How the World Eats

In this season of celebrations, all traditionally including significant amounts of feasting and food consumption, we welcome back Bristol’s philosopher, Julian Baggini to delve into the timely issue of ‘How the World Eats’.

How we live is shaped by how we eat. You can see this in the vastly different approaches to growing, preparing and eating food around the world: the hunter-gatherer Hadza in Tanzania whose sustainable lifestyle is under threat in our crowded planet is in stark contrast to “developed” societies whose food is produced in vast intensive enterprises. Most of us now rely on a complex global food web of production, distribution, consumption and disposal, which is now facing unprecedented challenges.
The need for a better understanding of how we feed ourselves has never been more urgent. Julian’s exploration takes him from cutting-edge technologies, such as new farming methods, cultured meat, GM and astronaut food, to the ethics and health of ultra processed food and aquaculture, as he takes a forensic look at the effectiveness of our food governance, the problem of food wastage and the effects of commodification.
He will advocate for a pluralistic, humane, resourceful and equitable global food philosophy, so we can build a food system fit for the twenty-first century and beyond.