From
pistachios to wine and chocolate to coffee, Sethi shows that the foods
we love have been biologically dumbed-down to feed the masses. Bananas?
One species dominates worldwide production, even though hundreds more -
with more flavors - exist. The US pistachio industry? Descended from one
species. Wine? A half-dozen French and European varieties dominate
vineyards and restaurant lists, but more than 1,000 wine grapes exist.
Sethi, a former NBC News correspondent, notes that 75 percent of the
world's food comes from just 12 plant and five animal species, often
treated with the same fertilizers and pesticides. In practical terms
that sameness raises the risk of global disease outbreaks, just as
hospital bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics. It also
means that uniquely tasty regional crops are at risk of dying out,
leaving farmers from Australia to Europe and the Americas fighting for a
sliver of the same global market. "While we debate GMOs and the merits
of Paleo (diets) ... we're losing the foundation of food," Sethi writes,
since diversity is the foundation for tastes and smells, and for
resistance to pests, drought and disease.
"Bread, Wine,
Chocolate" is full of wonderfully geeky bits of science, including an
excellent section on how memory and culture influences our perception of
taste. But Sethi's friendly, welcoming tone makes serious topics
digestible and pleasurable. "Eat and drink with reverence and gusto,
whether it's a Big Mac or a mountain of kale," she writes, with an
admirable lack of foodie pretension.
"Bread, Wine, Chocolate"
is passionate without being dogmatic: Sethi understands that global
change takes time, and that poor farmers in India can't just flip a
switch and turn to small-scale, heirloom crops. Sethi acknowledges
extinctions, climate change and heartbreak, but leaves readers with the
hope that individual choices will make a difference over time, and that
the love of food can be joyous and part of a meaningful commitment to
the environment.To know more visit our site http://www.allindiayellowpage.com.