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Diet for a Small Planet Revised Edition
Mass Market Paperback
Published January 1, 1976
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About the author
Frances Moore Lappé
66 books127 followersFrances Moore Lappe--author of fifteen books, including three-million-copy bestseller Diet for a Small Planet --distills her world-spanning experience and wisdom in a conversational yet hard-hitting style to create a rare "aha" book. In nine short chapters, Lappe leaves readers feeling liberated and courageous. She flouts conventional right-versus-left divisions and affirms readers' basic sanity - their intuitive knowledge that it is possible to stop grasping at straws and grasp the real roots of today's crises, from hunger and poverty to climate change and terrorism. Because we are creatures of the mind, says Lappe, it is the power of "frame"--our core assumptions about how the world works--that determines outcomes. She pinpoints the dominant failing frame now driving out planet toward disaster. By interweaving fresh insights, startling facts, and stirring vignettes of ordinary people pursuing creative solutions to our most pressing global problems, Lappe uncovers a new, empowering "frame" through which real solutions are emerging worldwide."
Frances Moore Lappé is married to Dr. Marc Lappé a former experimental pathologist interested in the problem of environmental contamination.
Frances Moore Lappé is married to Dr. Marc Lappé a former experimental pathologist interested in the problem of environmental contamination.
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August 4, 2024
ONE OF THE FOUNDING BOOKS OF THE "NUTRITION REVOLUTION
Frances Moore Lappé (born 1944) is the founder of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First) and the Small Planet Institute, as well as the author of books such as 'Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet,'' Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life,' etc. This book was first published in 1971. (NOTE: Page numbers below are for the 498-page 1982 10th Anniversary Edition.)
She explains in the first chapter, "In 1969 I discovered that half of our harvested acreage went to feed livestock. At the same time, I learned that ... it takes 16 pounds of grain and soybeans to produce just 1 pound of beef in the United States today. The final blow was discovering that much of what I had grown up believing about a healthy diet was false... Americans eat twice the protein our bodies can even use..." (Pg. 9) She added, "While most Americans believe our grain exports 'feed a hungry world,' TWO-THIRDS of our agricultural exports actually go to livestock---and the hungry abroad cannot afford meat." (Pg. 11)
She states, "for me the message of [the book] is abundance, not scarcity. The issue is how we use that abundance. Do we expand the kind of production which degrades the soil and water resources on which all our future food security rests?... The answers lie in the political and economic order we create. The 'small planet' image should simply remind us that what we eat helps determine whether our planet IS too small or whether its abundance can be sustained and enjoyed by everyone. My book might better be called 'Diet for an Abundant Planet'..." (Pg. 12)
She elaborates, "questions about the roots of needless hunger had to focus not on the simple physical limits of the earth, but on the economic and political forces that determine what is planted and who eats... the experts' single-minded focus on greater production as the solution to world hunger was wrongheaded. You could have more food and still more hunger." (Pg. 21)
Later, she adds, "The first edition of this book explained how our production system takes abundant grain, which hungry people can't afford, and shrinks it into meat, which better-off people will pay for. But I didn't fully appreciate that our production system not only reduces abundance but actually mines the very resources on which our future food security rests." (Pg. 65) She suggests, "The solution can be found only by addressing the issue of power... Democracy must be the process of moving toward genuine democracy, understood as the ever more just sharing of political and economic power." (Pg. 112)
Perhaps surprisingly, however, she states, "I am not a vegetarian. Over the last ten years I've hardly ever served or eaten meat, but I try hard to distinguish what I advocate from what people think of as 'vegetarianism.' ... what I advocate is the return to the traditional diet on which our bodies evolved... centered on plant foods, with animal foods playing a supplementary role." (Pg. 13)
This book is essential reading for progressives, ecologically-minded people, vegetarians/vegans, and lots of other people.
Frances Moore Lappé (born 1944) is the founder of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First) and the Small Planet Institute, as well as the author of books such as 'Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet,'' Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life,' etc. This book was first published in 1971. (NOTE: Page numbers below are for the 498-page 1982 10th Anniversary Edition.)
She explains in the first chapter, "In 1969 I discovered that half of our harvested acreage went to feed livestock. At the same time, I learned that ... it takes 16 pounds of grain and soybeans to produce just 1 pound of beef in the United States today. The final blow was discovering that much of what I had grown up believing about a healthy diet was false... Americans eat twice the protein our bodies can even use..." (Pg. 9) She added, "While most Americans believe our grain exports 'feed a hungry world,' TWO-THIRDS of our agricultural exports actually go to livestock---and the hungry abroad cannot afford meat." (Pg. 11)
She states, "for me the message of [the book] is abundance, not scarcity. The issue is how we use that abundance. Do we expand the kind of production which degrades the soil and water resources on which all our future food security rests?... The answers lie in the political and economic order we create. The 'small planet' image should simply remind us that what we eat helps determine whether our planet IS too small or whether its abundance can be sustained and enjoyed by everyone. My book might better be called 'Diet for an Abundant Planet'..." (Pg. 12)
She elaborates, "questions about the roots of needless hunger had to focus not on the simple physical limits of the earth, but on the economic and political forces that determine what is planted and who eats... the experts' single-minded focus on greater production as the solution to world hunger was wrongheaded. You could have more food and still more hunger." (Pg. 21)
Later, she adds, "The first edition of this book explained how our production system takes abundant grain, which hungry people can't afford, and shrinks it into meat, which better-off people will pay for. But I didn't fully appreciate that our production system not only reduces abundance but actually mines the very resources on which our future food security rests." (Pg. 65) She suggests, "The solution can be found only by addressing the issue of power... Democracy must be the process of moving toward genuine democracy, understood as the ever more just sharing of political and economic power." (Pg. 112)
Perhaps surprisingly, however, she states, "I am not a vegetarian. Over the last ten years I've hardly ever served or eaten meat, but I try hard to distinguish what I advocate from what people think of as 'vegetarianism.' ... what I advocate is the return to the traditional diet on which our bodies evolved... centered on plant foods, with animal foods playing a supplementary role." (Pg. 13)
This book is essential reading for progressives, ecologically-minded people, vegetarians/vegans, and lots of other people.
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