The Changing Geography of World Food Consumption in the Second Half of the

Twentieth Century
Author(s): David Grigg
Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 165, No. 1 (Mar., 1999), pp. 1-11
Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3060507
Accessed: 07-05-2020 16:09 UTC

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 THE GEOGRAPHICALJOURNAL
Volume 165 Part 1 March 1999

The Changing Geography of World Food

Consumption in the Second Half
of the Twentieth Century

DAVID GRIGG

Department of Geography, Ehe Universiy of Sheffeld, Winter Street, Sheffeld

E-mail: d.g!igSsheffeld.ac.uk
This paper was acceptedfor publication inXanuaty 1998

There were fundamental changes in food consumption in Western Europe, North

America and Australasia from 1800 to the 1 950s prompted by rising incomes, increases
in agricultural productivity and greater trade in food. As a result the consumption of
starchy staples declined and that of animal foods, sugar, vegetables and fruit increased.
In 1961-2 the nutritional differences between the major regions largely reflected differ-
ences in income per capita with consumption in Afro-Asia similar to that in Western
Europe in the early nineteenth century. Since 1961-2 income increases in developing
countries have led to increased consumption of all foods, as happened in nineteenth-
century Western Europe, and even in a few countries the beginnings of a decline of the
starchy staples. In contrast, income increases in the developed countries have not led to
an increase in food consumption. Fears about the effect of nutrition upon health have
led to a decline in the consumption of sugar, animal fats and milk products.

KEY WORDS: Income, starchy staples, animal foods, health, nutrition

r NHE 1)ISCUSSION ()} t()01) consumption
during the last half century has been domi-
_ _ nated by world food supplies and population
growth, and the extent of undernutrition in the
developing countries (FAO, 1996a). Much has also
been written on changing patterns of food consump-
tion in the developed world (Blandford, 1984; Anon,
1988), whilst there is a large literature on nutrition
and health in industrial countries (Committee on
Medical Aspects, 1989; 1994). But there has been lit-
tle study of the geography of food consumption. This
essay traces the changing pattern of consumption
since 1961-2 at both the world and regional level.
llowever, to understand these changes needs a
longer perspective. Western countries went through
a radical change in their diet with the growth in real
incomes that followed industrialization in the nine-
teenth century, but since the 1960s income has been
a less powerful determinant of food choice. In con-
trast few countries in Afro-Asia or Latin America
had experienced a sustained increase in real incomes
before 1960, and national food consumption
reflected this, but in the last 30 years many develop-
ing countries have had an increase in incomes and
the beginnings of change in their diet.

00 1 6-7398/99/000 1400 1 /$00.20/0 ¢ 1999 The Royal Geographical Society

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2 WORLD FOOD CONSUMPTION

TABLE I

Food consumption in France 1815--1824 and the developing regions in 1961-62 (as % total calories)

Oil crops
and Fruit All
Cereals vegetable and All plant Animal Mills anirnal
Botal and roots Sweeteners Pulses oils vegetables Otherfoods foods Meat fats and eggs Fish foods

France 100.0 76.7 0.6 2.8 1.6 2.5 O. 1 84.3 6.3 3.5 4.6 0.3 14.7
Developing
countries 100.0 68.5 6.3 5.9 6.2 4.0 1.6 92.5 2.7 1.5 2.8 0.5 7.5

