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Authors respond to book review
zinc Recommended Dietary Allowance. Janet C. King, Sally H. Cohenour, Carol G. Corruccini, and Paul Schneeman; c/o Dr. King, Department of Nutritional Sciences, 119 Morgan Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. Pennington, J. T., Dietary Nutritional Guide, Avi Publishing Co., Westport, CT, 1976, pp. 188-226. 2 Freeland, J. H., and R. J. Cousins, Zinc content of selected foods, J. Am. Dietel. Assn., 68:526, 1976. 3 Murphy, E. W., B. W. Willis, and B. K. Watt, Provisional tables on the zinc content of foods, J. Am. Dietel. Assn., 66:345, 1975. 4 Gormican, A., Inorganic elements in foods used in hospital menus, J. Am. Dietel. Assn., 56:397, 1970.
Authors Respond to Book Review Bruce Johnston's review of our book Food First (in the January-March 1978 issue) in great part seriously misrepresents our work. 1. Dr. Johnston states that we offer China as "the model to achieve 'food selfreliance' and to eliminate hunger." Yet on page 402, We state explicitly that no country should be looked upon as a model; rather, we say, key lessons can be learned from positive developments in other countries. 2. Dr. Johnston contends that we ignore the "stress on the application of science-based technologies" in China and Taiwan. But on page 122ff. and 149ff. we focus specifically on the science-based progress in these countries to make this essential point: new technologies spread and work to the benefit of the majority only after the social! economic structures of a country have been changed so as to equalize access to these technologies. 3. Dr. Johnston asserts that "it is arrogant for outsiders to tell" the citizens of other countries what to do. But what Dr. Johnston ignores is that, whether we like it or not, through our government's policies of economic, military, and political support for selected governments, we are involved in determining the future for many living in underdeveloped countries. Thus Americans should take responsibility for identifying and halting such policies that reinforce the tightening economic control of a few over the many and obstruct people's efforts throughout the world toward food self-reliance. 4. Dr. Johnston's remark that "by extensive use of citations, the book creates an impression of scholarship" puzzles us. Does he mean that Food First's sources are not sound? Food First rests on I) numerous research and statistical reports of many international organizations; 2) hundreds of first-hand studies by authorities in varied disciplines and rural
organizers living and working with the rural poor throughout the world; 3) onsite investigations by our Institute's staff. To give the impression that Food First is unscholarly, Dr. Johnston only notes that cocoa is not grown in northern Ghana, as the book states. We did mistakenly translate the ancient name Ashanti as northern instead of central Ghana. He also claims that cocoa was not grown by force. But as African scholar Walter Rodney points out, cocoa was grown in Ghana to the point of precipitating famine because of the decline of food crops. We doubt this could have occurred without force-economic or physical. Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins, Institute for Food and Development Policy, 2588 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94110.
been aggravated by the limited success achieved in effecting a transition from a resource-based to a science-based agriculture. It is simplistic to argue, however, that those problems are to be attributed to expansion of cocoa production. And I am not aware of any serious student of Ghana's agriculture who has advanced such an argument or suggested that Ghanaian farmers were forced to grow cocoa. Bruce F. Johnston, Food Research Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
Reviewer Replies
Now that SNE has endorsed the Dietary Goals, I would like to suggest to the membership a small and inexpensive effort that might help to get those goals into the national consciousness. Could we have a Senate Skipping Song Contest? Entries would be accepted from any source within a set time, judges appointed, and the best entry selected. Financial support might then be sought from public or private sources to create a series of television commercials for the time that will be opening up for us soon on Saturday mornings. Kids in the commercials would be having great fun skipping and chanting the song. Each segment would voice-over a simple food point, derived of course, from the song. Think how well you remember your own skipping songs.
In seeking to understand the complexity of the real world, "models" can serve a useful purpose. The Chinese model merits careful attention. I criticized the treatment of China by Lappe and Collins because I considered it "simplistic and misleading." Peter Timmer, author of an excellent and sympathetic monograph on agricultural development in China, is equally critical of their treatment of China (and Cuba): "Lappe and Collins do not understand what is happening and why in either country except in naively rosy terms; nor do they fully understand that the Chinese and Cuban examples contradict much of the direct thrust of the book" (1). There are passing references in Food First to the role of science-based technologies, but I stand with my judgment that an important theme of the book is to minimize the role of the high-yielding, fertilizer-reponsive grain varieties. Improved seed-fertilizer combinations, together with better water control, have made a vital contribution to the elimination of hunger in both China and Taiwan. It will be tragic if other developing countries neglect the research and investments in infrastructure required to realize those potentials for increasing productivity and output. The review of the Lappe-Collins book by Peter and Carol Timmer expresses a similar conclusion: "The critical need for modern agricultural technology is also unrealistically dismissed." On the issue of scholarship, my concerns are reinforced by the statement attributed to Walter Rodney, that "cocoa was grown in Ghana to the point of precipitating famine." I suspect that the statement is based on a sentence in Rodney's book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, which states that "In Asante, concentration on cocoa raised fears of famine in a region previously famous for yams and foodstuff" (p. 258). The economic problems that Ghana has faced during the past 15 to 20 years have
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Timmer, C. Peter, and Carol F. Timmer, Review of Food First, Nutrition Planning, vol. I (No. 1):3, 1978.
Songs to Remember
Senate Skipping Song Red meats Sweet sweets Yellow yolks and cheese ... Red meats Sweet sweets Every week just threes. Whole grain Produce plain Milk that's skimmed to please ... Whole grain Produce plain Every meal eat threes. The membership can assuredly do better, and pending an official Society reaction, I would be happy to receive entries at the address below. Even an official "regrets," should not prevent those of us interested from opening other doors. Skipping also has fitness connotations that square well with our overall objectives. The song jogs nicely too, although its repeated grunting over the fmal miles of a marathon, sad to say, does nothing for one's fmishing time. Lawrence Power, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Wayne State University, School of Medicine, 540 E. Canfield St., Detroit, MI48202.
