Food for thought: new book tackles the ultimate 'Global Issue'
CDH Dean Béla Kapossy, Bertrand Fincoeur, Serge Rezzi, Maximilien Stauber, and EPFL Press director Lucas Giossi at the book's launch on March 21 © Christine Farget
Three lecturers in the College of Humanities Global Issues course discuss their book on the social, economic, and biological systems that shape the food we eat, as well as its impact on our bodies and our world.
L'alimentation en question : Agriculture, nutrition, société is the work of Maximilien Stauber, Serge Rezzi, and Bertrand Fincoeur: instructors in the ‘food’ track of the Global Issues course in the College of Humanities Social and Human Sciences program. Published by EPFL Press in February, the book joins La mobilité en questions, which was published in 2017 by instructors from the Global Issues ‘mobility’ track.
The new volume provides a broad overview of key social and scientific issues connected to food today – from eating meat (or not), to sustainability and food insecurity. The diversity of the co-authors’ backgrounds helped them tackle this range of topics: Fincoeur is a lecturer and researcher on the sociology of sport and health at the Institute of Sports Sciences of the University of Lausanne, Rezzi is biologist with a PhD in chemistry and CEO of the Swiss Nutrition and Health Foundation, and Stauber followed his doctoral thesis on agricultural policy with a municipal government position managing Swiss farmland.
“This book is intended for our students, as well as for a broader audience,” Fincoeur says. “As colleagues from different academic backgrounds, this was a good opportunity to strengthen links between us to create a common output.”
A global approach to sustainability, food security, and nutrition
A common thread throughout the book is the emphasis on the complexity of food-related global issues, and a nuanced examination of potential solutions. For example, eliminating or reducing meat in one’s diet is often promoted as a way to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and respect animal rights. And while Fincoeur says that it’s hard to find strong counterarguments to maintaining current levels of meat consumption worldwide – both for environmental and moral reasons – he argues that it’s essential to also consider meat-eating from a non-western perspective.
“I have tried to encourage a reflection on the impact that the vegan movement would have on people in regions of Africa, Asia, and South America who rely on livestock for their income and basic nutrition. For a western consumer it’s not too hard to find alternatives to meat, but it’s harder for those in developing countries,” he explains.
For Rezzi, nutrition and health challenges have to be addressed systemically – whether at the global level or on the scale of the human biological organization. He argues that nutrition has a key role to play in preventing or delaying the development of risk factors of chronic diseases related to population aging worldwide. He notes in particular the importance of developing individually targeted nutrition strategies, also known as precision nutrition.
“Meeting the full potential of nutrition for disease prevention is necessary to reduce the pressure on healthcare systems. Science shows how diverse the dietary responses of individuals can be, so it’s important to be more precise in meeting our nutritional needs to maintain healthy bodily functions,” he says.
For Stauber, a global approach is also key to what he considers to be one of the greatest challenges to food security in the future: conflict and political unrest.
“We may think immediately of the war in Ukraine, but there are also many other fronts, from proxy and civil wars to the conventional wars that I expect we will see more of,” he says, explaining that such conflicts can lead to inflation, export bans, and other factors that limit access to food. What is clear, he says, is that food production is not the problem.
“We have more than enough agricultural technology; the factors that limit food access are mainly political and economic. If technology is going to help solve these problems, it would have to address that.”