From Field to Fork

After centuries of neglect, the ethics of food are back with a vengeance. Justice for food workers and small farmers has joined the rising tide of concern over the impact of industrial agriculture on food animals and the broader environment, all while a global epidemic of obesity-related
diseases threatens to overwhelm modern health systems. An emerging worldwide social movement has turned to local and organic foods, and struggles to exploit widespread concern over the next wave of genetic engineering or nanotechnologies applied to food. Paul B. Thompson's book applies the rigor of
philosophy to key topics in the first comprehensive study explore interconnections hidden deep within this welter of issues. Bringing to bear more than thirty years of experience working closely with farmers, agricultural researchers and food system activists, he explores the eclipse of food ethics
during the rise of nutritional science, and examines the reasons for its sudden re-emergence in the era of diet-based disease. Thompson discusses social injustice in the food systems of developed economies and shows how we have missed the key insights for understanding food ethics in the developing
world. His discussions of animal production and the environmental impact of agriculture break new ground where most philosophers would least expect it. By emphasizing the integration of these issues, Thompson not only brings a comprehensive philosophical approach to moral issues in the production,
processing, distribution, and consumption of food -- he introduces a fresh way to think about practical ethics that will have implications in other areas of applied philosophy.


"Once in a while somebody writes an important book near the end of a long, distinguished career. Paul B. Thompson, after 40 years in the business, accomplished this in his recent book: From Field to Fork, food ethics for everyone. With the eye of a philosopher and the rigor of an agricultural
economist - Thompson is both - he covers big ideas about food ... the book's strength is its broad swath. It leaves deeper coverage to the motivated reader and he cites over 350 references to point the way. If you want to hack your way through the thicket of food ethics, From Field to Fork is a good
place to start. Splendid work, Dr. Thompson." -- Mark L. Wilson, Agriculture and Human Values

"Thompson convincingly shows how food production and food consumption are linked to ethical issues regarding social justice, the environment, and risk. Drawing on three decades of scholarship, he constructs a map of the field that brings together often disconnected discussions concerning (among many
other things) poverty, obesity, animal welfare, environmental protection and gene technology. The book clearly lives up to its subtitle, 'Food Ethics for Everyone, ' as it is a highly accessible, comprehensive and fair-minded guide to the field." --Peter Sand�e Professor and Head of Section for
Consumption, Bioethics and Governance, University of Copenhagen

"From Field to Fork makes it clear that every food choice has ethical implications and that sorting out these implications from the science and politics of food is anything but simple. The ethical issues discussed in this book are fascinatingly complex and deserve the serious debates they are sure
to stimulate. If ever a book provided food for thought, it's this one."
--Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, and author of Food Politics

"Who eats what, and the journey that food takes - 'field to fork' as Thompson aptly puts it--have becomes major concerns worldwide. The long food way, the web of entanglements connecting my plate to our planet, can overwhelm us--especially when it proves fraught with ethical problems. Who is
eating too little, too much, fairly, freely, with what benefits and harms to whom? Here is an excellent moral analysis, a guide from growing in earth to flourishing in the community of life on Earth." -- Holmes Rolston, III, Colorado State University

"Thompson is the outsider's insider. Having worked within and beside top programs in agricultural research throughout his career, he is also sympathetic toward the alternatives to current agricultural production and their advocates. From Field to Fork offers an even-handed ethical analysis that
emphasizes making better choices rather than deriving rigid rules based in ideology. This book should set the agenda for the emergent food ethic." -- Bryan Norton, Profesor Emeritus, Georgia Instiute of Technology

"I would recommend this book as essential to anyone writing in the field of dietary ethics, even if just to check and make sure that there isn't an opposing harm they aren't considering. I believe this book stands out as unique in its field as a result of who wrote it; you can tell this book was
written by an expert in the field and he does a good job summarizing the source material and its reception, both in its own field and more widely in philosophy." -- Environmental Values

"Throughout From Field to Fork, Thompson analyzes a variety of aspects of our contemporary food system, including its relation to obesity, social injustice, livestock welfare, an individual's dietary choice, localism, environmental impact and genetically modified food. With each subject, he goes
through some of the ethically relevant information and gives an account of common ethical arguments made about that subject, but his writing does not side with one approach over another...I would highly recommend this one to anyone already interested in the field of dietary ethics, or a related
field, and especially anyone who is considering writing on the topic." -- Environmental Values