July-September 1978 Vol. 10
No.3 Journal of Nutrition Education
103
Authors Respond to Book Review Bruce Johnston's review of our book Food First (in the January-March 1978 issue) in great part seriously misrepresents our work. 1. Dr. Johnston states that we offer China as "the model to achieve 'food selfreliance' and to eliminate hunger." Yet on page 402, We state explicitly that no country should be looked upon as a model; rather, we say, key lessons can be learned from positive developments in other countries. 2. Dr. Johnston contends that we ignore the "stress on the application of science-based technologies" in China and Taiwan. But on page 122ff. and 149ff. we focus specifically on the science-based progress in these countries to make this essential point: new technologies spread and work to the benefit of the majority only after the social! economic structures of a country have been changed so as to equalize access to these technologies. 3. Dr. Johnston asserts that "it is arrogant for outsiders to tell" the citizens of other countries what to do. But what Dr. Johnston ignores is that, whether we like it or not, through our government's policies of economic, military, and political support for selected governments, we are involved in determining the future for many living in underdeveloped countries. Thus Americans should take responsibility for identifying and halting such policies that reinforce the tightening economic control of a few over the many and obstruct people's efforts throughout the world toward food self-reliance. 4. Dr. Johnston's remark that "by extensive use of citations, the book creates an impression of scholarship" puzzles us. Does he mean that Food First's sources are not sound? Food First rests on I) numerous research and statistical reports of many international organizations; 2) hundreds of first-hand studies by authorities in varied disciplines and rural
organizers living and working with the rural poor throughout the world; 3) onsite investigations by our Institute's staff. To give the impression that Food First is unscholarly, Dr. Johnston only notes that cocoa is not grown in northern Ghana, as the book states. We did mistakenly translate the ancient name Ashanti as northern instead of central Ghana. He also claims that cocoa was not grown by force. But as African scholar Walter Rodney points out, cocoa was grown in Ghana to the point of precipitating famine because of the decline of food crops. We doubt this could have occurred without force-economic or physical. Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins, Institute for Food and Development Policy, 2588 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94110.
been aggravated by the limited success achieved in effecting a transition from a resource-based to a science-based agriculture. It is simplistic to argue, however, that those problems are to be attributed to expansion of cocoa production. And I am not aware of any serious student of Ghana's agriculture who has advanced such an argument or suggested that Ghanaian farmers were forced to grow cocoa. Bruce F. Johnston, Food Research Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
Reviewer Replies
Now that SNE has endorsed the Dietary Goals, I would like to suggest to the membership a small and inexpensive effort that might help to get those goals into the national consciousness. Could we have a Senate Skipping Song Contest? Entries would be accepted from any source within a set time, judges appointed, and the best entry selected. Financial support might then be sought from public or private sources to create a series of television commercials for the time that will be opening up for us soon on Saturday mornings. Kids in the commercials would be having great fun skipping and chanting the song. Each segment would voice-over a simple food point, derived of course, from the song. Think how well you remember your own skipping songs.
In seeking to understand the complexity of the real world, "models" can serve a useful purpose. The Chinese model merits careful attention. I criticized the treatment of China by Lappe and Collins because I considered it "simplistic and misleading." Peter Timmer, author of an excellent and sympathetic monograph on agricultural development in China, is equally critical of their treatment of China (and Cuba): "Lappe and Collins do not understand what is happening and why in either country except in naively rosy terms; nor do they fully understand that the Chinese and Cuban examples contradict much of the direct thrust of the book" (1). There are passing references in Food First to the role of science-based technologies, but I stand with my judgment that an important theme of the book is to minimize the role of the high-yielding, fertilizer-reponsive grain varieties. Improved seed-fertilizer combinations, together with better water control, have made a vital contribution to the elimination of hunger in both China and Taiwan. It will be tragic if other developing countries neglect the research and investments in infrastructure required to realize those potentials for increasing productivity and output. The review of the Lappe-Collins book by Peter and Carol Timmer expresses a similar conclusion: "The critical need for modern agricultural technology is also unrealistically dismissed." On the issue of scholarship, my concerns are reinforced by the statement attributed to Walter Rodney, that "cocoa was grown in Ghana to the point of precipitating famine." I suspect that the statement is based on a sentence in Rodney's book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, which states that "In Asante, concentration on cocoa raised fears of famine in a region previously famous for yams and foodstuff" (p. 258). The economic problems that Ghana has faced during the past 15 to 20 years have
L E
T T
E
R S
Timmer, C. Peter, and Carol F. Timmer, Review of Food First, Nutrition Planning, vol. I (No. 1):3, 1978.
Songs to Remember
Senate Skipping Song Red meats Sweet sweets Yellow yolks and cheese ... Red meats Sweet sweets Every week just threes. Whole grain Produce plain Milk that's skimmed to please ... Whole grain Produce plain Every meal eat threes. The membership can assuredly do better, and pending an official Society reaction, I would be happy to receive entries at the address below. Even an official "regrets," should not prevent those of us interested from opening other doors. Skipping also has fitness connotations that square well with our overall objectives. The song jogs nicely too, although its repeated grunting over the fmal miles of a marathon, sad to say, does nothing for one's fmishing time. Lawrence Power, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Wayne State University, School of Medicine, 540 E. Canfield St., Detroit, MI48202.
July-September 1978 Vol. 10
No.3 Journal of Nutrition Education
103