Feeding Britain, Tim Lang
Feeding Britain, Tim Lang
List: $14.62 | Sale: $10.23
Club: $7.31

Feeding Britain
Our Food Problems and How to Fix Them

Author: Tim Lang

Narrator: Roy McMillan

Unabridged: 12 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Pelican

Published: 02/04/2021

Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.

How does Britain get its food?
Why is our current system at breaking point?
How can we fix it before it is too late?

British food has changed remarkably in the last half century. As we have become wealthier and more discerning, our food has Europeanized (pizza is children's favourite food) and internationalized (we eat the world's cuisines), yet our food culture remains fragmented, a mix of mass 'ultra-processed' substances alongside food as varied and good as anywhere else on the planet.

This book takes stock of the UK food system: where it comes from, what we eat, its impact, fragilities and strengths. It is a book on the politics of food. It argues that the Brexit vote will force us to review our food system. Such an opportunity is sorely needed. After a brief frenzy of concern following the financial shock of 2008, the UK government has slumped once more into a vague hope that the food system will keep going on as before. Food, they said, just required a burst of agri-technology and more exports to pay for our massive imports.

Feeding Britain argues that this and other approaches are short-sighted, against the public interest, and possibly even strategic folly. Setting a new course for UK food is no easy task but it is a process, this book urges, that needs to begin now.

'Tim Lang has performed a public service' Simon Jenkins, Sunday Times

© Tim Lang 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Reviews

Goodreads review by David on July 07, 2024

A comprehensive look into Britain's food system, and the role that an honest review of and response to the nation's food failings could deliver progress across spheres including (but not limited to) ecological sustainability, social health, and national security. The book is absolutely loaded with da......more

Goodreads review by Michael on March 31, 2025

Feeding Britain is a useful book, it brought me up to date with many of the policies, commissions and bodies working in the area of food over the last century or more. Quite a bit of this I had not come across before. Like many of the books related to issues of sustainability. If you are just lookin......more

Goodreads review by David on December 12, 2022

I’ve had this book open for a couple of years, picking it up with renewed determination every six months or so, but getting bogged down and letting it slip again. In the end I decided to use an audible credit to get through the last third. There’s a lot to unpack here. To be fair, you’ve got to be re......more

Goodreads review by Kirsty on July 28, 2021

This took me a good couple of months to work my way through slowly, that's what happens when you read a book about something you don't know much about. Before Brexit reared it's ugly head I wouldn't have thought about reading a book on this subject, but I've read enough about the precarious nature o......more

Goodreads review by Susie on May 03, 2020

I picked this book, because this is something that has been on my mind since all the Brexit talk. This book doesn’t just talk about current day, it goes back to the 1930’s and how things were in the war. For me, I enjoy reading about how things have developed over the years, whether good or bad. Bri......more

Quotes

Present discontents lend urgency to Lang's core message ... Security matters, and that includes food security. Lang has performed a public service. Sunday Times

Forceful, illuminating, an ambitious manifesto ... The advent of coronavirus has added timeliness to Lang's warning about the fragility of our food supply. Evening Standard

When Lang says that "although not officially at war, the UK is, de facto, facing a wartime scale of food challenge", it's worth paying attention. We are in serious trouble ... It's a simple message, but in the white heat of a crisis, defined by queues outside supermarkets, a useful one. The Observer

Lang practically invented food ethics in this country ... Feeding Britain tells us how we could build a better food system, and shows that it is possible. The Independent

Feeding Britain is distinguished by the clarity and care with which it lays out urgent issues, most centrally that Britain does not produce enough food to feed itself. Financial Times

It is dense with statistics for journalists and academics to harvest and will, I suspect, become the go-to book for anyone interested in what is now going to be a hot political issue. Daily Telegraph

For years, food policy expert Tim Lang has been an almost lone voice in the wilderness, arguing that UK food security needs to be improved. In his new, very timely book, Lang notes that most consumers think that "as long as there is food on the supermarket shelves, all is well in the world. It is not". The Guardian

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List