Diet for a Large Planet: Industrial Britain, Food Systems, and World Ecology
Chris Otter
Abstract
This book provides a history of the causes, experiences, and consequences of Britain's post-1750 shift to a diet rich in meat, wheat, and sugar. The origins of this shift lay in Britain's industrialization from the later eighteenth century, which catalyzed a transition from predominantly locally produced, plant-based, food to food sourced from around the planet. The diet provided increased energy flow necessary for an industrial labour force, and it produced taller, heavier, and more powerful male workers. However, the diet also produced unintended health consequences (from tooth decay to hear ... More
Keywords: food, food systems, ecological footprint, British diet, meat, wheat, sugar, nutrition transition, world ecology
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2020 | Print ISBN-13: 9780226697109 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: May 2021 | DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226705965.001.0001 |
