Farm Reading: World Hunger

In preparation for my internship at the World Hunger Farm I have three books to read by May: World Hunger by Francis Moor Lappé, et. al, Two Ears of Corn by Ronald Bunch and The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin. I’m currently working through the classic World Hunger. I thought I would take some time to comment on what I’m reading.

World Hunger is an amazing book that condenses years, decades even of research into concise and cogent chapters that deal with common arguments and/or myths concerning hunger and solutions for hunger. The format is engaging and helpful in that it reacts to commonly heard ideas or arguments about hunger. The content is very thorough and easy to grasp.

Most of the ideas are not new to me, but they are put in a way that sometimes clicks and makes connections I have missed. This is really an essential text for making all the connections between food, hunger and other issues. If you’re not a foodie, but just interested in knowing more about hunger-related issues this is a great place to start. So far I can’t think of anything I’ve noticed that was left out of the book. My only criticism is that it is beginning to get outdated. The arguments haven’t changed, but updated stats, history and info would be nice.

Because this is such an essential book and covers so much important territory, I think I will try to blog through each chapter. The myth/response format will hopefully be helpful in getting at some foundational elements of hunger and food issues.