Empires of Food: Feast, Famine, and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations

This is the most comprehensive book to date on the history of food systems and their important (and usually neglected) role in the collapse of civilizations. "The lesson from history," the authors write, "is that big civilizations are built on ground no firmer than the mud under their rice paddies. They, and we, are slaves to food."Food empires? The authors are talking about the networks of a civilization's farms, plantations, orchards; its imports from abroad; its processing plants; and its distribution channels. The larger and more complex the civilization, the more complex the food networks must be--to the point where they deplete existing resources of soil and water, then falter, then fail. Interacting with climate variables and local geological factors (volcanoes, earthquakes), food empires are far more fragile than they appear to the people who live within them, who often take their available food for granted. When these systems fail, the civilization begins to fall apart, usually with a whimper rather than with a bang.And our own industrial food empire? Despite our advances in technology, our food supply system is as fragile as those of the Romans, Mayans, or medieval Europe. But now, the problems are global. Every nation under the sun is facing soil depletion, water issues (including fertilizer pollution), and a dangerous dependence on limited fossil fuels to grow, process, and transport food to burgeoning populations. The result? "Modern agribusiness has the potential to translate a dry month in Brazil into red ink on a ledger in China into an empty shopping cart in New Jersey," Fraser and Rimas write. "There are no buffers left."And no easy answers. Local food, slow food, bioregional systems that "nest" within a global trading network. But "easier posited than done," as the authors admit. What's really needed: a public insistence that their politicians begin to acknowledge and address these crucial issues. Again, easier posited than done.What I like about this book: its breadth, inclusiveness, new-paradigm thinking, engaging writing. I also admire the authors for not trying to pull last-chapter rabbits out of the hat when it comes to solutions. Their message: don't expect answers to be handed to you on a plate.What I dislike about the book: its hop-skip-jump presentation, which reminded me of the TV series "Connections." But even this now-here, now-there organization has its advantages: readers must actively participate in the authors' arguments in order to follow them. Lazy or uninvolved readers won't want to bother. But then, they're probably not the authors' intended audience.Bottom line: an extraordinarily important book that offers important insights into a global challenge facing not just one country but all civilizations. I hope, by the time you finish it, you'll have decided that your lawn might be put to better uses than growing grass.

Yes - the historical inaccuracies should be corrected; both locations & dates improved in a reprint edition, but for those considering whether to buy or not, I highly recommend this book. If read in conjunction with other history books, you start to get a general sense of history, and what motivates regional conflicts and war. There is much information in these pages which do hold true, and the retelling of ancient history and current events helps a reader to reconsider where their food comes from and at what costs.As readers get a better understanding of human history through books on food, water, timber, salt, climate, energy sources etc - the old style of school teaching lists of wars, generals and dates can be placed further in the background as just a skeleton of results, not reasons.This book also contains copious footnotes - which help the reader decide if the "facts/statistics" given have strong support or not. Those footnotes also direct the reader to more detailed sources / original sources of specific points. Excellent read!

Empires of Food was a feast for my grey-cells! I love reading well-written history books(while sipping a crisp Provence rose and nibbling on a slice of local goat's cheese).Fraser and Rimas made me think about the historical origins of these delicacies(monks in the Middle Ages),their impact on our planet,(emerging China,water,climate,and population growth)and my own role as a concerned citizen as I make choices as to what I eat and where to buy it. A must read for all who care about the future of our food supply and the health of our planet.

If everyone were to read this book with the idea they could make a difference in the world, the best lesson would be 'Do not repeat history and expect it to have a different outcome'.Already, America is repeating history and claiming a new result will happen.

Breath and scope of politics, culture and food is at once scary and incredible !

Found this via twitter owing to some interesting facts about food supply in Roman times and there plenty of “I didn’t know that moments”. Also useful to think about the risk of complacency, the dependency of food supply on fertilisers (natural gas) and human tendency to keep doing something until it’s too late to avoid negative effects

Wonderfully engaging and well researched book on food security. The thesis of this book is that civilizations are built and collapse on the basis of a secure and surplus food supply and that this has important implications for own current times.The authors move seamlessly from discussing modern China's agricultural policies it has adopted to feed its momentous populace through such engineering feats as controlling flooding by building the Three Gorges dam; to the economic trade of beer and cheese of medieval monasteries in Europe; the precision and infrastructure of the great Roman empire; to the one Francesco Carletti an Italian living at the end of the 15th century who tries to make his fortune in the food trade and ends up literally on a journey around the world, being exposed in the process to such new found delicacies as potatoes and chocolate - reminding us also that globalization, the "word" of today, is not really that new - just perhaps in scale.The authors warn of the environmental risks in monoculture industrialized farming, the reliance on genetically modified crops and fertilizer which is ultimately dependent on oil. Technology can be doubled edge sword, solving some problems but introducing others.The authors advocate small diversified farms, buying local and in particular the philosophy of the slow food movement as a starting point to more sustainable agricultural path and food security but seem realistic that this isn't going to be able to meet the needs of the millions of urban city dwellers. Nevertheless there is a lot of meat in this book to think about (no pun intended).

Story of humans from prehistory to current civilization can be written in many ways, but the most fundamental way is to write about it is history of food and how it dictated the ascent of man. This is the story told in this book. The authors show that in the past civilzations and empires were built on availability of food, and it is still true today. It would be strange to think about our dependence on food and the fears of it running , when the modern world sees abundance of food; but is our food and its sources so secure? Are we over exploiting our planet's resources? What will the future hold for us ? Will our descendants see their plates full ? Every thinking person ought to read this book. There are valuable lessons here which we can ill afford to ignore, but sadly we are ignoring that. Modern life has turned food into a commodity, reduced biodiversity, increased risks in search of increased production and profitability. Is the way we produce our food, sustainable in the long run ? This book attempts to answers such inconvenient questions.

I haven't quite finished it all but I look forward to finishing it whence I have time, but so far it is quite engaging, taking me into the past with food and how we are following the same path sadly.

very well written, interesting read from an historical, social, economical and trade piont of view