Food and Farming

Marketed as a superfood with almost magical properties, soya protein is found in almost everything we eat. It’s a shame its health claims aren’t worth a bean, says Pat Thomas

Food scares like Sudan 1 are finally encouraging Britons to take a more Gallic interest in what they eat

Seven easy tips to sustainable fish

Responses from some of the key players to the Ecologist's investigation into fish feed.

The coast of Peru is being blighted by a fishmeal industry that's sprung up to satisfy the West’s voracious appetite for salmon – now marine life, human health and whole ecosystems are paying the price. Andrew Wasley and Jim Wickens report

A major investigation by the Ecologist reveals a host of unreported environmental and social costs linked to the fishmeal production industry in Peru

The coastal towns and villages of Peru are being blighted by an industry that has sprung up to satisfy the West’s voracious appetite for fish – now marine life, human health and whole ecosystems are paying the price. The Ecologist Film Unit investigates

Last year celebrity pig farmer Jimmy Doherty kept 1000 organically reared pigs, while this year apparently he's raised barely 200. But if Jimmy’s farm is on the skids, the same cannot be said of his career as a media celeb.

The history of humankind might also be said to be the history of warfare. From Roman times to the present day, human conflict has been the hallmark of our historical progression. But the fight against ourselves isn’t the only war we’ve embarked upon.

In the past decade, the sales pitch of the biotech companies has shifted with the climate of public opinion. Public scepticism has remained high, but politicians seem to have bought enthusiastically into the GM ‘solution’. In many ways this encapsulates where science has gone wrong – by inventing technologies without first deciding what problems need addressing. If GM crops are the answer, what exactly is the problem?

As biotech companies hoover up patents, Geoff Tansey considers what we could end up paying for our future food supply

Head chef of pioneering Shoreditch eco-restaurant The Water House, Marie Gonfond shares a few recipes...

Can food crops really be engineered to thrive - and to yield more - under drought conditions? After 25 years we're still waiting for the flood of evidence, says Prof Jack Heinemann

The promise of more food from increased yields is driving the appeal for more GM crops, but that promise is theoretical and unfulfilled, argue Dr Ricarda A Steinbrecher and Antje Lorch

Genetically modified food. It’s a big issue. Increasingly, we are handed the notion that GM food is just like any other food, only better, because of its almost magical power to solve our most immediate crises of poverty, hunger, fossil-fuel depletion and climate change.