In this season of celebrations, all traditionally including significant amounts of feasting and food consumption, we welcome back Bristol’s philosopher, Julian Baggini to explore the timely issue of 'How the World Eats'.
How we live is shaped by how we eat. You can see this in the vastly different approaches to growing, preparing and eating food around the world: the hunter-gatherer Hadza in Tanzania whose sustainable lifestyle is under threat in our crowded planet is in stark contrast to “developed” societies whose food is produced in vast intensive enterprises. Most of us now rely on a complex global food web of production, distribution, consumption and disposal, which is now facing unprecedented challenges.
The need for a better understanding of how we feed ourselves has never been more urgent. Julian’s exploration takes him from cutting-edge technologies, such as new farming methods, cultured meat, GM and astronaut food, to the ethics and health of ultra processed food and aquaculture, as he takes a forensic look at the effectiveness of our food governance, the problem of food wastage and the effects of commodification.
He will advocate for a pluralistic, humane, resourceful and equitable global food philosophy, so we can build a food system fit for the twenty-first century and beyond.
Biography
Julian Baggini has written on various philosophical subjects including rationality, identity, food and atheism. He has written numerous books, and regularly writes for magazines and newspapers including, Prospect, the Guardian, the FT and the Wall Street Journal. A Bristol-resident, at St Georges Bristol he hosts a regular public philosophy session, ‘Philosophical Times’. He is also a patron of Humanists UK. Julian has a longstanding interest in food and food systems. His food related books include The Pig that Wants to be Eaten, The Virtues of the Table, Babette's Feast, as well as most recently How the World Eats.
How the World Eats was chosen as a BBC Radio 4 Food Programme 'Book of the Year'.
‘Julian Baggini engages with food in a way that nobody else does. He’s the most important thinker we’ve got on food in the UK’ Tim Hayward, author of Steak.
‘A philosopher’s eye brought a refreshing alternative and nuanced view to the relationships that connect us—not always favorably—to our foods. Baggini describes a growing disconnect between eating food and understanding the associated harms that may be caused along the way to your plate. The food world, he argues, must be considered as a whole system. This is a wonderful perspective to advocate for.’ Stefania Pizzirani, Science
Heron Books will provide a bookstall selling this, and other Julian Baggini books.
This event is at our new regular venue, YHA Bristol in the Conference Room (2nd Flr). The venue is fully accessible - please check at reception for use of the lift.
Everyone is welcome.
The event is FREE to members of Bristol Humanists. Others we ask for a contribution of £5/£2 (concessions)
