An Edible History of Humanity

“By providing a more dependable and plentiful food supply, farming provided the basis for new lifestyles and far more complex societies.”

The agrarian myth implies that farming is a way of living that is more closely in tune with the natural world. However, Standage portrays agriculture as a neutral innovation, one with ample negative outcomes, citing the complexity that agriculture brought to societal structures and cultures. The more complex structures became, the greater the impact on people and the climate.

“Farmers had to work much longer and harder to produce a less varied and less nutritious diet, and they were far more prone to disease.”

Standage suggests that the idea that farming allowed people more time for creative pursuits and innovation is a myth. Compared to hunter-gatherer societies, farming communities spent far more time and energy on cultivating food than hunter-gatherers did acquiring food in the wild. Furthermore, Standage shares that fossil records indicate that people from agrarian communities were more susceptible to disease and malnutrition.

“The simple truth is that farming is profoundly unnatural. It has done more to change the world, and has had a greater impact on the environment, than any other human activity.”

This quote serves the theme of Agriculture as a Destructive Force. Standage vehemently denounces farming as the savior of humankind and, instead, outlines a timeline of its damaging outcomes. It is important to note that Standage is writing this book in 2009, as cultural awareness about climate change is increasing rapidly. Standage grapples with the devastation of the planet and sees its origins in the developing world.

“With agriculture, people settled down; with intensification, they divided into rich and poor, rulers and farmers.”

The text draws a line of cause and effect between Agriculture and Power. Standage suggests that most hunter-gatherer societies actively resist hierarchical structures and are suspicious of gifts or people who try to elevate themselves above others. The surplus of food brought about by agriculture, Standage argues, is what introduced the need for hierarchical structures: someone had to manage that surplus. Other jobs became more specialized as well, with certain individuals establishing themselves as powerful members of their communities.

“The pyramids of Egypt, the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, and the stepped temples of central and southern Mexico were made possible by agricultural food surpluses and the associated increase in social complexity.”

Standage takes an interesting stance about the development of social complexity. Rather than praising the innovation and industriousness of civilizations, he approaches these changes with a critical eye. Taking their complexity into account, he argues, makes clear that these changes have, in fact, been contributors to destruction. In this passage, Standage acknowledges that these edifices are marvelous examples of human ingenuity. In the same breath, however, he identifies them as symbols of the inequality brought on by such changes.

“Only the ruling Inca had the power to defeat the earth and capture its reproductive energies to ensure the success of the agricultural cycle, so he had to break the ground first. This emphasized his power over his people: Without him, they would starve.”

This example of early agriculture among the Incas illustrates two important points. First, it reveals the connection between agriculture and violence. The Incas saw agriculture as a form of battle—people conquering over the unruliness of the earth. This perspective shows that the history of agriculture is one rooted in domination and power. Second, it shows how even early agriculture contributed to a hierarchical structure. The king was established above the others, and they believed they were dependent upon his influence over the growing season.

“As systems of social organization became more elaborate, so too did the religious practices that provided cosmological justification for the elite’s right to levy all these taxes.”

Social complexity leads to more complex religions. Standage explores the relationship between religion and power, suggesting that religion was used as a justification for destruction and domination. By suggesting that their actions were supported by the divine, societies could pursue unfettered power across the globe.

“The presentation of sacrifices gave the elite a crucial intermediary role between the gods and the farming masses.”

In this passage, Standage shows again how agriculture became inextricable from power. Like the Incas who believed the king was the key to the growing season, the wealthy elite positioned themselves between agrarian success and the divine. Sacrifices were made to the gods that were overseen by the ruling class.

“Wealth tends to distance people from working on the land; indeed, not having to be a farmer is another way to define wealth.”

Standage argues that the connections between agriculture and power have persisted into the modern world. The wealthy elite still use industrialized agriculture and labor to support a web of profitable endeavors. Farming is considered an impoverished profession, revealing the prejudice that has lasted since its emergence in ancient communities.

“The pursuit of spices is the third way in which food remade the world, both by helping to illuminate its full extent and geography, and by motivating European explorers to seek direct access to the Indies, in the course of which they established rival trading empires.”

Chapter 6 explores the role of spices in The Coevolution of Humans and Plants. As humans became more interested in new plants and foods, the global market changed. Spices and other plants found their way across the globe, increasing in number. In return, human life on Earth changed drastically. People became more connected and keener to establish power over one another. Complex trade routes and wars stemmed from the need to grow a global agrarian empire.

“Goods are not the only things that flow along trade routes. New inventions, languages, artistic styles, social customs, and religious beliefs, as well as physical goods, are also carried around the world by traders.”

This quotation offers another example of how plants, cultivated by humans, contributed to widespread change in human society. As people traded goods across the world, they also traded aspects of their culture. This increasing interaction led to what some scholars refer to as the Anthropocene.

“Spices led to the wiring up of the first global trade networks.”