Calories per capita/day

France 2291 1557 13 57 32 50 - 1709 126 49 109

Developing
countries 1909 1318 122 13 120 76 23 1772 52 20 55 10 137

Sources: Toutain, 1971: 199F5, 1997-8; FAO, 1996b

moving foods, together with the introduction of

Industr7alization and the transformation of Western diets
In the early nineteenth century there were regional
variations in food consumption in Western Europe,
but in nutritional terms there was a broad similarity
between the regions. First, the total calorie supply
was low, most countries having between 1800 and
2300 calories per capita per day. Diets were domi-
nated by cereals and potatoes, which provided two-
thirds to four-fifths of the total energy supply.
Livestock products rarely provided more than 15 per
cent of total calorie intake, and sugar, vegetables and
fruit were eaten in only small quantities; vegetable
oils and animal fats made a minor contribution to
total energy supplies. Cereals not only provided a
majority of the calories, but together with pulses,
most of the protein (Grigg, 1995). The composition
of the diet - France had the best statistics - was simi-
lar to that of the developing countries in the early
1960s, although with more calories per capita and a
higher intake of animal foods (Table I). There were
two reasons for this:
1 Most people in both periods were too poor to buy
large amounts of any but the cheapest foods.
2 Cereals and roots were and are the cheapest
sources of calories and with pulses, of protein.
In contrast, livestock products were and are more
expensive per calorie than nearly all plant foods and
so were oi small importance in France in the 1820s
and developing countries in the 1 960s.
In the nineteenth century food consumption in
Western Europe was transformed by a number of
economic and technological changes:
1 The rapid growth of agricultural productivity
allowed production and consumption to outpace
population growth which led to a long-term
decline in the real price of food;
2 The improvement in transport reduced the cost of
refrigeration in the 1870s which allowed the
import of cheaper foods, although with the excep-
tion of the United Kingdom, European countries
continued to rely mainly on home-produced food;
and
3 The growth of real incomes, which followed indus-
trialization beginning in North West Europe in the
later nineteenth century, but reaching Eastern and
Southern Europe only after 1945.
These changes transformed the European diet
between 1800 and the 1950s. The consumption of
nearly all foods increased as incomes rose and so
total calorie consumption increased, by over 50 per
cent in France between 1800 and 1900 (Fig. 1). The
initial response to increased incomes was to eat more
bread and more potatoes - the starchy staples - to
reduce hunger (Fig. 1). Once this need had been sat-
isfied the population ate more sugar, oils and fats,
fruit and vegetables, and especially meat and dairy
products (Fig. 2); the consumption of the starchy sta-
ples then began to decline (Fig. 1), an important
turning point in nutritional history (Grigg, 1996).
The proportion of total calories derived from live-
stock foods rose from less than 15 per cent in the
early nineteenth century to over 30 per cent in
Northern Europe in the early 1960s (FAO, 1996b).
Protein came largely from cereals and pulses in the
1820s, but by the 1960s half the protein consumed in
France and Britain came from animal foods
(Toutain, 1971; Angel and Hurdle, 1978). Fats also
became more important; in France they were less
than ten per cent of all calories in the early nine-
teenth century, over 40 per cent by the 1960s
(Toutain, 1971). Thus, from 1800 to the 1950s an
increase in income led to an increase in the con-
sumption of all foods except the starchy staples.
Since about 1960, however, income has become a
less important factor in food choice.

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 WORLD FOOD CONSUMPTION 3

500 -
3500 -

3000 - 450 -

2500 - 400 -

ffi 2000- 350 -

_ 300-
zD 1 500 - D

o
a .e
Ct

8 250-
1 000 -
D
Ct
U)
Uvestock , - - - D
ProA _ -
o 290-
500 -
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Polstoes C)

o W W | l| fi 150 -
w W l | 8 l l l s

1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960

100 -
F7g. 1. Changes in allfoods, vegetablefoods, Iwestockfoods and cereals
and roots in France, 178F1961
Source:Toutain, 1971 ss -X

50 -

*--

c. ---t- .:-- Fats

o l l l l l l
. -
l l l l l l l l l l l l
...... ....

