This document summarizes some key points about the relationship between food and economics:
- Agricultural food production requires intensive labor and makes populations vulnerable to weather and disasters, whereas foraging requires less work but provides a more limited diet.
- Farming allows for larger, denser populations which can lead to increased disease transmission but also genetic changes that provide resistances.
- Food has historically been used as currency and could be counterfeited. A large amount of economic activity and labor goes into producing, processing, and preparing food.
- The U.S. food system produces enough for nearly twice the population but also promotes overconsumption through competition between food companies seeking profits.
Original Description:
The intersection of food and economics in anthropological context
This document summarizes some key points about the relationship between food and economics:
- Agricultural food production requires intensive labor and makes populations vulnerable to weather and disasters, whereas foraging requires less work but provides a more limited diet.
- Farming allows for larger, denser populations which can lead to increased disease transmission but also genetic changes that provide resistances.
- Food has historically been used as currency and could be counterfeited. A large amount of economic activity and labor goes into producing, processing, and preparing food.
- The U.S. food system produces enough for nearly twice the population but also promotes overconsumption through competition between food companies seeking profits.
This document summarizes some key points about the relationship between food and economics:
- Agricultural food production requires intensive labor and makes populations vulnerable to weather and disasters, whereas foraging requires less work but provides a more limited diet.
- Farming allows for larger, denser populations which can lead to increased disease transmission but also genetic changes that provide resistances.
- Food has historically been used as currency and could be counterfeited. A large amount of economic activity and labor goes into producing, processing, and preparing food.
- The U.S. food system produces enough for nearly twice the population but also promotes overconsumption through competition between food companies seeking profits.
Subsistence strategies Agricultural food production Ramifications of producing your own food, versus foraging You are dependent on a comparatively, extremely limited roster of food supplies Makes you more vulnerable to weather patterns, and disaster in general Agriculture is extraordinarily scheduled Farmers are at the mercy of time, having to gather the huge majority of their annual nutritional intake at, at most, a few times; nothing, thus, can interrupt these narrow windows of time Farming is a lot of work, requiring intense and sustained physical effort throughout the year e.g. clearing land of vegetation, stones, etc; fertilization Far beyond what foragers have to do Other challenges; not problems necessarily, but things that must be managed Storage: how to keep food edible and in sufficient supply for the rest of the year A strategy to defend food from pests, moisture, thieves, etc A strategy for measuring out supplies to last the year, plus extra for planting in the following year A new, delayed return relationship with food Foragers don't typically have any incentive to store food, nor any to refrain from With agriculture comes the possibility for surplus food production Much more food can be obtained per unit of land than foraging; this can be controlled as well Much denser populations can be supported than in foraging; villages/cities can now be supported; much larger families [literally] grow out of this Denser populations (and persistent contact with animals) have significant implications as well Communicable and epidemic diseases due to more people, and people living in closer proximity Some farming populations developed immunity to certain pathogens in response to this; people were changed genetically (by farming) Agriculture has been the most important cause of changes in human gene frequencies in the past 10k years, by far A result of many of the above Gene spread, genetic resistance, adult lactose tolerance, etc The way you obtain food totally shapes the way you live Why would people take up farming? It's not less work, not necessarily more nutritious There isn't a single clear answer, but a variety of hypotheses With farming, you can increase the availability of more palatable food Food and economics interact in other ways as well Food was used as money at many times, in many places Pepper as currency in Medieval Europe, and important as far back as at least the first century AD Cacao beans throughout Mesoamerica These currencies could be counterfeited and/or adulterated as well, e.g. wax How We Eat ANT260 Page 1
These currencies could be counterfeited and/or adulterated as well, e.g. wax
cacao beans, pepper mixed with juniper or mustard A lot of economic life is spent producing/processing/preparing food, e.g. processing toxic acorns Time spent producing/processing/preparing food is time that cannot be spent in other economic activities, such as manufacturing What labor goes into the food that you eat? Who is producing it? How much time does that represent? Who is preparing/serving it? Food production is one of the greatest labor-mobilizing force in the world; a huge motivator of immigration 78% of farm workers in the US are foreign born, spending an average of 10 years in the US These workers sustain our food economy National cuisines change based on such volumes of immigration, e.g. salsa "dethroning" ketchup in the US The American food system produces enough food for all Americans, generally, to feed everyone nearly twice over, after exports We produce an overabundance of food We are also rich enough, generally, that people can afford more food than they need We, therefore, have a system set up for competition; food companies compete for every dollar spent on food, making products that are designed to sell, not necessarily to nourish us Many foods that enter our diet do so b/c of deliberate efforts on the part of food companies