Stuffed and starved : markets, power and the hidden battle for the world food system

Today, in the West, we appear to have the world on our plates, regardless of source or season. But this apparent luxury of choice is only possible because rural communities the world over have had their choices taken away. To understand how our supermarket shopping makes us complicit in denying freedom to the world's poorest, and how we ourselves are poisoned by our choices, we need to think about the way our food comes to us. Having worked with international policy makers, visited local farming collectives in Brazil and Mexico, investigated the all-powerful distribution networks, and gone behind the scenes in the kitchens of Europe's McDonald's restaurants, Raj Patel is able to take a long and wide view of food production and tell the story of commercial greed and helpless hunger that lies behind every meal we eat.