Food Globalism and Theory : Marxian and Institutionalist Insights into the Global Food System

The first decade of the 21st century has witnessed a steady increase in the number of hungry people and food riots. Nevertheless, food production figures are strong, and it is conceded that there is enough food to feed everyone in the planet. The evolving crisis of increasing hunger does not result from a problem of supply but from the ideologies underlying food production, distribution and consumption in the globalized economy. The processes associated with food have become dominated by the market and the ability to meet one’s nutritional needs has become a function of the ability to pay the price that the globalized market has established, whether these commodities are used as nutrients, biofuel or for the purposes of financial speculation. Neoclassical economic theory, economic orthodoxy in the United States, promotes a system of food distribution that subordinates most of humanity to the interests of those who control de supposedly self-regulating markets. To contemplate escape from the cycle of ever increasing food prices and needlessly increasing hunger it is essential to understand the economics of food from perspectives that recognize the role of power, subordination, history and culture and the impact they have on the state of contemporary food processes. Applying Marxian food regime theory and Institutionalist analyses this paper examines alternative understandings of contemporary processes associated with food, looking toward the greater use of heterodox economic theory in realigning the production, distribution and consumption of food to human needs and values