The British were once famous worldwide for being uninterested in food and our food being brown. This is no longer the case. UK food has changed remarkably in the last half century. Our food has Europeanized (pizza is children's favourite food) and internationalized (we eat the world's cuisines), yet the food culture is fragmented, a mix of mass 'ultra-processed' foods (high in salt, sugar and fat) alongside food as varied and good as anywhere else on the planet. This is partly the effect of Europeanization, but mainly because the UK has got wealthier, allowing aspirations and tastes to flower.
This book takes stock of the UK food system- where it comes from, what we eat, its impact, its fragilities and strengths. It's a book on the politics of food. It argues that the UK's Brexit vote is an enforced opportunity to review our food system. This is sorely needed. A deep reflection by the UK state began after the shock of the oil/food commodity price spike during 2007-2008 and the Great Recession. This policy was, alas, curtailed by the coalition and Tory governments which both argued the food system should just keep going as it had been. The future, they said, lay in a burst of agri-technology and more exports to pay for the massive food imports.
Feeding Britain argues that this and other approaches are short-sighted, against the public interest, and possibly even strategic folly. Setting a new course for UK food is no easy task, however, but it's a process, this book urges, that needs to begin.
