Refashioning Nature: Food, Ecology and Culture

298 Pages·1992·2.74 MB·English

by  David Goodman

REFASHIONING NATURE
We live in a society as dominated by food preference as by
sexual preference, as obsessed with eating too much as with
eating too little. Food is the ultimate commodity in an economic
system which depends upon the market to meet needs and
influences global development and interdependence. Food,
from cultivation to consumption, provides the chief link
between humankind and the ‘natural’ environment. Yet,
technological advances—in genetics, agribusiness and food
processing—have combined with changing patterns of diet and
(women’s) employment to challenge our perception of the
‘natural’ and of our position within a ‘natural’ system. At this
point of dislocation, global crisis and conscience over the use
we make of the environment have sharpened the ideological
force of ‘Nature’.
Refashioning Nature analyses the apparently opposed imperatives
of the industrial food system and environment. The authors argue
that present means of food production, processing and
consumption do not satisfy the demands of both North and South,
resulting rather in food shortages and surpluses, as well as
environmental destruction. One of the major developments within
the global food system has been the change in diet associated with
the movement of women into the labour market. Beyond the
implications for the production of food and the position of the
household, this transformation has had a profound effect on the
way we manage the environment, and what we assume and
perceive is natural.

REFASHIONING
NATURE

FOOD, ECOLOGY AND
CULTURE

David Goodman and
Michael Redclift

London and New York
First published 1991
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

© 1991 David Goodman and Michael Redclift
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Goodman, David 1938–
Refashioning nature: food, ecology and culture.
1. Food. Sociology
I. Title II. Redclift, Michael 1946–
306.3

ISBN 0-203-41478-0 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-72302-3 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-06702-2 (Print Edition)
ISBN 0-415-06703-0 pbk

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Goodman, David, 1938–
Refashioning nature: food, ecology, and culture/David Goodman
and Michael Redclift.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-06702-2
1. Food industry and trade—Technological innovations.
2. Agricultural innovations. 3. Food habits. 4. Food supply.
5. Agriculture—Environmental aspects. 6. Food additives—Health
aspects. I. Redclift, M.R. II. Title.
HD9000.5.G66 1991
363.8–dc20 90–27217
CIP
For Annie and Ben

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations viii
List of Tables ix
Acknowledgements x
Introduction xi
1 FOOD INTO FREEZERS: WOMEN INTO
FACTORIES 1
2 THE PASSING OF RURAL SOCIETY 47
3 THE ORIGINS OF THE MODERN AGRI-
FOOD SYSTEM 87
4 INTERNATIONALIZATION AND THE
THIRD WORLD FOOD CRISIS 133
5 ENGINEERING LIFE: AGRI-
BIOTECHNOLOGIES AND THE FOOD
SYSTEM 167
6 THE FOOD SYSTEM AND THE
ENVIRONMENT 201
7 CONCLUSION: COUNTER REVOLUTION 239
Bibliography 257
Index 272
vii
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURES
2.1 Owner-occupation of farms in the UK 63
3.1 Acreage, yield and production of corn 1870–1960,
US 106
3.2 Agriculture: labour, capital and total factor
productivity 113
3.3 World price trends of major agricultural
commodities 125
PLATES
1.1 Women working in food processing, wine
cooperative, Hungary 12
1.2 Women working in food processing, wine
cooperative, Hungary 13
2.1 French charcuterie displaying non-industrially
processed food 66
2.2 Spanish peasant family farm, Galicia, Spain 67
2.3 Modern irrigation in Castille, Spain 71
4.1 Indian women buying food from a government
CONASUPO store, Mexico 138
4.2 Farming systems researcher conducting trials on
small farm, Guatemala 151

viii
TABLES
1.1 Appliance ownership 1964–87 20
1.2 Refrigeration combinations 20
1.3 Microwave ovens—ownership growth 21
1.4 The freezer-microwave link 21
1.5 Employment in the food system 1987 27
1.6 UK grocery retail market shares 1987–8 41
1.7 Historical margins in grocery retailing 41
1.8 Percentage share of total grocers—long
term—UK 42
2.1 Concentration of landholding in the UK 1982 65
4.1 World grain trade 1934–80 153
6.1 Intermediate consumption in French agriculture 205
6.2 UK countryside recreation 1985 224
6.3 Membership of environmental organizations in
the United States 224
6.4 Agriculture and the environment:
an international perspective 227

ix