When food is the center of it all: Sitopia, the new book by Carolyn Steel

How can food help transform our lives and the world, and what are the consequences of leaving our culinary heritage behind? British architect, teacher and writer Carolyn Steel has already captivated us with Hungry Cities, a groundbreaking study of how cities eat. In her latest release published by Captain Swing, Sitopia, Steel creates a practical philosophy based on food and reminds us of the urgency of changing the way we eat to transform, in turn, our relationship with our environment.

Food: a powerful transforming tool

The expert argues that food is the most powerful means we have to think about today’s global dilemmas and understands food as a powerful tool to transform our lives and the world. In short, she argues that the way we produce, process and consume food has shaped human history.

Food transforms our bodies and homes, our politics and commerce, our landscapes and our climate. But by forgetting our culinary heritage and relying on cheap, intensively produced food, we have drifted into a way of life that threatens our planet and ourselves. What if there was a more sustainable way to eat and live?

7 scales where food is at the center

Food animates our bodies, homes, societies, the city and the countryside, nature and time: seven scales that in turn form the different chapters of the book. In Sitopia, the British author explores the effects of food at different scales that interact in multiple interconnected ways. From the cultural norms into which we are born to the personal tastes and preferences that affect our individual health and pleasure, but also the vitality of local economies, global geopolitics and ecology.

Sitopia invites us to reflect and inspires us to be agents of change – don’t miss it!