Customer Reviews

Empires of Food: Feast, Famine, and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations

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I was planning to assign this book for my graduate "Food and Culture" class this fall - it looked like it would be a good start for the class, putting food in the grand sweep of human history. Last time I used "Feast" which turned out to be very uneven. I am very glad I had time to order the book and read it thoroughly before the start of the semester (yes, professors do indeed assign books they have not read thoroughly), because it gave me time to cancel the order. Why? Partially because of an issue of balance. Just because in the past too many historians and archaeologists have left food entirely out of their reconstructions of the past, the answer is not to write a book in which food explains everything. The book reminds me of the work of Jared Diamond, also a geographer without formal training in archaeology, anthropology or theories of human cultural evolution. So the book becomes a selective trek through human history with the goal of telling a pretty simple-minded story. People learn to grow food; they clear land and increase productivity so population grows. Eventually they overshoot their productivity, they exhaust the soil, there is some climate change and there is a famine. End of civilization. Now, this model is still a minority position in archaeology, but most of us who studied cultural ecology back in the 1970s read a lot of work which poked huge holes in the theory. It only stands up if you ignore the counter-cases, like Tokugawa Japan. Or if you totally ignore the life work of important human ecologists like Robert McC. Netting, who spent his career finding examples of civilizations which maintained high population densities through sustainable agriculture and population control. Even better - he showed why some farming/social systems are sustainable and maintain high levels of fertility, controlling erosion, while others destabilize, lose their diversity and flexibility, and crash.

It sure would have been nice if the authors of this book had done their homework. But instead I fear they have chosen to tell a simple-minded little story with an obvious and misleading moral about inevitable catastrophe. Instead we need intelligent and informed analysis which will explain why systems sometimes fail, so we can work on practical measures to make sure we do not see billions of people starve in the next few decades, a ghoulish prediction which this book casts as inevitable.

Gosh but this book is bad. I started noting the historical inaccuracies, distortions and outright fibs but lost track. Here's a sampling (a small one):

- Apparently the population of Europe declined by half from 200 AD to 600 AD because of food. Um, possibly enormous civil wars, political collapse and the eruption of a plague that was as bad as the bubonic? I'm not even sure though who on earth was counting the population of Europe in 600 AD. In the same sentence we're told the city of Rome's population halved from 300 to 400 - um, yes, because Constantinople was founded as the new capital.

- Hideous, schoolboy factual inaccuracies, such as "when Diocletian split the Empire in two, Constantinople sucked the food supply East" - um, Constantinople was founded decades after Diocletian died. Seriously.

- Wilful distortion of dates: we're told in one sentence that the monastic food system had resulted in a surge of population "by the tenth century" which resulted (same para, no clarification of dates) in "universities being founded in oxford, etc.". You wouldn't know that about 300 years separated the tenth century and the foundation of universities. In the same section, they say that "Europe entered into hundreds of years of inflation" - they don't specify a starting date for this, but they seem to be referring to about 1300 or so. A few paragraphs later they mention that famine and disease caused prices to plummet by the second half of the 14th century. I mean, come on.

- The whole section on Mesopotamia seems to have been made up by the authors. No really. Their references in that section are thin, light and outdated, not to mention the fact that they got Sumer and Akkadia mixed up (this is like confusing England and France, or worse). I think they looked up "Uruk" and "Sumer" on Wikipedia.

Now, getting a couple of dates wrong doesn't entirely doom an argument. There is of course an interesting story to be told about the role of food production and control. It's a complex story and certainly important. But the authors are trying to make it unidirectional, as though food causes everything, and they obviously are only interested in history as anecdote that supports their story. If you're making an argument about causality you need to get the chronology and the events right. They don't.

I really fear the number of myths this book may implant in a general reader's mind, and hope that those who don't know the background to some of these periods will go and do some research before accepting this book's claims, most of which are bogus.

File on the Jared Diamond "grand theory with clever title but no foundation" shelf.

When I read this book, I kept thinking about the refrain from Ecclesiastes, "there is nothing new under the sun." It was really interesting to read about the food empires and systems from long ago, and then compare it to where we're at today. It was really well written, although I must confess to skimming over a bit of the more historical chapters. Although they were quite entertaining (the authors have a great sense of humor), I wanted to focus more on today. I suppose that's my American impatience coming through.