1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960

7}zegeography offood consumption in 1961-2

Since 1961-2 the FAO has produced food balance
sheets for all member states (Becker, 1988). These
are not consumption data, but estimates of the avail-
able supplies, calculated from national statistics of
production, quantities taken from store, and imports,
from which are deducted exports, foods put into
store and used for seed, feed and industrial purposes.
A deduction of ten per cent is made for wastage
between farm and retail outlets. The final figures are
food supplies available at the retail level in calories
per capita, and grammes of protein and fat per
capita. Food balance sheets overstate consumption as
recorded in household consumption surveys, whilst
the quality of production data in many parts of the
developing world is low. Nonetheless this informa-
tion is 'a rough but reasonably realistic picture of
national diets' (Ferro-Luzzi, 1991).
The Second World War disrupted both produc-
tion and consumption, and output did not recover
until the early 1950s. By 1961-2 incomes were rising
in Western Europe, but there was still a gap between
Western and the rest of Europe whilst little economic
progress had been made in Afro-Asia and Latin
America. Patterns of food consumption reflected this.
In 1961-2 the world's population relied on plant
foods for its calorie supply; only 15 per cent of calo-
ries were derived from animal foods, only five per
cent from meat (Table II). The supply of protein was
equally dependent upon plants; less than one-third
came from animal foods. The most important source
of calories was the starchy staples that provided over
half the total. There was, however, a marked differ-
Fig. 2. Erends in the consumption of selected ype
1 78F1961
Source: Toutain, 1971
ence between the developed and the developing
countries (Table II). Total calorie intake per capita in
the developed countries was 55 per cent greater than
in the developing, protein consumption 83 per cent
more, but consumption of the starchy staples less
than half of total calorie intake, compared with over
two-thirds in the developing countries. As incomes
increase the proportion of all calories derived from
starchy staples decreases and that from livestock
products increases. This leads to a change in the
source of protein. In the developing countries in
1961-2 less than one-fifth of all protein was obtained
from animal foods, in the developed one-half. The
differences between the richest and poorest regions
were very pronounced. In Africa and Asia less than
one-tenth of all calories were obtained from animal
foods; in contrast in North America and Australasia
they provided over one-third. Eastern Europe, the
USSR and Latin America formed an intermediate
group where animal foods ranged from 15 to 23 per
cent of all calories, and cereals and roots from 47 to
56 per cent.
fhe changing geography offood consumption, 1961-1994
Since 1961-2 there have been increases in income
per capita in the developing countries. The most
rapid have been in parts of East and South East Asia,
the least in Sub-Saharan Africa; indeed in the 1980s

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4 WORLD FOOD CONSUMPIION
TABLE II
Calories, proteins and starchy staples by deueloped and deueloping regions, 1961-2
Calories
Animal calories
Eotalper (as % all
capita/day calories)
Developed regions 2982 26.2
Developing regions 1925 7.2
World 2260 15.4
Source: FAO, 1996
many African countries had a decline in real income
per capita (World Bank, 1990). These increases have
led to changes in food consumption similar to those
in Western Europe in the nineteenth century.
In the developed countries income growth contin-
ued after 1945, but the greatest changes occurred in
Eastern Europe and the USSR, which in the 1930s
were sdll predominantly agrarian, with a low Gross
Domestic Product per capita and with pre-industrial
food consumption patterns. Income growth,
although less than in the market economies, was suf-
ficient to radically transform food consumption.
There was also a notable change in the diet of
Mediterranean Europe where with increased
incomes more livestock products were consumed. By
the 1960s, malnutrition, which had been widespread
in Europe and North America in the 1930s, was con-
fined to a very small minority.
Until the 1960s the consumption of food in North
America, Western Europe and Australasia was
largely determined by incomes and the real cost of
foods. By the 1960s, however, the consumption of
some foods had reached saturation point, and further
increases in income did not lead to further increases
. .
m consumptlon zecause:
1 an increasing proportion of food expenditure went
not on purchasing more basic foods, but on eating
prepared foods in restaurants and ready-to-cook
meals for eating at home;
2 demographic and occupational changes led to
changes in demand. The decline of heavy industry
and the growth of sedentary occupations has
reduced the need for high-energy diets, whilst the
spread of central heating has meant less energy is
needed to keep warm (Sasson, 1990). The ageing
of Western populations has also reduced the
demand for food;
3 there has been growth in the number of single-
person households and an increase in the number
of working wives (Frank, 1987);
4 of the increasing importance of social and cultural
factors as the importance of income (Mennell et al.,
1992) has declined. Cultural determinants of food
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Protein Starchy staples
Animal protein
Eotal gnrammes (as % all Calories per As % all
per capita/day protein) capita/day calories
90.3 51.5 1 305
49.1 17.5 1318 44.1
62.2 31.7 1313 68.5
58.1
choice are perhaps most obvious in cross-section
analysis; the influence of religious taboos on the
consumption of animal foods for example
(Simoons, 1978), or the social factors that affect
differences in the consumption of sugar between
France and the United States (Barthes, 1975) but
such influences have also had some impact on his-
torical trends. The place of rice in Japanese food
choices is one such example (see page 11) whilst
immigrants have influenced consumption in parts
of Western Europe (Otterloo, 1987).
Perhaps the most powerful influence on the con-
sumption of food in the developed countries, since
1960, has been concern about the influence of the
consumption of certain foods on health. Fears have
been expressed about the consequences of the exces-
sive consumption of alcoholic beverages, the influ-
ence of sugar on dental caries and obesity, and the
impact of animal fats on the cardiovascular system.
Diets with a high intake of animal foods also seem to
be associated with various cancers. It has been
argued that a greater intake of cereal foods provides
more fibre, and the consumption of olive oil, fruits
and vegetables may offer protection against some
cancers and also coronary heart disease.
Chang7ng world patterns 1961-1994
There was surprisingly little change in the structure
of world food consumption between 1961-2 and
1993-4 (FAO, 1996b). In 1993-94 84 per cent of all
calories were still derived from plant foods and the
starchy staples remained the principal source of
energy. There was some increase in the relative
importance of vegetable oils and meat; these indeed
were among the major changes in both the devel-
oped and developing regions. The consumption of
nearly all foods increased everywhere, except in the
developed countries where starchy staples, pulses and
animal fats declined. There was only a modest
increase in the consumption of animal foods in the
developed world, but in the developing countries per
capita consumption doubled, although remaining at
only 11 per cent of all calories in 1993-94 (FAO,
 WORLD FOOD CONSUMPIION

