Feeding the World

[carla]

I'd like to hear thoughts on if it would be possible to feed the world population primally, and if so,
how would we accomplish that? I've been talking with a semi-vegetarian friend about Lierre Keith's
book, The Vegetarian Myth. He says he understands that agriculture has caused a lot of problems
(overpopulation, etc) but that now that we have so many people,
there is no way we can feed the world a primal diet. Any thoughts?

[nfs]

It was a good book. My own personal feeling is that 'they' (i.e the US Government) worked out in the 1950's
that if the world continued to eat red meat etc. there would not be enough food to feed the planet,
so up popped Ansel Keys with his ridiculous 7 countries study which, despite huge opposition from the
scientific community at the time, was immediately adopted as fact.
From then on a grain based diet (cereal/carbohydrate) has been vigorously promoted as a safe and health way to eat
despite the masses of evidence to the contrary.

[astrogirl]

It was a good book. My own personal feeling is that 'they' (i.e the US Government) worked out in the 1950's
that if the world continued to eat red meat etc. there would not be enough food to feed the planet,
so up popped Ansel Keys with his ridiculous 7 countries study which, despite huge opposition from the
scientific community at the time, was immediately adopted as fact.
From then on a grain based diet (cereal/carbohydrate) has been vigorously promoted as a safe and health way to eat
despite the masses of evidence to the contrary.

Well, don't dismiss the fact that Keys worked for a land grant university in what is very much wheat-growing country - Minnesota. While I'm willing to believe that farm programs had a lot to do with The Prudent Diet being foisted on the public, I'm not so willing to think there was a major government conspiracy.

Meat is really just too cheap.

If you read Good Calories, Bad Calories, you'll find a lot of the same nonsense went on in the late 50s, early 60s that apparently went on with climate "science." By the time the Seven Country Study was done, the ball was already rolling for total cholesterol to be the important measure and saturated fat as the thing that raises it.

[chadwick]

Right now, it is hard to imagine moving from a world fueled by grains to a world fueled by meat and such. It is going to take quite a few large wholesale changes.

1.) Changing relationship with food - instead of viewing food as a commodity and something that someone else provides (this is especially apparent in the US), people will have to view food as an experience, as something that is intimately intertwined with quality of life, and something that needs to be done on a more personal level (growing vegetables, having a connection with local farmer / butcher, etc)

2.) Industrial transformation - I am the biggest capitalist out there, but the industrialization of society has definitely contributed to the decline in food quality -- people look for quick, cheap meals so that they can get about doing whatever they feel they should be doing. It is going to require people to step back and evaluate whether it is worth it to continue going this route in exchange for lower quality food and more health problems

3.) Agricultural development and education - developed countries themselves should focus on developing agricultural systems in poor/starving countries instead of merely throwing grain at them. But this is dependent on the developed countries themselves admitting what is the healthy route.

Finally, it is going to be slow. But what it is going to take are these changes mentioned above, and for each of us to continue talking about the lifestyle, to put our money where our mouth is at grocery/food stores/restaurants, and to push forth credible and easy-to-understand information. In the end, it is going to require that people look at themselves in the mirror and evaluate what matters.

[Acmebike]

It does seem that a big reduction in population is in order. Not that I propose genocide, but the human population might need to fall back a little!

[pkafka]

Chadwick, nice synopsis.

I recently spent about 6 months traveling through South America, the Middle East, and Europe... And as a primal devotee, I really analyzed the regional diets. I realized that, in the end, their meals are all similar in nutritional composition, they just differ when it comes to processing.

First, every country has their carb!

In Venezuela they have their Arepas, made from corn.
In Mexico, they have their tortillas, also made from corn...
In Brazil, they have their Yucas... which they eat like potatoes!
In Africa, they also have their Yucas... Since the Portugese colonialists were insistant on growing them in Africa after discovering them in Brazil.
In Egypt, Israel, Turkey, and the rest of the middle east they have their pita...
In Italy, as we all know, their pasta!
In England, potatoes are king!
In Asia, rice.
In America, as a melting pot, we use them all! But I think we can call the bun as our own.

In the end, the carbs of a country represent their culture, modern day civilizations were built by people who consumed, and with the money from trading, CARBS!

A carb is not simply a source of fuel to a lot of these people, it is their culture and history.

Plus, the fact that carb sources are abundant and thus cheap also helps their perpetuation.

My two cents. Carbs will stick around, no doubt in my mind.

Nice topic!

-pk

[tribecalledfit]

Can it be done? Can we feed the world? How (well) are we feeding it today?

Keith Thomas from Australia maintains a Paleo resource site (of which many of you probably already know) called EvFit. It was Keith's site that turned me on to the writings of Finnish ornithologist and naturalist Pentti Linkola.

If you're really interested in these questions, you may need to take a hard look at what Linkola proposes. I'm not saying I agree with him, in fact some may think he's mad, but Linkola certainly provides an important (albeit contrarian, controversial and unpopular) viewpoint. Personally, I am hoping my local county library will take me up on my request to purchase the English-language translation of his book of essays so I can draw my own, more informed conclusion.

*Here (http://www.evfit.com/linkola_CLP.htm)* is the link to EvFit's review of Linkola's "Can Life Prevail?"

[carla]

What great responses! Tribe, I read your Linkola link...lots of food for thought! Thank you all for the depth of this discussion.

[tribecalledfit]

Carla, I'm glad you found that to be as thought-provoking as I did. Linkola and his ideas were a bit of an epiphany to me when I first read that summary on EvFit. I began to dwell on the interconnected nature of things more than ever before.

Without boring you too much (I hope), I thought I'd point out that I came to discover the Paleo movement as an offshoot to my CrossFit training. From there, I discovered Robb Wolf, then Loren Cordain, then Ray Audette, and on and on. It all led me further down the rabbit hole to study a bit of biochemistry, nutrition, physiology, paleontology, anthropology, botany, genetics, and eventually environmental topics.

There certainly is a connectedness among all these topics which I always intuitively understood was there, but which I failed to truly appreciate until I started to ponder our genetic heritage and our internecine connections to this incredible planet we live on. As all these topics converge in my head, and I look at what Linkola is saying, I become far more concerned about the future of our planet than, for example, when I read An Inconvenient Truth. I have begun to realize more than ever before how crazy and unsustainable our Neolithic lifestyles are. All I can hope to accomplish, I suppose, is my own personal change and whatever change I can inspire through my words and actions.

Not sure where I'm going with that, but this whole "Feeding the World" topic is a bit of a hot button for me at the moment (in case you can't tell). To me, it has almost become a priority of "Saving the World" so that there will be Life on Earth remaining to feed (and be fed upon).