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The Great Food Gamble [Paperback]

John Humphrys
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
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Book Description

3 Jan 2002
John Humphrys is passionate about the state of British food, farming, fishing and agriculture. Here, he looks back to the days of organic farming in England when people shared and swapped food and considered the wildlife as well as the farmed animals, crops and fruits. He examines today's travesties: factory farming, pouring chemicals into the land, the scandal of the supermarket wars and cheap imported goods. He then turns to the future and asks: Can we save this ravaged earth and rebuild our community values? Most of all, can we reverse the damage to ourselves and our long-term health that may result from what we eat? John Humphrys' book requires the full attention of anyone who cares about themselves or the future.

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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks; New Ed edition (3 Jan 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0340770465
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340770467
  • Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 2.1 x 19.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 392,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon Review

John Humphrys, broadcaster, writer, farmer and consumer, has written The Great Food Gamble to address the serious questions he and many of his audience have about the food on our tables in the wake of BSE, foot and mouth, and concerns about the effects of factory farming practices on the nation's health and environment. Humphrys knowledgeably traces such intensive agricultural practices to British food policy from the end of the Second World War to ask whether the relentless drive for more and more food has been a mistake and whether the risks we run are worth it to have what may ultimately prove to be an illusion of choice. Are there really no alternatives, he asks? As readers of Devil's Advocate and listeners to Radio 4's Today programme will no doubt expect, Humphrys has a no-nonsense approach. He has little time or patience with mealy-mouthed politicking. Industrial practices, backed up by political will, is costing our health and our environment too dear, he argues. He counts the cost of intensive factory farming, not only in terms of the destruction of our rural heritage, long-term environmental effects and mounting health concerns about the use of antibiotics and pesticides, but the hard cash cost of subsidies and cleaning up pollution that put the lie to the food industry's claim of providing "cheap" food. Humphrys adds his voice to the great food industry debate along with George Monbiot's critique of the supermarket's control of food production in Captive State and Eric Schlosser's stomach-churning analysis of our unfortunate infatuation with fast food in Fast Food Nation. Humphrys' prose is unashamedly popular: evocative and even nostalgic for a fast disappearing experience of the British countryside, even as he stops short of being romantic. If this means that he substitutes rhetoric for detail, he remains bang on target and knows that to engage people in this debate and connect it effectively to their lives is the most effective way to counter the enormous power wielded by the other side. A bitter harvest indeed. --Fiona Buckland --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'Thought-provoking, well-researched' (Fordyce Maxwell, Scotsman )

'Compelling' (Observer )

'Incisive and readable' (Mick Hume, The Times )

'Humphrys's level-headedness makes the arguments all the more powerful' (Paul Heiney, The Sunday Times )

'This could be the best diet book ever written' (The Sunday Times )

'Without being sentimental, it is a passionate discourse... well-written and accessible. My only concern is that its message is likely to be ignored where it matters most.' (Tim Lang, Independent )

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Well argued, shame about the polemics 3 July 2001
Format:Paperback
There have been plenty of issues that make people concerned over food in the last few years - Salmonella in eggs, BSE in cattle and the introduction of GM foods. John Humphrys gives a brief overview of how farming has changed since the Second World War from a small scale, largely family run business to a (mostly) intensive factory business, and how this has led to our food being increasingly adulterated with fertilisers, pesticides, hormones and anti-biotics.

Now while there is plenty to get worried about in all this, and John Humphrys does present the risks well, I would have found it a lot more convincing if he hadn't given the impression that he'd really prefer it if farmers were non profit making, horny handed sons of the soil and that any sniff of profit should be ruthlessly eliminated. In this book, there are clear "goodies" and "baddies" - the goodies being the small organic farmers, the "baddies" being the EU, large pharmaceutical companies, supermarkets and the "barley barons" (a group he neither defines nor interviews).

Now there is plenty of well argued science in here. The Chapter on the history of pesticides, and how new pesticides have been introduced as their predecessors have been banned, is enough to make anyone worry and the description of how the increasing monoculture throughout Britain's arable land is allowing the spread of crop diseases (which leads, in turn, to more spraying) is well argued, as is the Chapter on GM, which is surprisingly neutral (if erring on the side of scepticism) on the subject.

