THE FOOD REVOLUTION : HOW YOUR DIET CAN HELP SAVE YOUR LIFE AND OUR WORLD

*Raphaella Prugsamatz is a graduate of Assumption University (B.A and MMOD). She is currently working for the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA). Previously she worked as a researcher for the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI). Why is it that when the power of the dominant few corrupts, the rest of the world is left dealing with the aftermath and cleaning up the mess that neglects basic ethical and moral principles? In reading John Robbins’ The Food Revolution, one immediately gets the sense that the book touches on subject matters much deeper than just “how your diet can help save your life and our world”. It speaks of the deterioration of honorable business practices sweeping across continents that all end up on our plates, literally. One might wonder why the subject of food should be worth 480 pages when it’s not a recipe book. Yet, it is this very basic component of life that feeds not just living things but economies around the world that is sometimes easily taken for granted that we forget its seminal role in sustaining life on this planet. Although the book primarily focuses on the food revolution taking place in the United States of America, it serves as fair warning to the rest of the world to pay heed to the rippling effects of this revolution and a call for a reeducation of foundational business principles that incorporates respect for our health as well as that of others, respect for other sentient beings, respect for our environment, and respect for the natural order of things. More than just trying to sell the concept of a vegetarian diet, Robbins has taken the objective approach in sharing a horror tale of how our business values and ethos have morphed into a money bingeing monster that has stripped us of the imperative morals and ethics that we as a consumer nation have strived to uphold and maintain through the centuries.