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Globalisation of Food: Politics, Economy and SocietyKwong Chi ManHistory Department, Hong Kong Baptist UniversityLecture Outline:Food: Simple Matter of Demand and Supply?Globalisation of Food, 1492-1939Food and the World WarsGlobalisation of Food after 1945: EconomyPoliticsSocietyLecture NotesFood: Simple Matter of Demand and Supply?Age of PlentyFood for a farm labourer, Britain, 1796BreadLittle bit of baconSometimes with potatoesA bit cheeseBeer, sugared tea, and “tiny quantities of milk”The meals of a mill worker, Britain, 1876Monday: a bit of cold meatTuesday: a hash (mix of diced meat, potatoes, and spices)Wednesday: a potato pieThursday: fry liver and onionsFriday: potted meatSaturday: sausageWith potatoes, bread, and beverages such as tea, beer, and milkA blogger’s meal, Hong Kong, 2012Roasted pigFried crab legStir-fried shrimpDried scallopShark fin soupAbalone with goose palmSteamed GrouperCrispy ChickenShanghai dumplingsBraised noodles Famine Cases After 1945Food: solely economic issue?Human rights issue?“The Freedom from Want” – Four Freedoms of Franklin Roosevelt, US President, 1941Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food…(Article 25).International dimensionGlobal movement of food and ideasInternational tradePolitics and International relationsSocial dimensionClassEating habit as an expression of class identityEthnicity and IdentityNational identity and national cuisineRegional culture CultureGlobalisationGlocalisation Globalisation of Food, 1493-1939Age of Discovery, 1493-1850Trade and Colonialism Movement of food from the Americas to Eurasia Sugarcane, spice, fruits…Potato and Maize Population increaseThe Mid-Nineteenth Century to WWI Increase in productivityStaple food – wheat, barley, rice…Meat – (16kg per person/year in 1870 – 50+kg per person/year in 1914) IndustrialisationDehydrationPasteurisation RefrigerationCanningTransportationRailway and steamshipsEmergence of large corporations and lobby groupsE.g. United Fruit Company, 1899-1970 and Meat UnionMarketing and consumerism International trade – Free TradeFree trade and division of labourBanana republics (monoculture)South America and AustraliaMigration and changing dietSell goods and buy food/ Grow food and buy goods? - Autarchy or Globalisation? German example (1870-1914):Contexts: German farmers vs. major exporters of grain (USA, Russia and Canada); population increase; industrialisation; urbanisation; decrease of agricultural pop; political structure of GermanyPrime Minister Otto von Bismarck introduced import tariff of grain to protect farmers and land owning class (Junkers) – high price for imported food Attempt to dismantle tariff battier failed - conservative oppositionVicious cycle: increasingly difficult to feed the working population with homegrown food – increased reliance on import – unwilling to break tariff barrier Food and the World WarsGermanyContext: Unable to sustain itself during the First World War under British blockade – “Turnip Winter”: near-famine in 1917; 750,000 died of malnutrition Autarchy vs Free trade? Debate in the 1920sArgument of Autarchy wonSupported by right-wing movementsThe Nazis and FoodReich Food Corporation – total state control since 1933“Blood and soil”: Race, agriculture, and LebensraumUnderstood the inability to feed the Germans during wartime – attack the Soviet Union! Generalplan Ost, 1940JapanContext: Rapid modernisation after 1868 Changing eating habitsMore animal proteinIncrease in rice consumption25% increase from 1890s to 1914Reliance on colonial supply: Korea and TaiwanStill not enough! Manchuria – “Plan for the Settlement of One Million Households over Twenty Years”China and Southeast AsiaItalyBattle for Grain 1920sAllies attempt to coordinate foodCombined Food Board (Anglo-American Cooperation)Attempts to increase production – idea of nutrition scienceStill, famine in IndiaMeals of the Soldiers, WWIIAxisAlliesGlobalisation of Food after 1945: EconomyPost 1945 socio-economic developmentRelative peace Population increaseIndustrialisation and urbanisation Increase in wealthChange in lifestyleMultinationalsTechnological changeAgri-chemistryHybridsPackagingRefrigeratingTransportExample: factory shipsThe Problem of DistributionUneven distributionObesity in developed countriesFamines around the worldCausesNatural disaster Internal and international politicsInternational tradeGlobalisation of Food after 1945: PoliticsWorld food situation in 1945The overall amount of food available to the world: 12% less than before the war – and a drought broke out in 1946Many had less than half of what they had in 1945 than in 1939 EuropeProduction was only 36% of the prewar levelGermany: 1,000 calories per person per day in citiesSome Germans lost a pound a day in 19462 million died in the Soviet UnionEven Britain had to introduce rationing in 1945AsiaFamine in China, Korea, Java, and Vietnam30 million in China suffered from under-nourishment 100,000 starved to death in Tokyo three months after the warThe AmericasFood as Cold War