Essay Sample on The Changing Significance of Food

Introduction

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations estimates that there are about 821 million people in the world who are undernourished (FAO par. 1). Unsurprisingly, a large proportion of those people reside in the developing world. The situation in those regions of the world is different to what is happening to countries such as the United States where the government is trying to address cases of obesity. Increased education on food nutrition could help reduce overconsumption in the developed world and allow a fair distribution of food across the globe.

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Summary

The article by Margaret Mead talks about how the American consumerism has the power to influence nutrition levels around the world. The author argues that people in the developed world have more food than they need and that the surplus can go into balancing food consumption in the world. According to the author, America got to that position by using the best technology to improve agricultural productivity. However, the high agricultural output has not prevented a portion of the population from suffering from malnutrition. The malnutrition is mainly due to lack of nutrition awareness and the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides in commercial farms. Also, the commercialization of agriculture has left farmers," penniless, too poor to move away, starving," (Mead 23).

Assessment

World Economic Forum says, "The world already produces enough food to feed every human being" (Sundaram and Elver par.1). The fact that some sections of the population lack food indicate that other people are having more than their fair share of food. Increased awareness to regulate consumption will provide an opportunity for the food to spread evenly across the world. Furthermore, teaching people about food nutrition will shift the focus from quantity to quality hence improving nutrition levels among the general population while reducing overconsumption.

Conclusion

There is a significant disparity in food consumption between developed countries and the rest of the world. The amount of food that goes to waste is enough to offset hunger and starvation in other parts of the world. However, even in developed countries such as America, there are still cases of malnutrition. The malnutrition is primarily due to insufficient knowledge about nutrition among the public. Increased awareness about nutrition will help encourage people to consume food with high nutritional value rather than large quantity hence enabling equal distribution of food.

Works Cited

FAO. Food Security & Nutrition around the World. 2017. Website. 09 December 2018. <http://www.fao.org/state-of-food-security-nutrition/en/>.

Mead, Margaret. "The changing significance of food." Food and culture: A reader (1997): 11-19.

Sundaram, Jomo Kwame and Hilal Elver. The world produces enough food to feed everyone. So why do people go hungry? 11 July 2016. Website. 9 December 2018. <https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/07/the-world-produces-enough-food-to-feed-everyone-so-why-do-people-go-hungry>.