Humans have been genetically modifying foods since the beginning of agriculture by simply selecting crops that are nutritious and have high yields. With the recent advent of transgene technology, scientists have been exploring new ways to modify a plant’s genes without relying on the slow process of artificial selection. The development of these “genetically modified … Read more
Will China Get Fat Before it Gets Rich? With the American public increasingly wary of obesity and diabetes, sales of unhealthy food products in the US have slowed over the past few years. Nevertheless, the profits of American food corporations continue to grow, due in large part to the corporate focus on emerging markets. Particularly … Read more
In Steven Pinker’s Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, the author begins his tour of the past with what many politicians proudly profess to be the source of their faith and American law: the Bible. We know that the Bible’s time period was neither as holy nor as peaceful as Sunday school … Read more
Any attempt to define American food culture leads, inevitably, to a realization that no singular, overarching food culture exists in America. Harvard professor Joyce Chaplin, who teaches a course on American food history, explains, “One of the big points about American food culture is that there isn’t one.” Chaplin is not indicating that America has … Read more
On November 26, 2011, an American drone flew over the hilly Pakistani border after successfully hitting its target. The result: 24 Pakistani soldiers lay dead, and 13 civilians were injured. This dramatic incident was no anomaly. The United States has engaged in drone warfare in Pakistan for almost a decade, killing over 2300 militants and at … Read more
Sympathetic to his ideas or not, it is next to impossible to deny Steven Pinker’s matchless gift for writing popular psychology books that are at once incisive, stylish, and empirically weighty. Luxuriantly curly hair aside, there’s no excuse mistaking him for the less cerebral Malcolm Gladwell. And as a better writer, Pinker has attracted a … Read more
Dear Readers, Given that I proposed a food issue more than two years ago, it is my great pleasure to finally present to you the Politics of Food. While the culinary and gastronomic—the world of foie gras and Big Macs—might seem out of the norm for the Harvard Political Review, this cover in fact epitomizes … Read more
On November 13, 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from her villa to greet supporters after seven years of house arrest. Emblematic of Burma’s fledgling pro-democracy movement, Suu Kyi’s release was hailed by the international community and locals alike as a positive sign of change at a pivotal time in Burmese history. Following a half … Read more
Early July last year, the world clamoured to celebrate the birth of South Sudan after a protracted and bloody conflict with its northern counterpart, Sudan. Despite wide coverage in international media, the referendum that established the world’s 193rd nation did little to address the most pressing sources of conflict. As South Sudan’s independence approaches its … Read more
Oh. I see. Uh huh. It’s a comment that almost never fails to draw response. Hmm. I didn’t know. Well, that explains a lot. No matter how I frame the point, the reaction ranges from shock to incredulity. Really? Seriously? You actually mean it? You see, dear reader, I have a startling confession to make. … Read more