Books
Stuffed, starved and strung out
By Vivid writers: Andrew Begg and Jennifer Loftis
A book that skewers agribusiness as being responsible for the mess our food system is in and a story about an Australian sporting anti-hero
Posted: 08/02/2009
A great world contradiction
Jennifer Loftis
Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System by Raj Patel
In his book, Stuffed and Starved, Raj Patel, a researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, writes in the introduction that it is exactly this freedom of choice that has helped cause the world's food problem. The book takes the reader on a journey, where Patel seeks to explore and explain the world food system, starting with "choices made in the fields to choices made for our palates."
Patel tells stories of poor farmers from around the world who once owned their land and could sustain themselves, but are now destitute because no one would buy their goods, not even the local grocery store where food is being trucked in from hundreds of miles away. He compares these farmers against other people who have enough money to buy and eat what they want, yet their bodies are paying the price of their convenience.
The book chillingly describes how genetically modified and processed food has not only ruined farmers' livelihood, it has also ruined the taste buds. Patel argues that out of the eight different brands of apples one can buy at the supermarket, they are all of the same kind. They can survive traveling a long distance, they are large with few blemishes, have a consistent color and in general, taste nothing like they should. The marketing world of supermarkets is unveiled as the book explains that the way the aisles are arranged, what colors are used in decorating and the music that is played strongly influences choices of purchase. Patel points out that if the average shopper can outlast the marketing strategies and truly buy what is good for them and what genuinely tastes good, then very little food is actually available to pick off the shelf that doesn't contain harmful chemicals. He leads the reader to see that in freedom of choice, there can be less real choice.
Through well-referenced facts, tables and statistics, Patel finally brings readers to his conclusion that the world food system is unsustainable. He writes that it affects individuals' health and livelihood and it is also having a destructive affect on the environment. The system engenders cruelty to animals and demands unsustainable amounts of water and energy. Patel leaves the reader with ten practical ways to take action against the system at the individual level.
Stuffed and Starved, a well researched 400 page book, is merely an introduction into a world wide movement where people are taking steps to elevate some of the damage caused by the food system. It is a beginning education that Patel continues through one of his websites, stuffedandstarved.org. He keeps a blog updating readers on everything relating to famine, feast and food ethics. For those curious as to what their community is doing to help, there is a world map link that pinpoints organizations and actions within your area.
It is a book about a great, hidden battle and the small victories accomplished by individuals and communities. Education and self-awareness is the first offensive strategy that Patel is offering the world.
Melville House Publishing, pp 398, 2008, ISNB: 978-1-933633-49-7, $20
Hero, villain, enigma
Andrew Begg
Playing God: The rise and fall of Gary Ablett by Garry Linnell
No AFL player in the last generation captured the public's imagination like Gary Ablett. He could spreadeagle packs with his sheer muscular bulk, break away from opposition players with lightning bursts of pace, kick further than anyone else and fly higher for a mark. Ablett was a freak. Throughout the 1990s he was one of Australia's most lionised sportsmen, while in Geelong - Victoria's second largest city after Melbourne, the home of AFL - doors opened for Ablett everywhere. The people of Geelong treated him like a king as he virtually carried the entire Geelong team on his shoulders into one finals series after another.
Yet Gary Ablett was an enigma. A simple country fellow who could catch rabbits with his hands, Ablett owed money everywhere. Such was his hero status at Geelong there would always be a club minder to come and clear up after him, pay off a tab or smooth out the many problems left in his wake. He was a devout Christian but carefree and careless, entirely neglectful of those closest to him. All Ablett ever wanted was to play football. Moreover, it was all he really could do. When retirement eventually came, a career in media or high level coaching would be the logical step for anyone of Ablett's class, but he would clam up in front of cameras to such an extent that that alternative employment beyond football was never an option.
Instead, Ablett became an inveterate, self-indulgent partygoer. In 2000, when he was found one morning in a Melbourne hotel room with an infatuated fan who had died from an overdose of heroin and ecstacy, his fall was complete. Ablett managed to escape a jail term and is currently attempting to rebuild his life with missionary work amongst Africa's poorest children.
This book is as much a biography of Gary Ablett as it is a testament to how fame can ruin the life of those who are unprepared for it. Garry Linnell is one of Australia's most respected journalists, who spent the 1990s writing about sport at Melbourne's premier newspaper, the Age, when Gary Ablett was at the height of his footballing career. Currently he is editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph, Sydney's highest selling newspaper.
HarperCollinsPublishers, pp 343, 2003, ISBN: 0-7322-7449-4, $25
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