1996b). There was a very small increase in total calo-
rie intake in the developed countries, but it rose by
one-third in the developing world.
Ehe changing consumption of starchy staples
In Europe in the nineteenth century an increase in
income at first led to a rise in the consumption of
starchy staples. Further income increases, however,
led to a rise in the consumption of other foods, espe-
cially livestock products; eventually the consumption
of starchy staples declined in absolute amounts as
well as a percentage of total calories. This sequence
of events occurs in the nutritional history of all coun-
tries during the early stages of economic growth
(Grigg, 1996). There is a further change: as people
become better-off they replace root crops with cere-
als, and amongst the cereals wheat replaces rye, oats,
barley and maize, whilst rice replaces maize,
sorghums and millets (Collins, 1993).
The consumption of cereals and roots in the devel-
oped countries has continued to decline (Fig. 3), most
rapidly in Eastern Europe and the USSR where, in the
early 1 960s, the starchy staples sXll formed over half of
the total calorie intake. In a few developed countries,
however, the decline has halted: long-term decline in
the United States was reversed in the 1970s when the
consumption of bread and breakfast cereals increased,
possibly because of concern about the medical conse-
quences of a low fibre intake (Frank, 1987: 22-3).
In the developing world, in contrast, the growth of
incomes has led to an increase in the consumption
per capita of cereals and roots of over one-fifth, the
increase being greatest in Asia (Fig. 3); increase in
Africa has been more modest, particularly since the
mid- 1 970s. In Latin America there was a steady
increase in cereal consumption per capita between
1961-2 and the early 1 980s, but it has since
declined. Thus in the developing countries, with
their slow growth of real incomes, the consumption
of cereals initially increased, as in Western Europe in
the early nineteenth century. In only a handful of
developing countries has a level of per capita income
been reached that has triggered a decline in the con-
sumption of starchy staples; these include Taiwan,
Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia and some
countries in Latin America (FAO, 1 996b). More
common in the developing countries has been the
declining consumption of the coarser grains, and the
increase of wheat and rice. Thus in China in the
1980s, when incomes were rising, there was little

1 800 -

1 700 -

1 600 -

1500 -

1 400 -

q) 1 300 -
Q
Cu
._

Latin America
Cu 1 200 -

q) ____
Q 1100 - _ _

q)
.=
-- Western Europe
o 1 000 - ______ _ __ s__

Cu

900 -
tstralasia ,,-"
800 -

"_--- "_v__ =
700 -

North America
600 -

500 a | | | E | |

1 975 1 980 1990 1 995

1 960 1 965 1970 1 985

Fig. 3. Changes in the consumption of cereals and roots, by major regions, 1961-2 to 1993-4
Source: FAO, 1 996b