Overall a good guide to the farming is practiced throughout Britain today, and if you don't mind the polemics against big business (agricultural, pharmaceutical or retail) it presents a coherent arguement about the quality of our food.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. Recommended. 18 Feb 2013
By NPF
Format:Paperback
Published way back in 2001, this book makes for sad reading. All the issues raised in this book today continue apace. We as a people are neither learning or heeding the warning signs as we travel blindly along the road to destruction.

This is an extremely well written and researched book that looks at all aspects of how we today decide to produce our food and the consequences that result. It all starts with WWII and the desperate need for the UK to produce as much food as possible to avoid starvation following the threat of the German U2 submarines cutting the essential North Atlantic food supply chain from America. The mentality to maximize food production at all costs, coupled with advances in technology and the formation of powerful vested interests, ends up with the UK rapidly and radically discarding all the farming wisdom accrued over the previous centuries. We become a nation of chemical farmers. How, and the extent of this change is well covered here. For more reading on this Graham Harvey's book The Killing Of The Countryside makes for a good complimentary read. This book by John Humphreys book though covers a far wider canvas asking why the food we now eat has become a source of threat and concern rather than a pleasure. It outlines those threats to both environment, animal and human health. Below is a summary of contents.

Preface
Driven by Need
Yesterday, Today ... and Tomorrow?
From Caveman to Kitchen: The history of Food
These Toxic Times : Pesticides
The World Beneath Our Feet: Soil
Fear of Fish
Battling with Bugs: Antibiotics
The New Gene Genie: GM
The Counter Revolution: Organics
If I May Just Finish: Q&A
Bibliography
Index

This is an extremely thorough and readable book that highlights so many relevant issues. The preface sets the scene. At the time the U.K. had been hit by the devastating foot and mouth epidemic resulting in the slaughter of millions of cattle in an attempt to contain the disease. Like BSE, it was the modern farming practices that had caused the problem (of the 170,000 cattle affected by BSE only a few came from organically / traditionally raised herds, and these had been brought into the herd from farms outside), and it lead the author to question whether the relentless drive for cheap food was a mistake. He asks what is the price we, our countryside and the factory farmed animal pay? Is it worth it? The rest of the book proceeds in a meticulous yet highly readable and informed way to cover off all the main concerns and risks in what we are doing and to suggest alternatives. John Humphreys is in no doubt that we need to stop and rethink the mindless drive to produce the cheapest food at all costs. I don't think that anyone who reads this book would question that.

Below are some reviews of the book (taken from the book):

'Compelling'. The Observer

Powerful .... A devastating indictment of what we are doing to our food'. Daily Mail

`Incisive and readable' The Times

`Without being sentimental, it's a passionate discourse ... well written and accessible. My only concern is that its message is likely to be ignored where it matters most' Independent

`Humphreys's level-headedness makes the argumenst all the more powerful' The Sunday Times
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5.0 out of 5 stars Read, weep and lose your apetite! 4 Mar 2012
Format:Paperback
The Great food gamble is a truly great book, very well written, easy to read and although mostly about the reality in the UK, worth reading for people from all over the world! This is a book about how the world is being destroyed. John Humphrys writes about modern day agriculture, comparing it to how it used to be, talks about the food we eat and all the problems it brings us, how the soils are completely depleted, the horror of farmed fish and battery chickens, the dangers of abuse of antibiotics by people and antibiotics given to animals that put our lives in danger and GM food. At the end he answers quite a few questions in the form of an interview, a really very interesting chapter! This is a very well researched book that should be read by everybody. It should be read by the children in school because nowadays they are so often bombarded with useless information and finish missing out on what is really important!

I do have a few question marks! The first one is the idea that the public has a choice in the kind of food sold to us. It is true that we now have organic food but too little and too expensive. As far as other products we don't seem to have much choice, especially because many times we don't even have any idea about what is in our food! The average person is far too busy to be looking into it in detail and ends up buying whatever is on offer! Should we have been more demanding? Maybe! Maybe we put too much trust into the people who were supposed to be looking after our interests!

