Endless Appetites

How to understand the twenty-first century food crisis Since 2007, farm-product prices have rocketed and plunged,causing hunger, malnutrition, and social and political upheavalaround the world. Endless Appetites explores how "foodsecurity," the availability of food and the reasonable ability tobuy it, has become one of the most challenging topics of our time.With every jump in grocery-store prices, the issue becomes more andmore pressing, proven by this year's record increase in foodprices, which has already topped the spike of 2008. * Award-winning commodities reporter Alan Bjerga explains thefood crisis and why it is happening in an accessible, articulatemanner * Why is this happening when more food is being grown thanever? * Why are crop markets?first established in the 1800's to helpstabilize agricultural commodity prices?acting like an investors'casino, with prices absorbed by rich nations taking food from themouths of the poor? * From college campuses to emergency UN meetings, "food security"is one of the hottest topics of the day, with no shortage ofinterest in how to stabilize food prices worldwide to close thehunger gap To understand the growing international food crisis, readersneed an expert they can rely on. One of the most widely acclaimedjournalists on food security, Alan Bjerga is up to the task, takingreaders from the trading floor of Chicago to the highlands of EastAfrica to the rice paddies of Thailand on a global trek to find thecauses of the food-price crisis?and the solutions.