The book didn't provide any easy answers (surprise!), but I do feel like I learned more about the context of our food system, and it doesn't seem quite so overwhelming, which is kind of strange because the solutions proposed are a bit more macro in scale than the other books I've read recently but somehow it seems doable. If you don't mind a bit of historical detail, it's a great book to help you think through the systems theory of our "food empire" and puts into perspective the threats that everyone keeps talking about. It also provides great motivation for eating local.

disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy from the publisher. I was not obligated to do a review nor did it influence my opinions.

Empires of Food was a feast for my grey-cells! I love reading well-written history books(while sipping a crisp Provence rose and nibbling on a slice of local goat's cheese).Fraser and Rimas made me think about the historical origins of these delicacies(monks in the Middle Ages),their impact on our planet,(emerging China,water,climate,and population growth)and my own role as a concerned citizen as I make choices as to what I eat and where to buy it. A must read for all who care about the future of our food supply and the health of our planet.

This is the most comprehensive book to date on the history of food systems and their important (and usually neglected) role in the collapse of civilizations. "The lesson from history," the authors write, "is that big civilizations are built on ground no firmer than the mud under their rice paddies. They, and we, are slaves to food."

Food empires? The authors are talking about the networks of a civilization's farms, plantations, orchards; its imports from abroad; its processing plants; and its distribution channels. The larger and more complex the civilization, the more complex the food networks must be--to the point where they deplete existing resources of soil and water, then falter, then fail. Interacting with climate variables and local geological factors (volcanoes, earthquakes), food empires are far more fragile than they appear to the people who live within them, who often take their available food for granted. When these systems fail, the civilization begins to fall apart, usually with a whimper rather than with a bang.

And our own industrial food empire? Despite our advances in technology, our food supply system is as fragile as those of the Romans, Mayans, or medieval Europe. But now, the problems are global. Every nation under the sun is facing soil depletion, water issues (including fertilizer pollution), and a dangerous dependence on limited fossil fuels to grow, process, and transport food to burgeoning populations. The result? "Modern agribusiness has the potential to translate a dry month in Brazil into red ink on a ledger in China into an empty shopping cart in New Jersey," Fraser and Rimas write. "There are no buffers left."

And no easy answers. Local food, slow food, bioregional systems that "nest" within a global trading network. But "easier posited than done," as the authors admit. What's really needed: a public insistence that their politicians begin to acknowledge and address these crucial issues. Again, easier posited than done.

What I like about this book: its breadth, inclusiveness, new-paradigm thinking, engaging writing. I also admire the authors for not trying to pull last-chapter rabbits out of the hat when it comes to solutions. Their message: don't expect answers to be handed to you on a plate.

What I dislike about the book: its hop-skip-jump presentation, which reminded me of the TV series "Connections." But even this now-here, now-there organization has its advantages: readers must actively participate in the authors' arguments in order to follow them. Lazy or uninvolved readers won't want to bother. But then, they're probably not the authors' intended audience.

Bottom line: an extraordinarily important book that offers important insights into a global challenge facing not just one country but all civilizations. I hope, by the time you finish it, you'll have decided that your lawn might be put to better uses than growing grass.

Highly recommended.

Empires of Food is equal parts entertaining and enlightening - perfect summer reading for any foodie, environmentalist or history buff. Fraser and Rimas blend history with science to create a thoroughly enjoyable read that explores the impact of food on human history.