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6
600-' Austral>_asia '\-_> = = /WORLD FOOD CONSUMPIION

increase in the total consumption of cereals, but
wheat and rice rose from 50 per cent of all cereal
consumption in 1978 to 82 per cent in 1986 (Kueh,
1988). In the richer Near East the consumption of
wheat and rice has increased, that of maize and bar-
ley declined, whilst in India wheat and rice consump-
tion has increased relative to that of sorghum and
millet (FAO, 1996b).
Sweeteners
Sweetness is almost universally enjoyed; until
recently most sweetness has been obtained from
either sugar cane or sugar beet. However, one-tenth
of the world's sweeteners are now obtained from
alternatives to sugar, principally High Fructose Corn
Syrup (FAO, 1996b). Until the middle of the nine-
teenth century sugar was very expensive; consump-
tion was everywhere low. The later rise of incomes
and the fall in the real cost of sugar led to a great
increase in consumption in the industrial countries. It
was consumed in tea or coffee and in pastries, and
later in a variety of manufactured foods, including
ice cream and soft drinks. By the 1930s sugar was
one of the cheapest sources of calories, although it
contained no protein or any other nutrients. I
1961-62 consumption was very high in North
America, Australasia and some countries in Western
Europe; and very low in Asia, particularly East Asia,
and Sub-Saharan Africa (FAO, 1996b). These differ-
ences were the result mainly of income, although
consumption was also high in the relatively poor
countries of Latin America. This was because sugar
was a cheap source of calories, and that sugar cane
had been of great importance in their society and
economy for over three centuries.
Between 1961-62 and 1993-94 the greatest
increases in sweetener consumption occurred in the
places where it was lowest at the earlier date, and the
smallest where it was highest in 1961-2 (Fig. 4). Thus
consumption per capita rose by over 40 per cent in
Asia and Africa, but by only seven per cent in
Western Europe -- where in many countries it
declined - and fell by one-tenth in Australasia. Sugar
consumption also fell in North America, but there
was an increase in the use of High Fructose Corn
Syrup that more than compensated for this decline.
The decline - or stability - in consumption of sweet-
eners in the developed countries between 1961-2
and 1993-4, was primarily the result of the publicity
about the effiect of sugar on health, particularly den-

650

500 _ __

450

400

u
350

u
.
300
u

250

)q
.-

200
o Asia
u' ____ ______ ___

___,
150 _____ ___ Africa
_ _ _ _ _ _ _

1960 1 965 1 975 1 990 1 995

1 980 1985

1 970

Fig. 4. Change.r in the consumption of sweeteners, by major

Source:FAO, 1996b

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 --oat
Western-Europe-C- - - - - - -_-- - -m
- --
=- - - ->- - u
WORLD FOOD CONSUMPIION 7

tal caries, diabetes and obesity. Thus the long period between 1961-2 and 1993-4. These divergent trends
of rapid growth in sugar consumption in the devel- reflect the changes in the three major components of
oped countries came to an end in the 1960s. animal foods, meat, animal fats and dairy products.

Livestockfoods Animalfats and vegetable oils

The principal change in diet in the nineteenth and The consumption of animal fats declined after
early twentieth centuries was an increase in the con- 1961-2 in every part of the developed world, except
sumption of animal foods. In the early 1960s inter- in the USSR; this was the result of two factors:
national differences in consumption were still largely
1 Cost, which had been falling since the adoption of
determined by income per capita, with animal foods
hydrogenation in the 1880s, for oils extracted from
accounting for over one-quarter of all calories in the
a variety of plants could be converted into solids.
developed countries and less than one-tenth in the
As these vegetable oils and fats were generally
developing (Table II). Since then there have been
cheaper than animal fats, they were increasingly
regional differences in trends. In North America and
substituted for them, notably margarine for butter.
Australasia, where consumption was over 1000 calo-
2 Health: since the 1960s knowledge of the adverse
ries per capita per day in 1961--2, there has been lit-
effects of animal fats upon the cardiovascular sys-
tle change; indeed consumption has fallen slightly in
tem has led to a reduction in their consumption
Australasia. In contrast there has been a vigorous
(Fig. 6). In contrast the consumption of animal fats
increase in Europe and the USSR (Fig. 5). Of the
has risen in all three developing regions, nearly
developing regions Latin America has experienced
doubling in Latin America (Fig. 6), but still
an increase in consumption comparable with that in
remaining in 1993-4 a small of percentage oftotal
Europe, but there has been little increase in Africa;
calorie intake.
and consumption per capita per day - 164 calories -
was very low in 1993-4. It was equally low in The total amount of fats and oils consumed in the
Asia, even though consumption had nearly tripled world has increased in every region, in spite of the

