Tower and Town, October 2019 (view the full edition)Bee Wilson"The Way We Eat Now"
Food is a hot topic. Henry Dimbleby is leading a review into England's food system. A UN report on climate change has recommended that we cut our consumption of red meat. And we're besieged on all sides by advice, often conflicting, about what we should and should not eat, not just for our own health but that of our communities and our planet. So we're lucky to have a food journalist, author and 'kitchen oracle' Bee Wilson coming to talk to us at the LitFest to keep us on the right track and give us the best up-to-date advice. Her latest book, The Way We Eat Now: Strategies for Eating in a World of Change, takes a hard look at what we eat at the start of the 21st century, asking why we ignore the extraordinary choice on offer in favour of a limited and often poor diet. Just 30 of the world's 7000 edible crops provide 95% of our food. What we eat now is a greater cause of death and disease in the world than tobacco and alcohol. At a time when life around the globe has improved in terms of medical and scientific advances, why are we letting this happen? Wilson also overturns many commonly-held assumptions. In fact the highest-quality overall diets are to be found in sub-Saharan Africa rather than among far richer countries. Children in southern Europe are now among the most obese having swapped the much-lauded Mediterranean diet for sugary foods. She discusses everything from meal replacements such as Huel to the disappearing lunch hour, the rise of veganism, the lack of time to cook and prepare food and the rapid increase in food delivery services, as well as providing her own strategies to try and achieve a more balanced relationship with the food we eat. Genevieve Clarke |