The idea that salt is the source of cardio-vascular disease doesn't seem to be true, as isn't high blood pressure (many people who have a heart attack have average or low blood pressure!). But we can't forget that this book was published in 2002 (a pity the author never thought of writing an update...). He also says that apricots can't be sold unless they contain sulphur dioxide but in the meanwhile there are unsulphured apricots in the shops. In the meanwhile food is not that cheap anymore either! The concept that we live longer than we ever lived is one that seems to be quite debatable and at the end the author says that the new generation is the first one that will die before their parents! The older generation is living longer, whether we will, remains to be seen! Lots of young people, even babies, are dying of the most horrendous illnesses. He also says that nobody suggests that women should stop breastfeeding but with the terrible pollution we are surrounded by and all the chemicals in our food I think babies would be better off with formula that most resembled mother milk without all the dangers of it! He says that Alzheimer's is now found in people as young as 30 but in the meanwhile it is even found in children! I don't think people still smoke in the workplace but whether before we could refuse to share the office with someone who did.... I doubt it! Nowadays there are experts who doubt that vaccines are as useful as the author thinks they are. Are vaccines really as life-saving as he says they are? I am starting to doubt it! As far as doctors not being allowed to sell drugs in Britain, that is a great thing! Here in Switzerland they are and you see them trying to sell you as many drugs as they can get away with! I find it very worrying! Sometimes if feels as if they are selling candy to a child! As far as GM seeds go I know too little about the matter to comment but I would think that if farmers have their own conventional seeds they should be able to use them? Why is it that all of a sudden they find themselves with no seeds at all, other than the GM seeds they have to buy every year? Certainly other seeds must still exist or am I being too naïve? I am always amazed at how centuries of agriculture all of a sudden become "organic" and the chemical stuff of the past 50 years or so became "conventional". The same applies to medicine... the old type, centuries old, is "alternative", the new one is "conventional". Puzzling....

If you want to go on eating farming salmon (the only kind now sold in many countries) skip that chapter because after you read it no way you will touch this poor fish again. But then.... A British newspaper has just published an article about a new illness attacking fish in over fished areas: a predator that eats fishes tongues and then settles where the tongue used to be! I think that I will skip eating fish for the rest of my life!

As I was about to write this review I came across an article in a British newspaper about how commonly used cosmetics are full of toxins.... It really makes one wonder what kind of world we live in! I have to say that I came across this book by chance while looking for something else but I am glad I did, this is one of the best books I have ever read and let's hope John Humphrys will update it very soon!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars I love a good book.
A brilliant read. I love a good book. There is nothing better than emersing yourself in a really good read.
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. L. M. Andrew
5.0 out of 5 stars John Humphrys
Just finished reading and enjoying his book about the abuse of words this one promises to be just as readable and enjoyable
Published on 17 Oct 2010 by Mr. C. Austin
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent. Clear, Readable, Relevant
Very readable and well informed. Becoming truer and more endorsed as the months go by. Highly recommended
Published on 3 Mar 2005 by Tony no baloney
2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting subject matter but poor delivery
Although I enjoyed the subject, I found the writing style too populist and repetitive. It felt like reading a longer version of a news article in a tabloid, rather than a serious... Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2002
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, good balance between fact and opinion
Clearly written from the heart.
Most of us by now are either extremely concerned about the food we are eating or wearing blinkers and earplugs to shut out the facts. Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2001 by jan@jdeacon80.fsnet.co.uk
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most important books written in the last 10 years
If you don't read any other book about the food industry, read this one! What John Humphrys has tried to do is assimilate into one very readable (indeed, unputdownable) book the... Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a must for every home and school.
I have recently read this and another book while on holiday and I have become vegan because of it. The book explains the deception of big companies and shows how 'Money talks' and... Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2001 by joyce.nigel@tesco.net
1.0 out of 5 stars A frightening book
Others have said it, but that's what it is. A book which aims to frighten rather than inform. This book is sheer scaremongering. Read more
Published on 24 May 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most important factual books of 2001
This is an excellent, up-to-the-minute and highly pertinent piece of investigative journalism, presented in a colourful and readable manner by the incisive John Humphreys. Read more
Published on 15 May 2001
4.0 out of 5 stars A frightening book!
This book will give you chills when you read it. There are more scares than a Stephen King novel! It will change your shopping habits virtually overnight, as you read more of it... Read more
Published on 6 May 2001
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