"About our food empire, the doomsayers will continue to grumble while the optimists put their faith in technology or God. The pessimists at least have the backing of history. For ten thousand years, human beings have built food empires and whittled them back into parched earth and hunger." p. 171

Prior to the dawn of agriculture human beings were hunter-gatherers. Essentially the men hunted and fished while the women gathered nuts and berries and cared for the children. These hunter-gatherers were nomads who moved from place to place and lived in caves and shelters made of rocks, branches and animal skins. Generally they lived in small bands of about 30 people. Then an extraordinary thing happened. Along about 12,000 years ago the mammoths disappeared from the face of the earth leaving the men with precious little work to do. History suggests that it was about this time that the concept of farming or agriculture took hold. Over time men discovered that they had a new vocation in life.....trading commodities. This development would change everything and mankind would never be the same again. "Empires Of Food: Feast, Famine and the Rise and Fall Of Civilizations" chronicles the rise of agriculture and the impact it has had on civiizations through the ages from the Roman Empire to the ancient Mayans to the people living here in the 21st century. And as authors Evan D.G. Fraser and Andrew Rimas point out time and again in this book agriculture is a very risky business and human beings keep making the same deadly mistakes over and over again. The fate of civilizations hinge on their ability to feed the people. You will discover precisely what caused the demise of many of the greatest civilizations in the history of the world and why we who reside in the 21st century should have plenty of cause for concern. Needless to say there is plenty of "food for thought" in "Empires of Food".

Fraser and Rimas explain that towards the end of the Dark Ages (around 900 A.D.) monasteries began to spring up all over Western Europe. While most of the population lacked work and was mired in hopeless poverty the industrious monks figured out a way to grow and store food surpluses. This was in all likelihood the beginning of agriculture as we know it. The one thousand year history of agriculture teaches us there seems to be a certain cycle of events that has repeated itself time and again. Put simply when food supplies are plentiful people tend to have more babies. And as the population increases farmers opt to clear-cut unused land and turn it over to crop production. When populations increase exponentially these practices will invariably result in severe erosion of the soil. Likewise, failure to rotate crops will eventually result in soil exhaustion in those places. Large scale agriculture also exposes human beings to the fallout from damage done by extreme drought, climate change, pests and insects. The inevitable result is dwindling food supplies, famine, disease and death. "Empires of Food" chonicles the catostrophic consequences of these events in places all over the globe from Mexico and India to Ireland, Italy and Ethiopia. Furthermore, the authors opine that our 21st century food empire is clearly unsustainable and that within a mere generation or two we are probably doomed to the same fate unless we make some rather substantial changes in the way we go about growing our food supply. Clearly there are numerous obstacles to overcome if that is ever going to happen.

"Empires Of Food: Feast, Famine and the Rise and Fall Of Civilizations" is the first book I have read about these specific issues in a good many years. I noted with considerable interest that a couple of reviewers were quite critical of some of the "inaccuracies and distortions" in this book. Whether or not this is true I am not qualified to say. But what I am prepared to say is that reading "Empires of Food" has made me much more cognizant of all of the important issues surrounding the way we produce food in our world today. The authors firmly believe that gradually returnng to more "locally grown" food supplies in the years and decades ahead might be the only way to avert a disaster of monumental proportions. And the history lessons found in this book would seem to back up that assertion. At the end of the day I found "Empires Of Food: Feast, Famine and the Rise and Fall Of Civilizations" to be a well-researched and pretty well-written book. It seems to me it would be well worth your time and attention. Highly recommended!

I can give this book nothing but an excellent rating. One review of this book presents a strong bias giving a bad rating. Fraser is a widely recognized academic in his field, currently at the forefront of research. Furthermore he has and is winning numerous awards for his research and this book. Additionally he has been featured on numerous programs to discuss his theories.

This book speaks to the power of food in society and the fragility of our current system. This book does not foresee Armageddon as the critical review suggests, but rather a realistic exploration of the importance of food in society. Furthermore, it speaks to the issues that food systems will most definitely face in light of rapid and unchecked population growth and a changing global climate.

A must read for everyone.

This book wasn't bad, but it was not what I anticipated. Based on the title and reviews I read prior to picking it up I was expecting something more along the lines of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.

Either way, I found this a hard book to get into. I didn't feel like it followed any kind of logical order from chapter to chapter, and there wasn't a developing theme or thread to keep me interested.

That said, the author certainly did his homework and had plenty of primary source material to round out his pages. His examples ranged across the globe and through time.

I would recommend flipping through this or borrowing a copy before purchasing your own unless you've read and liked this author previously.

It's a fascinating read! I love history and the green movement of growing food and picking up this book I feel I'm reading more than just history of people, I'm reading about the history of economics, culture and life.

I am enthralled with this book.