 400
description: We are facing a world food crisis of unparalleled proportions. Our reliance on unsustainable dietary choices and agricultural systems is causing problems both for human health and the health of our planet. Solutions from lab-grown food to vegan diets to strictly local food consumption are often discussed but a central question remains: how did we get to this point? In Diet for a Large Planet Chris Otter goes back to the late eighteenth century in Britain where the diet heavy in meat wheat and sugar was developing. As Britain underwent steady growth urbanization industrialization and economic expansion the nation altered its food choices shifting away from locally produced plant-based nutrition. This new diet rich in animal proteins and refined carbohydrates made people taller and stronger but it led to new types of health problems. Its production also relied on far greater acreage than Britain itself forcing the nation to become more dependent on global resources. Otter shows how this issue expands beyond Britain looking at the global effects of large agro-food systems that require more resources than our planet can sustain. This comprehensive history helps us understand how the British played a significant role in making red meat white bread and sugar the diet of choicelinked to wealth luxury and powerand shows how dietary choices connect to the pressing issues of climate change and food supply. 
language: English
title: Diet for a Large Planet: Industrial Britain, Food Systems, and World Ecology
publisher: University of Chicago Press