S Unit 5: Globalisation Reading–writing: The globalisation of bad food (B1+) a) Read a newspaper article on the effect of globalisation on India’s food system. b) While reading, underline synonyms in the article for the words below. India: Obesity, malnutrition and the globalisation of bad food 1 pollute growth following force out basically everyday ground recipient shoot up India’s food system, essentially clean just a generation ago, has been comprehensively contaminated with sugar, bad fats and synthetic additives. The result: a surge in obesity, diabetes and cancer incidence. The impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the subsequent flood of cheap US processed food into the country has negatively affected the health of ordinary people. Western junk food has displaced more traditionalbased diets and is now readily available in every neighbourhood. Western style fast-food outlets have already been soaring in number throughout the country. Pizza Hut now operates in 46 Indian cities with 181 restaurants and 132 home delivery locations, a 67% increase in the last five years. KFC is now in 73 cities with 296 restaurants, a 770% increase. Heart disease, liver damage, stroke, obesity and diabetes are just some of the diseases linked to diets revolving around fast food. Frequent consumption of fast food has been associated with increased body mass index as well as higher intakes of fat, sodium and added sugars. Fast food also tends to have higher energy densities and poorer nutritional quality than foods prepared at home. Moreover, in many regions across the globe industrialised factory farming has replaced traditional livestock agriculture. Animals are thrown together in cramped conditions to scale up production and maximise output at minimum cost. For example, just 40 years ago the Philippines’ entire population was fed on native eggs and chickens produced by family farmers. Now, most of those farmers are out of business. Hand in hand with the practices outlined above has been the growth of the widespread intensive use of chemical pesticides. In Punjab, pesticide run-offs into water sources have turned the state into a “cancer epicentre”. India is losing 5,334 million tons of soil every year due to soil erosion because of the indiscreet and excessive use of fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides. If there are any beneficiaries in all of this, it is the pesticide manufacturers, the healthcare sector, especially private clinics and drug companies, and the transnational food and agribusiness companies, which now see their main growth markets in Asia, Africa and South America, where traditionally people have tended to eat food from their own farms or markets that sell locally-produced foods. (Colin Todhunter, The Ecologist; adapted and abridged) 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 c) You’ve come across the article printed above. You would like to express your views on the topic and decide to write to the editor of the magazine. In your e-mail to the editor you should relate the information given in the article to the experience you made in your own life, contrast features of traditional-based diets and globalised industrialised food, discuss general features of globalisation. Write around 200 words. 148 Semester self-checks Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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