Humanities & Social Sciences
March 2020
SITOPIA
How Food Can Save The World
by Carolyn Steel
A vital call for us to rediscover the way that food binds us to each other and to the natural world, and in doing so find new ways of living -- Christopher Kissane, Guardian Steel's ideas have become a matter of urgency -- Clare Saxby, Times Literary Supplement Essential reading! A visionary look at how quality food should replace money as the new world currency -- Tim Spector Steel offsets the obviously weighty subject matter with a lightness of touch and twinkling eye for luminous details… an unambiguously essential read -- George Reynolds, Daily Telegraph The beauty of food is that it is so many things at once: necessity and treat, nature and artifice, the subject of science, philosophy, etiquette and art. The book is accordingly multiple in its themes, an all-you-can-eat buffet of thoughts and facts about food...a brave and ambitious book, Observer Prize Shortlisted: https://wainwrightprize.com/sitopia/ Discussed on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Weds 17th Sept (Starts at 2hrs & 20 mins in: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000mkst) From our foraging hunter-gatherer ancestors to the enormous appetites of modern cities, food has shaped our bodies and homes, our politics and trade, and our climate. Whether it’s the daily decision of what to eat, or the monopoly of industrial food production, food touches every part of our world. But by forgetting its value, we have drifted into a way of life that threatens our planet and ourselves. Yet food remains central to addressing the predicaments and opportunities of our urban, digital age. Drawing on insights from philosophy, history, architecture, literature, politics and science, as well as stories of the farmers, designers and economists who are remaking our relationship with food, Sitopia is a provocative and exhilarating vision for change, and how to thrive on our crowded, overheating planet. In her inspiring and deeply thoughtful new book Carolyn Steel, points the way to a better future. Carolyn Steel is a leading thinker on food and cities. Her first book, Hungry City, received international acclaim, establishing her as an influential voice in a wide variety of fields across academia, industry and the arts. It won the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction and was chosen as a BBC Food Programme book of the year. A London-based architect, academic and writer, Carolyn has lectured at the University of Cambridge, London Metropolitan University, Wageningen University and the London School of Economics and is in international demand as a speaker. Her 2009 TED talk has received more than one million views.