1 300 -

1200 -

1100 - North America ,-- -- -

1000 -

9oo -
o
Eastern Europe, '-- " _' s \
a) 800 -
Q
Cu
._

Q 700 -
Cu

a)
Q 600 -
cn
a)
.=

o 500 -
Cu
Latin America
400 -

300 -

200 -
------ --- = Afnca

100 -

u * * * . . . .

1 970 1 975 1
1 990 1 995
1 980
1 1 965
960
Fig. 5. Changes in the consumption of animalfoods,
Source: FAO, 1996b

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8
_
WORLD FOOD CONSUMPTION

325 -

300 -

275 -

250 -

225 -
o

200 -
a)
cL
co
. -
175 -
cL
o

a)
150 -
Q
cn

.=
a)
125 -
o
uC

100 -

75 - Latin America

50 -

Asia
25 -

n ______- - Africa
v l l l l | | l |
- u

1 970 1 975 1 980 1 995

1 960 1 985 1 990
1 965

Fig. 6. Changes in the co

Source: FAO, 1 99

fall in animal Europe from wholemilkfats, bec

to skimmed milk (Roberts,
consumption of vegetable oils (Fig. 7). Indeed by 1988). In most developed countries the proportion of
1993-4 vegetable oils accounted for at least two- young people - who have a high average of consump-
thirds of all oils and fats in every region, except in tion of milk - has declined and that of the elderly,
Eastern Europe and the USSR, and even there veg- who drink less, has increased; furthermore there has
etable oils were over half the total consumption been growing competition for milk from soft drinks
(FAO, 1996b). (Roberts, 1988). However, the statistics for economic
regions conceal important internal trends. In Western
Milk and milk products Europe as a whole there has been a reduction or very
Industrialization led to a remarkable increase in the small increase in the consumption of dairy products
consumption of milk and milk products such as since 1961-2, but in the Mediterranean countries
cheese, butter, condensed and evaporated milk, there has been a marked increase, not only of milk
yoghurts and ice cream (Fig. 8). By the early 1960s products but also of meat and animal fats (Helsing,
dairy products (excluding butter) were ten per cent of 1993). In contrast, consumption per capita in the
all calories in the developed countries, but only three developing regions, which was less than one-fifth of
per cent in the developing (FAO, 1996b). However, that in the developed world in 1961-2, has increased
consumption has declined in North America since the by 40 per cent, although consumption remains very
1 960s and in Eastern Europe and the USSR since the low, particularly in Africa and Asia, partly due to the
1970s, whilst it has stabilized in Western Europe since continuing low incomes, but also to the prevalence of
the early 1980s (Fig. 8). Only in Australasia has it lactose malabsorption.
unequivocally increased. This change in consumption
has many causes. Wholemilk has a high fat content Meat
and this partly explains the reduction of consumption, The consumption of meat increased in every region
and also the switch in North America and Western between 1961-2 and 1993-4 except in Australasia,

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 *Q
2L h300
0150-100_\/250 ,.,America
. X/t -_._-_Westem
/_zAsia
.._---_.' -/\.Austra
,'_ o o\Aus_
/tra>lEurope
s-,_estemEurope
Eastem Latin
Europe asias> "oo
WORLD FOOD CONSUMPIION 9

550- NorF America

500-

350 - - _ _

S / ---'

