Title: An Edible History of
Humanity
Author: Tom Standage
Publisher: Atlantic
Books, 2009 (First)
ISBN: 978-1-84354-634-4
Pages: 242
Tom Standage is an engineer by
profession and works as business editor at the Economist and is the author
of The Turk, The Neptune File, The Victorian Internet and A History
of the World in 6 Glasses. He has written about science and technology for
numerous magazines and newspapers. In this novel theme, Standage argues –
convincingly – that history is a series of transformations caused, enabled or
influenced by food, which shaped civilizations and forced them to expand
themselves, often by violent means against their neighbours in times of famine,
thus setting the stage for the great drama of world history to enact itself. He
then delves into the depths of history, reaching well into the murky tidings of
prehistory, to bring with him insightful gems which prove his point. This is a
history of food, its collection at first, then its farming, its trade and how
the control of it accorded power and prestige for those who wielded it.
Rice, wheat and maize constitute
the three main cereals eaten by mankind at present. All of the three were
carefully chosen from their wild forebears by diligent early farmers who
selected those properties which appealed to them most, like size of grain,
short stalk and so on. As they farmed these crops, the plants gradually lost
their ability to grow spontaneously in the wild, but developed features
attractive to a hungry society, like larger cobs, thinner husks and
ready-to-sprout-at-any-time seeds. By these early genetic mutations carefully
selected by early farmers, the yield improved and farming replaced hunting and
gathering as the mainstay of societies. Surplus food supply led to the birth of
urbanized civilizations. The truth is that farming is thoroughly unnatural – it
is a human achievement par excellence. A cultivated field is a product of
technology, like an automobile. Agriculture, thus has greater impact on the
environment than any other human activity as it led to widespread
deforestation, environmental destruction, and
displacement of natural wildlife. It also involved genetic modification
of plants and created monstrous mutants that do not exist in nature and often
can’t survive without human intervention. Modern genetic engineering is just a
twist in a field of technology that dates back more than 10,000 years. People
who extol the virtues of ‘natural’ agriculture sadly misses this point.
Transition from hunter-gatherers
to farmers ensured an increase in sustainable population. Hunter-gatherers
moved frequently from place to place and bosom-children were a hindrance. A
woman could allow a child to be conceived with a gap of 4-5 years so that the
child can walk the great distances involved, on its own. With sedentary
lifestyle associated with farming communities, this constraint vanished and a
woman could conceive as often as biologically possible, with lots of people to
attend to her needs. Food surplus liberated people from farming to pursue other
careers. Food had to be redistributed in such societies and the control of
which ensured emergence of nobility and kingship. Trade in food articles
flourished and around the birth of common era, we find spices obtaining a key
place in world trade. With the fall of Roman empire and the rise of Islam,
trade slipped to Arab hands who usually made proselytizing a part of the
bargain. Most of the trading ports on Indian ocean rim converted to Islam and
their growing power turned Europe to a backwater which wholly relied on Islamic
traders. A series of measures such as sharp rise in pepper price in 1410-14,
monopolizing of Red sea route by Mameluke sultans of Egypt, sack of
Constantinople and monopolizing of Black sea trade route by Ottoman Turks
proved to be the last straw before Europe decided to shake off the stifling
pressure from the east. Renaissance and age of European exploration had begun
as a result.
Rapid colonization of the New
World after Columbus’ expeditions ensured the transfer of food crops between
the Old and New Worlds. Rice, wheat and sugar (a few among the many) travelled
west, while maize and potato to the east. Europeans found that planting sugar
in the ideal climate of the Caribbeans required a lot of cheap manual labour.
Slave trade arose, which transported millions of Africans across the Atlantic,
almost half of them perishing on the course. It then took centuries of effort,
culminating in a civil war, to bring down the institution of slavery. Though
potato was initially shunned in Europe by the clergy on the reason that it was
not mentioned in the Bible, it soon rose to be the staple item in many
countries’ dining tables.
As the world stepped into
modernity, control of food supply began to affect the outcomes of wars and
fates of regimes. Napoleon’s better logistics helped him achieve victory
against his rivals. Follies of administrators in dictatorial regimes spread
famines and deprivations which eventually destabilized the regime and its
ideology. Stalin’s failed Industrialization drive in 1930s and the resultant
famine, and the Chinese famine which followed Mao’s ill-guided Great Leap
Forward are two recent memories which killed millions of people. USSR’s
collapse in 1991 may also be attributed to increase in food prices and
consequent shortage during the end of 1980s, riding on low oil prices which was
the bread winner of the erstwhile Soviet Union. Coming on top of these was
Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika, which sealed the fate of
the Communist state.
World population began its upsurge
in 19th century. To meet the rising challenge of population growth,
fertilizers began to be applied. The first such item was natural in origin –
solidified bird excrement called guano, which formed entire uninhabited islands
in South Pacific. The stock was extinguished in about three decades and sodium
nitrate from Chile was then used for another three. By the beginning of the 20th
century, it was more than apparent that an artificial fertilizer need to be
invented to support growing populations. Nitrogen is the most critical element
for plant growth, which is available as the major component of atmosphere where
it is not reactive. Fertilizers provide nitrogen in a form which is reactive
and which can be ingested by plants. Fritz Haber synthesized ammonia in 1909 in
Germany for the first time. This was combined with sulphuric acid to produce
ammonium sulphate, the world’s first artificial fertilizer. Carl Bosch did the
engineering for Haber’s lab process, known as the Haber-Bosch process and still
forms the backbone for ammonia production. With the application of fertilizers,
the cobs became so heavy that the stalks began to topple over and die. New
dwarf varieties of wheat and rice were invented, which revolutionized agriculture.
Norman Borlaug developed hybrid wheat and the International Rice Research
Institute developed hybrid rice.
The book is a real pleasure to
read, and should be useful as a seed of further thought for many concepts
described only in a nutshell. Since the subject matter envelops the whole of
human history, the depth accorded to topics is naturally shallow, which is
quite justifiable. The language is very fluid, elegant and successfully gathers
reader attention. Since the theme of the work is unique and very well
researched, it proves to be a delight for the reader. The book may also be
credited with a succinct history of modern fertilizers and how that industry
which feeds the world population came into being.
On the other hand, the author
could have very well avoided some factual mistakes which sticks out glaringly,
marring the integrity of the work. In one instance, it is asserted that the
countries with largest Muslim populations were Indonesia and China (p.79) –
well definitely not China, it is Bangladesh! In another occasion, it is given
that “First Portuguese expedition to India landed near Calicut (modern
Calcutta) on May 20, 1498 (p.92). Oh, and that was a grave error. Despite
the similar sounding names, Calicut and Calcutta are separated by about 2000
kilometers of land. Standage’s geography seems to be poorer than some of the
medieval Europeans’!
The book is highly recommended.
Rating: 4 Star
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