Spices were viewed as extremely valuable and exotic. European traders were often completely unaware of the origins of spices, such as cinnamon and nutmeg, and naively believed fantastical stories from traders about the origins of these goods. The spice trade played an important role in developing social complexity by connecting all parts of the world and establishing a more comprehensive understanding of the Earth’s geography.

“The post-Columbian stirring of the global food pot amounted to the most significant reordering of the natural environment by mankind since the adoption of agriculture.”

As humans and plants shaped each other’s evolution, the spread of plants and food around the globe drastically altered human life. It also changed the climate and the natural landscape, creating a rise in invasive plants and carbon emissions. Standage views the introduction of farming as the beginning of this massive shift. He also describes the Columbian Exchange as the escalation of agriculture’s cultural and societal influences.

“If maize, the crop that Columbus took eastward, was a blessing, then sugarcane, the crop he took westward, was a curse.”

Standage cites sugarcane as one part of Agriculture as a Destructive Force. While crops like maize and potatoes sustained an increasing population, sugarcane created new types of violence through slavery. However, Standage also introduces the reader to the Malthusian trap, which suggests that increases in food production led to increases in population, creating a fragile structure that could topple at any moment.

“The English could only keep eating bread, in short, because the Irish were eating potatoes.”

Britian’s development as an industrialized country exemplifies social complexity. The British constructed an intricate system of trade that forced multiple communities to become reliant on one another. The potato famine brought to light how fragile this system was, but it did not deter Britain or other countries from continuing to pursue industrialization.

“Deliberate farming of domesticated crops made a greater proportion of the solar radiation that reaches Earth available to mankind, and the Industrial Revolution went a step farther, exploiting solar radiation from the past too.”

One of Standage’s main critiques within the discussion of Agriculture as a Destructive Force is the overwhelming impact that farming has had on the environment. Farming itself is not a carbon neutral endeavor, and Standage explains that the Industrial Revolution fast-tracked the greenhouse effect.

“Another weapon has killed far more people and determined the outcomes of numerous conflicts.”

In Chapter 9, Standage outlines the role of food in major historical battles throughout history. He asserts that food played a deciding part in war, such as during the French Revolution, Civil War, and World War II. This claim offers a new element to the theme Agriculture and Power. Armies that could find efficient and cost-effective ways to feed their soldiers were more likely to be victorious.

“Some seven to eight million people had died of starvation, the victims of Stalin’s desire to maintain grain exports at all costs, both to convince the world of the superiority of communism and to fund Soviet industrialization.”

In this passage, Standage reveals another outcome of Agriculture and Power. Leaders like Stalin and Mao saw agriculture as a means to increase their status and power. The starvation of their people was merely a hurdle toward achieving total control and industrial wealth. When traced back to early chapters in the text, the relationship between agriculture and power has not changed but is enacted on a much larger scale.

“The real significance lies not so much in their direct impact, but in the way in which they can provide a leading indicator to governments about policy, and encourage companies to change their behavior.”

Food continues to exhibit a connection to power and control. In democratic societies, consumers can regain power by using their buying power to influence what type of foods are produced and how they are produced. However, Standage emphasizes that it is not enough to use consumerism to cast a vote about policy. Voting in elections continues to be an important way to influence the role agriculture plays in human life.

“This showed for the first time that the production of ammonia could be performed on a large scale, opening up a valuable and much-needed new source of fertilizer and making possible a vast expansion of the food supply—and, as a consequence, of the human population.”

The discovery of ammonia made it possible for farmers to fertilize fields without rotating crops, leading to the green revolution. Standage explains how this development affected the population in a variety of ways. While fertilizer made it possible to feed humanity’s growing population, it also left some countries impoverished and others wealthy. Fertilizer also created new problems about sustainability and resources.

“The war highlighted the way in which chemicals could be used both to sustain life or to destroy it.”

Although the discovery of ammonia solved the problem of fertilizer, it posed a threat to humanity in the form of explosives. The double use of the product contributes to the theme Agriculture as a Destructive Force. Standage argues that positive agricultural outcomes always come with new challenges and potential misuses.

“New technologies often have unforeseen consequences, and the technologies of the green revolution are no exception.”

When societies first began to shift from hunting and gathering to farming, they could not conceive of how the world would change. Standage argues that The Coevolution of Humans and Plants will continue to reshape the world in startling ways. While the green revolution alleviated many issues, it created new ones. As agriculture faces these challenges, humans will change alongside the plants they transform.

“History clearly shows that in cases where greater availability of food enables a country to industrialize, there is a population boom, followed by a fall in the population-growth rate as people become wealthier.”

One of the challenges the future of agriculture faces is a decrease in human population. Agriculture made it possible for the human population to swell to a startling number, but wealth causes people to have fewer children. Standage explains that it falls on the shoulders of agriculture to, once again, face the challenges it creates.