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Metabolic Rift Theory and the Crisis of Our Foodways

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Changing our Environment, Changing Ourselves

Abstract

This chapter applies metabolic rift theory to a neglected area in food studies: Processed food in general and ultra-processed food in particular. It argues for a closer link between the study of production and the study of consumption. This raises questions of disciplinary belonging and boundaries. My analysis starts from the sociology of food but a similar argument might be made using other disciplines such as political science or history. The sociology of food, I argue, has focused on consumption, leaving production and distribution to other disciplines, notably human geography. Moreover, much research on food consumption is depoliticised, and refrains from challenging the underlying structures of contemporary food systems. This is despite the fact that producing, transporting, selling, and consuming food are an important contributor to anthropogenic climate change, responsible for as much as 30 % of all CO2 emissions (Foresight 2011). Further, there is increasing evidence that ultra-processed foods are having impacts on human health, in particular obesity and all the health risks associated with being overweight.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    To further add to this development, even fruit and vegetables, which on the surface appear to be fresh and ‘natural’, have been found to be declining in nutrient levels over the last 50 or so years. Mayer (1997) reports on research conducted by the UK government over the period between the 1930s and 1980s on the mineral content of 20 fruits and 20 vegetables grown in that period. The results suggested that there was, in all cases, a reduction in mineral content of these fruits and vegetables. Mayer advances three possible reasons. First, there has been an increase in out of season and imported fruit and vegetables accompanied by changes in storage and ripening techniques. Second, different varieties are now grown. There has been an increase in plant breeding for high yields and this has often involved a decrease in varieties. Multinational seed companies are only interested in marketing seeds that they deem profitable and control the market through built-in obsolescence and patenting. And third, changes to agricultural practices which have seen a big increase in synthetic fertilisers, and heavier farm machinery resulting in ploughing and compacting of the soil which in turn affects the mineral content of the soil. These represent processes that try and extract more from what nature has to offer by trying to get round natural cycles to increase capital accumulation. Alongside this development, Lawrence (2013) brings to our attention the fact that the UK Food Standards Authority in 2003 advised that certain frozen vegetables such as broccoli, peas, cauliflower, and carrots contain more nutrients than most fresh equivalents (Lawrence 2013, p. 148).

  2. 2.

    Investigative journalist Joanna Blythman (2015) has recently highlighted the way food manufacturers have been gradually introducing the concept of ‘clean label’. Essentially this entails avoiding listing additives, or ‘E-numbers’ on food packaging, which is increasingly making consumers worried and replacing with different ingredients. The key point here is that legally food manufacturers have to list any E-numbers used in the product on the packaging, but these substitutes are classed as ingredients or processing aids so there is no legal requirement to list them. Blythman uses the example of E150 caramel, which creates a sweet flavour and a brown colour. Now it is replaced on the label with ‘burnt caramelised sugar’ or ‘caramelised sugar syrup’ or ‘burnt sugar syrup’ or ‘caramelised sugar’ (Blythman 2015, p. 67).

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  1. University of Brighton, Brighton, UK

    Graham Sharp

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  1. Graham Sharp
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  1. School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton School of Applied Social Science, Brighton, United Kingdom

    James S. Ormrod

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Sharp, G. (2016). Metabolic Rift Theory and the Crisis of Our Foodways. In: Ormrod, J. (eds) Changing our Environment, Changing Ourselves. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56991-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56991-2_6

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