Let Them Eat Junk: How Capitalism Creates Hunger and Obesity

This book to analyses the food industry from a Marxist perspective. Let The Eat Junk argues that the capitalist system, far from delivering on the promise of cheap, nutritious food for all, has created a world where 25% of the world population are over-fed and 25% are hungry. This malnourishment of 50% of the world's population is explained systematically, a refreshing change from accounts that focus on cultural factors and individual greed. Robert Albritton details the economic relations and connections that have put us in a situation of simultaneous oversupply and undersupply of food. This explosive book provides yet more evidence that the human cost of capitalism is much bigger than those in power will admit.

Table of Contents:
Preface Part I Introduction 1. Introduction Part II Understanding Capitalism 2. The Management of Agriculture and Food by Capital’s Deep Structures 3. The Phase of Consumerism and the US Roots of the Current Agriculture and Food Regimes Part III The Historical Analysis of the US-Centred Global Food Regime 4. The Food Regime and Consumers’ Health 5. The Health of Agriculture and Food Workers 6. Agriculture, Food Provisioning and the Environment 7. Food, Marketing and Choice in the United States 8. Corporate Power, Food and Liberal Democracy Part IV Conclusions 9. Agriculture, Food and the Fight for Democracy, Social Justice, Health and Sustainability Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Robert Albritton is a Professor at York University, Canada. His recent publications include Economics Transformed (Pluto, 2007)

Review :
"Marx understood the dynamics of the current food crisis over a century ago. Robert Albritton has written a fine primer, bridging the best thinking of the nineteenth century to the urgent needs of the twenty-first." Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved "Let Them Eat Junk pulls no punches in its analysis of the contradictions of 21st Century food systems. To understand how starvation and obesity can coexist in the same populations, follow the flow of capital. Everyone who cares about food equity and the preservation of democracy should read this book. " Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, author of Food Politics (2003)