WeaponBerlin Airlift, 1948Marshall Plan VS Warsaw PactRelief package (CARE) from the USAPolitics of AidAbundance as propaganda: Hong KongChinese food and water: Hong KongEast Pearl River WaterNg Fung HongFood trains during the 1967 RiotUS food policy in Hong Kong(Enhancement of the) economic, social and political conditions in Hong Kong that will continue to contrast favourably with conditions in Communist China – “Statement of US Policy on Hong Kong,” NSC6007, 1960US food aid to Hong Kong (P.L.480) – all American outputs4 million USD (30,400,000USD in 2011) per annum between 1958-19611 million under refugee program0.8 million under information program0.027 million under educational exchangeInternational Cooperation Attempts (By UN)The International Institute of Agriculture, 1905-1945Combined Food Board during the Second World WarUnited Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture, 1943 (Hot Spring Conference) Not only about food aidAlso put forward the idea of eating healthily The idea of Food BoardPut forward by John Boyd Orr, British nutritionist, who was elected as the director-general of the FAO in 1946To “reconfigure the world’s political economy by organizing it scientifically, according to human need, not profit”The idea of continuing the Food Board during the Second World War to coordinate production and distribution of foodOpposed by the US State Department Food and Agriculture Organisation, 1945-World Food Programme, 1961World Food Conference, 1974World Food Council, 1974-1993World Summit on Food Security, 1996, 2002, 2009International Cooperation Attempts (By Others)World Trade organization, 1993Global Food Security Program (World Bank), 2010European Union European Food Safety AuthorityWork DoneFood aidSetting standardsFood safetyMarket regulationRemoval of trade barrierSharing technologyJoint researchDisseminationLimitations of CooperationProcesses of reaching international agreementsTensionsPolitics within the international organisationsStates vs. StatesStates vs. Corporations and interest groupsPolitics within the statesStates vs. individuals Corporations vs. individualsOther CausesPoliticalInternal situation in countriesMultinational and agricultural interestsLack of consensus among countriesPolitics of food aidTechnological and EconomicTrade and food aidBottleneck in productionSpeculation and trade barrierOil price and food fuelNew technology vs. vested interestExample: “Bare Shelf” Policy of 1944US Department of Agriculture vs US Military and UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)Dept. of Agriculture wanted to reduce production to protect the US farming interest from overproductionFood administrators encouraged the production and consumption of meat – instead of producing enough grain for the starving European populationUSA unable to provide enough grain for the starving European countries in 1946 – had to be helped by countries such as Britain and CanadaVI: Globalisation of Food after 1945: SocietyPrices of Increased ProductivityEnvironmentalWastageImpact of agriculture on environmentCarbon footprint of foodLoss of biodiversityObesityOver-consumptionHealth costEntrenched interests American Meat Institute, National Meat Association, American Association of Meat ProcessorsTwisting of taste Standardisation of flavourArtificial flavour Cultural and Class DimensionsNational cuisine and regional food?Class dimension of food?Conservation VS traditionWhale hunting in Japan: a means to get protein quickly after the Second World War Now seen as a traditional institutional that should not be abandonedEmploymentVested interestMajor DocumentsPresident Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedom (Freedom from Want), 1941 of the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture, 1943 (although the title of the website is 1942, it should be 1943) Declaration of Human Rights (Preamble), 1948 Declaration of Human Rights (Article 25), 1948 of Marshall Plan, 1948 Food and Agriculture Organisation (The Founding of FAO) Food Programme, Resolution of UN General Assembly 16th Session, 1961 Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 11), 1966 Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition, UN World Food Conference, 1974 Declaration on World Food Security, 1996 Nützenadel and Frank Trentman, Food and Globalization: Consumption, Markets and Politics in the Modern World, (Oxford; New York: Berg, 2008)Kenneth Kiple, A Movable Feast: Ten Millennia of Food Globalization, (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007)Lizzie Collingham, The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food, (New York: Penguin Press, 2012)Martin Schain, The Marshall Plan: Fifty Years After, (New York: Palgrave, 2001) “The Broad Picture: Historical Developments and Present Situation,” World agriculture: Towards 2015/2030, An FAO perspective, 2003 God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!” Der Spiegel Online: Two, The Foods that Make Billions (Documentary) ................
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