50 -

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995

Fig. 7. Changes in the consumption of vegetable oils

Source: FAO, l996b

500-

Q 300- _ _ _
t -z-_______o _ e

.a) 200-
o

> Latin America

= o
_
100-

Africa

- _ --- Asia

O l l l l l l l
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995

Fig. 8. Changes in the consumption of milk and milk pr

Source: FAO, 1996b

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 ___- Western Europe Eastem>\
WORLD FOOD CONSUMPTION

01
600 -

550 -

500 -

450 -

400 -
, , _ _ - - - >USSR

350 -

Q 300 -

Q
250 -

t_ o

Q 200 - 7 Latin
_ America
+ _.
U)
. -

o150 -
bC
Asia __ '
__-

__-
100 -
_____-

____- Africa
50 -

vn . . . . . . .
1 960 965 1 970 1 990
1 980 1 985
1995
Fig. 9. Changes in the consumption of meat, by major regions, 1961-2 to 1993-4
Source: FAO, 1 996b

particularly since the mid 1970s. In I>tin America,

which had by far the highest consumption in 1961-2 the richest of the developing regio
and continued to be the leading consumer in have been signs that the period o
1993-4, albeit only a little above Western Europe may be ending. Sugar consump
(Fig. 9). In Africa, increase has been negligible whilst increase since the early 1980s, w
the highest rates of increase have been in Asia, where tion of starchy staples has dec
consumption has more than tripled since the 1970s, period. It might appear then t
and in Europe and the USSR. In the developed regions are following the nu
countries there has been a greater increase in poultry Western Europe. However it wa
and pork than in beef or mutton consumption, partly ago (Kaneda, 1968) that theJap
owing to the lower cost of the former, and because of change their eating habits as in
the high fat content of the latter (Harrington, 1988). Japan and Korea, although h
nations, still had a diet very diff
Conclasions: economic development and nut7ztional change Western nations, with far less
Industrialization in the nineteenth century led to foods and the continuing impor
increases in real incomes and the falling real price of diet (FAO, 1996b). This may be
food, which in turn led to the elimination of famine the social) as well as nutritional,
and the reduction of malnutrition. Income increases in East Asian diets, and possibly
led to the greater consumption of all foods except avoid the consumption of foods
cereals, roots and pulses, the former staples, which mortality rates in the West.
declined as livestock foods, fish, fruit and vegetables In the developed eountries a lon
increased. tent dietary change came to an
Since 1961-2, except in Africa, there have been 1960s. Until then income increa
significant increases in real incomes in the develop-
an increase in the consumption o
ing countries; in all three reglons the consumptionof
of food except the starchy stap
all the major food types, including the starchy sta-
1961-2 there has been a far from
ples, has increased, as it did in nineteenth-century
increased incomes. It is true tha
Europe. Increases have been greatest in Asia, and

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 WORLD FOOD CONSUMPTION

ll

in all five major developed regions has increased, as
have vegetable oils and fats, whilst meat consumption
has risen everywhere except in Australasia. But cereal
consumption has risen rather than declined in North
America and a number of West European countries,
whilst sweetener consumption has declined in
Western Europe and Australasia. Animal fats have
declined in Western Europe, North America and
Australasia; dairy foods have declined in North
America, Eastern Europe, the USSR and shown little
change in Western Europe since the learly 1980s,
whilst the consumption of alcoholic beverages has
fallen in all the regions since the 1970s (FAO, 1996b).
There are many explanations for these divergent
trends; thus for example the fall in the number of
young people partially accounts for the fall in milk
consumption, whilst lower cost explains the greater
increase in the consumption of pork and poultry in
comparison with beef and sheep's meat. But it would
seem that fears about the adverse consequences for
health of excessive intakes of sugar, animal fats and
miLk products have been responsible for their declin-
ing consumption, whilst the surprising resurgence of
cereal consumption may be the result of worries
about a lack of fibre in the diet. Whatever the rea-
sons, in the last 40 years trends in food consumption
in Western Europe, North America and Australasia
have shown a fundamental break with the past. In
contrast the developing countries are repeating the
early stages of dietary change that occurred in
Western Europe and North America in the nine-
teenth century, but as the case ofJapan illustrates,
there is no guarantee that they will follow the
Western model in every respect.

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