Solid Primer On The Concept Marred By Typical Academic Left Leaning Myopia. Quite simply, at roughly 38% documentation across just a 225 page or so text, this is one of the better documented nonfiction books I’ve come across in quite some time. Indeed, at times it seemed like there were citations on every sentence or maybe just every other sentence, they were that prevalent. So a lot of kudos on that end, and it really helps make the case of what Prof. Warshawsky is showing here in describing how food banks began in different regions around the world and what their current realities are. Through these sections, the book is truly a great resource for seeing just how widespread the idea is now and the various challenges each particular country and region faces in providing these services.
Indeed, the only real flaw here – and yes, it was big enough that it warranted the star deduction – is the typical left leaning (vs outright leftist) myopia common in Academic circles. Over and over and over again, Warshawsky blames corporations as only sponsoring these efforts in order to burnish their own public images and condemns these efforts as stymying truly productive reforms, all without truly looking to a more holistic approach to those very reforms or even to this specific issue. Instead, while so much else of the text is so well documented, that government providing these services is better than private efforts is seen more as a fait accompli never to be questioned or even examined.
So read this text, it really is quite remarkable so far as it goes. But don’t let its limitations limit your own imagination. There likely are better solutions to these issues out there – but assuming any one approach will work globally probably isn’t going to work, for the very reasons Warshawsky illuminates here. Very much recommended.
This review of Food Waste, Food Insecurity, And The Globalization Of Food Banks by Daniel N. Warshawsky was originally written on December 8, 2023.