Ch.1. Introduction

Second Fattest

Raj — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:12:43 -0600

An argument that I find myself making over and over is that although diet is a very personal thing, it can be understood sociologically. And not only can it be understood this way, you have to understand it this way if you're to make sense of facts like one which I start the book with: that the closer Mexican teenagers are to the US border, the more likely they are to be overweight.

The dynamics of consumption that have been imposed on Mexico by its more powerful northern neighbour are having some profound effects. Mohammed writes with this article, which announces that Mexico is the second-most overweight country in the world, after the US, and if trends continue, will soon outweigh the gringos. More than 71 percent of Mexican women and 66 percent of Mexican men are overweight, according to the latest national surveys. ... read more »

Fifteen Canadian Minutes

Raj — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:59:44 -0600

I promise to get back to posting food-related pieces (like this one on agflation) soon.

But I just wanted to thank the many many good folk in Canada who've written in, come to talks, bought books, and made my life delightful during the launch of the Canadian edition. For those outside Canada, here's what I've been doing: I was interviewed on The Hour, a show someone described as "The Daily Show, if it was produced by a news organisation with integrity". Not a bad description. The host, George Stroumboulopoulos, is whip smart, very very funny, and hot. You can watch the clip (and comment on it...) here. ... read more »

Starved in America

Raj — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:16:28 -0700

This just in from Alternet. It's bleak reading for the festive season.

One in Ten Americans Went Hungry Last Year ... read more »

Diabetes Skyrocketing in India

Raj — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:38:20 -0600

This came in via a number of readers today. It's a posting from the Food News wire concerning the soaring diabetes rates in India. What's perhaps more depressing than the diabetes data (and its mischaracterisation as a 'lifestyle disease') is the fact that the article's authors can only see a solution to diet-induced disease through private healthcare. Government intervention in the marketing of food to children, for instance, isn't on the cards. With a vision as tunnelled as this, the authors would undoubtedly find a comfortable and lucrative (if brief) tenure in the current US administration. ... read more »

The ABC of Fat and Thin Down Under

Raj — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 01:19:13 -0600

I'm here at the Brisbane Writer's Festival, buoyed by a good review in the Guardian, and by some great audience response here at the Festival. Seems only fair to give something back. ... read more »

Loaded and Skint

Raj — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:33:36 -0700

The United Nations released two reports last week. One garnered a great deal of press coverage - The World Distribution of Household Wealth by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University.

They found that ... read more »

The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth