Eating

Cross-cutting health, economic, environmental, development and social arenas, the fundamental nature of food consumption has ensured global attention to the mechanisms of food provisioning throughout history. This attention, primarily focused on the increased intensification of agricultural production through industrialisation and technological innovation, has without doubt led to significant increases in the amount of food produced globally. Meanwhile, globalisation has facilitated a widening of food choices for many consumers (Hepting et al., 2007), with considerable developments in transport, processing and storage technologies meaning that food can be moved more widely and kept fresh and safe for longer periods. Indeed, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) reports that the world produces enough food to feed everyone, with world agriculture producing 17 per cent more calories per person than it did 30 years ago, despite the population increasing by 70 per cent (FAO, 2010). Such increases in food production and availability are necessary to meet the needs of growing populations. However, it is still the case that almost 900 million people around the world are undernourished, with a further 2 billion suffering from one or more micronutrient deficiency (FAO, 2013). It is clear that focusing on food production in isolation from wider issues of food distribution and accessibility, while ignoring patterns and drivers relating to the actual consumption of food, will not solve matters of hunger (Davies, 2013).