Food
I’m not writing this to judge or criticize but to inform. I love reading foodie books. I have several editions of The Best American Food Writing. I recently picked up the latest one, published in 2023 and edited by Mark Bittman. It wasn’t what I expected, but it was what I needed to read. Instead of a collection of essays about the joy of buying, eating, and cooking food, this edition focused on sustainability.
I’ve been a vegetarian since the mid-70s because I was against the treatment of animals used for food production. I don’t consider myself a pushy, in-your-face kind of person. During the last fifty years, I never lectured meat eaters on their choice of dietary consumption. After reading this book, I felt compelled to summarize its premise and theme.
Did you know that, according to the World Food Program, almost 783 million people worldwide are facing chronic hunger? More than 300 million face extreme hunger. Forty-five million children are severely hungry and are experiencing life-threatening weight loss.
The problem has been growing, and it’s escalated since the pandemic. However, it’s an easy problem to solve. If more of the earth’s land were used to raise crops rather than animals for consumption, hunger and starvation would not exist.
