Part III: The Food System
A three part series. How the global food system was built, what happens when it collapses, and why the United States should be paying attention.
The essays
No. 5How Corporate Agriculture Captured the World's Food Supply
From a 1944 conference room to the food on your plate, and what we can do about it.
No. 6Two Nations, Two Responses: What North Korea and Cuba Teach Us About Food System Collapse
Same crisis in 1990. One starved, one rebuilt from the ground up.
No. 7The United States Is Next: Why Our Food System Is More Fragile Than We Think
And how to build something better before it fails.
A question to sit with
For most of human history, people grew their own food or knew the person who did. Then, within a few generations, we agreed that a few should grow it and everyone else should buy it.
No one remembers signing that agreement. It simply became the way things are.
Who taught you that this arrangement was natural? And what would it take for the place you live to feed itself?
Write your answer in the comments below and see how others answered. Prefer to keep it between us? Send me a private reflection.
← Part II: What We Wear and Grow Part IV: Coming Home to Nature →