A Look At Wars That Were Caused By Food

Janet Burns, Mental Floss: 7 Foods That Have Led to War

As authors Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett mused in Good Omens, "civilization is 24 hours and two meals away from barbarism.” Human history is indeed filled with moments of violence that broke out because groups of people found themselves running on empty. Some scholars even argue that human warfare itself may have evolved alongside our move from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle into an agricultural one, given that any growing population (even a prehistoric one) will likely strain its available resources sooner or later.

Whether the cause of conflict was threats to a nation’s entire grain supply or simply the loss of a lone pig, these foods all ended up in the same place throughout history: smack in the middle of war.

WNU Editor: Wars over spices and salt I know about .... even the one pig story/conflict on the U.S. - Canada border is a story that did read about a long time ago (when I was thinking of living in Vancouver) .... but pastries?!?!?! On a more serious note .... bread/rice price rises and shortages are the current food commodities that can bring instability and conflict in the world today.

Price Of Food And Social Unrest Are Connected

Lagi, Bertrand, Bar-Yam

Remember All Those "Pro-Democracy" Protests Last Year? Here's What They Were Really About... -- Henry Blodget, Business Insider

The widespread protests across the Middle East and northern Africa in last year's "Arab Spring" were often viewed as the awakening of a critical region to the virtues of democracy.

And they may have had something to do with that.

But a paper by three New England-based researchers suggests the coordinated timing of all these protests was caused by something far more simple:

Skyrocketing food prices.

When food prices hit a certain critical level, Marco Lagi, Karla Z. Bertrand, and Yaneer Bar-Yam show, people tend to turn to violence--because their desperation hits a level at which they have nothing left to lose.

As the chart below shows, the Arab Spring protests, along with earlier protests in the region, coincided with two huge peaks in global food prices.

Read more ....

My Comment: Governments now have a formula to know when they are approaching a crisis that threatens their power.

Welcome To The 21st-Century Food Wars

The New Geopolitics Of Food -- Foreign Policy

From the Middle East to Madagascar, high prices are spawning land grabs and ousting dictators. Welcome to the 21st-century food wars.

In the United States, when world wheat prices rise by 75 percent, as they have over the last year, it means the difference between a $2 loaf of bread and a loaf costing maybe $2.10. If, however, you live in New Delhi, those skyrocketing costs really matter: A doubling in the world price of wheat actually means that the wheat you carry home from the market to hand-grind into flour for chapatis costs twice as much. And the same is true with rice. If the world price of rice doubles, so does the price of rice in your neighborhood market in Jakarta. And so does the cost of the bowl of boiled rice on an Indonesian family's dinner table.

Read more ....

My Comment: Everyone is eager and hungry to eat a Western diet .... and who blames them. Unfortunately .... our agricultural and food industries are not established yet to accommodate this demand. Coupled with a water crisis that is now hitting many regions in the world, unrest and turmoil is what is now popping up on our menus.

Do Hot, Dry Conditions Cause More African Civil Wars?

From Discover Magazine:

We’ve covered industries and species that climate change will affect, but is more war the next side effect of a warming world? A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ties warmer temperatures to higher incidence of civil wars in Africa. The scientists warn that the continent could see 54 percent more armed conflict—and almost 400,000 more war deaths—by 2030 if climate projections prove true.

Read more ....

My Comment: Warmer temperatures will also mean longer growing periods (definitely in the Northern Hemisphere), and less use of energy to heat one's homes.

Food and its scarcity has always been (justifiably) linked to conflict and war. But in Africa's case, conflict and war has always been the "normal" state of affairs for as long as I can remember. It is easy for governments and their supporters to point to external reasons for their problems (i.e. global warming), but from where I stand, it appears that in Africa's case many of their problems are of their own making.

Who Has The Best Mess In The Navy?

Note crewmen's "Short White" uniforms, mess gear and details of mess tables. Scene in the crew's mess, circa Autumn 1941. USS Cassin (DD-372).

From The Scoop Deck:

Who do you think gets the best chow in the Navy? Scoop Deck has eaten really well on the guided-missile submarine Georgia; the amphibious assault ship Makin Island; and the cruiser Anzio, but there are many galleys out there and this is the kind of question about which people develop forceful opinions.

Read more ....

My Comment: No way .... the best mess can be found on the French and German navies. Caviar, champagne, freshly baked bread, smoked turkey, sweet peas and potatoes, broiled salmon, thick and juicy steaks .... ok ok I confess .... I am exaggerating. But I am not exaggerating about this story .... Cooks On Australian Submarines Are Paid More Than Admirals ($160,000).

World Hunger And War

In the past few weeks there has been a number of articles detailing the world's present food shortage/crisis. Because hunger throughout history has been one of the main reasons for conflicts to arise, this post will examine this evolving situation in depth.

When I was in China 20 years ago .... and in China last month .... I cannot adequately explain in words how much everything has changed in what is really a short period of time. Much of the stress in the world is now coming from the demands of people in China and India for a better life. These demands have resulted in prices for commodities such as oil and minerals increasing, but what has not been analyzed are the stresses that these demands are now putting on the food supply.

Western food is very addictive. It is now also the diet of choice for the growing middle classes of China and India. Add to this demand the need to provide bio-fuels as mandated by Western governments, the spread of disease on grain stocks in Ethiopia and the wheat growing regions of Iran and Pakistan/India, drought in Australia, and the rise in prices for fertilizers and fuel .... we are now approaching a perfect storm for food stocks to become very expensive or strictly rationed.

A summation of recent articles are the following:

Across Globe, Empty Bellies Bring Rising Anger -- New York Times

Rising Food Prices 'A Silent Tsunami' -- The Telegraph

ADB Senior Official Says Era Of Cheap Food Over -- Breitbart

Record Rice Export Slump Forecast -- News.com

A Drought In Australia, A Global Shortage Of Rice -- New York Times

Food Shortages: How Will We Feed The World? -- Telegraph

G8 Summit To Discuss Food Price Rises -- Financial Times

Markets Rain Volatility On U.S. Farmers And, Eventually, On Consumers -- International Herald Tribune

Amid U.S Farm Boom, Fears Grow Of A Collapse -- International Herald Tribune

UN Chief Warns World Must Urgently Increase Food Production -- Breitbart

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World -- New York Sun

Japan's Hunger Becomes A Dire Warning For Other Nations -- The Age

In Lean Times, Biotech Grains Are Less Taboo -- International Herald Tribune

My Comment: In the western world, food prices are hitting everyone's pocket book. In the Third World, we are now talking of starvation. Political instability and the demands among a hungry population can only produce an unhealthy brew of conflict and turmoil. While we in the West have ample supplies to feed ourselves, high prices will result in demands (i.e. price controls, limiting trade in foodstuffs, etc.) that in the medium to long term probably will make a bad situation worse.

Will hungry people cause wars ..... the answer is probably no. But hungry people can cause governments to pursue policies that in the end will result in arm conflicts.