The Industrial Diet: The Degradation of Food and the Struggle for Healthy

It has been called an epidemic, a health crisis, and a large-scale eating disorder. It is debated on daytime talk shows and in political arenas, written about in best-selling manifestos, and exposed in Oscar-nominated documentaries. Yet, despite all the media attention and the extensive natural science literature documenting the extent of the problem, few studies have looked seriously at the forces underlying our Western diet. The Industrial Diet: The Degradation of Food and the Struggle for Healthy Eating chronicles the forces that have transformed a natural resource into an industry that produces edible commodities, an industry that far too often subverts our well-being and promotes disease instead of nourishing us. Tracing the industrial diet’s history from its roots in the nineteenth century through to present-day globalism, Anthony Winson looks at the role of technology, population growth, and political and economic factors in the constitution and transformation of mass dietary regimes and provides new evidence linking broad-based dietary changes with negative health effects in the developed and developing world. With its focus on the degradation of food and the emergent struggle for healthful eating, this book encourages us to reflect on the state of our food environments and to create realistic and innovative strategies that can lead to a healthier future. Read more