Food Routes

Even if we think we know a lot about good and healthy food¿even if we buy organic, believe in slow food, and read Eater¿we probably don’t know much about how food gets to the table. What happens between the farm and the kitchen? Why are all avocados from Mexico? Why does a restaurant in Maine order lamb from New Zealand? In Food Routes, Robyn Metcalfe explores an often-overlooked aspect of the global food system: how food moves from producer to consumer. She finds that the food supply chain is adapting to our increasingly complex demands for both personalization and convenience¿but, she says, it won’t be an easy ride. Networked, digital tools will improve the food system but will also challenge our relationship to food in anxiety-provoking ways. It might not be easy to transfer our affections from verdant fields of organic tomatoes to high-rise greenhouses tended by robots. And yet, argues Metcalfe¿a cautious technology optimist¿technological advances offer opportunities for innovations that can get better food to more people in an increasingly urbanized world.