Dr. Solomon Katz, University of Pennsylvania

“The Causes and Consequences of the First Global Food Crisis in 2008”

17:30 – April 23, 2008 – Aula Magna – Cascina Albertina–University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo, Italy

Until the last year nearly all previous food crises have been caused by wars and/or centered in part on crop failures in various regions of the world. Now first the first time a combination of crop failures (associated with climate change in water resources), increases in human population size, changes in diet, and the sudden diversion of food from the human food chain to the large production of fuel have caused a catastrophic increase in food scarcity. These events have driven up the cost of food well beyond many people’s ability to pay for it is causing a whole new source of global hunger that is now forcing between one hundred and four hundred million people into the ranks of food insecurity.

Dr. Katz has served as the founder and Chairman (1984-1986) of the Task Force on the African Famine for the American Anthropological Association which produced a series of monographs, symposia and reports on food security in Africa. Katz was the Series Editor of “Food and Nutrition in History and Anthropology” Gordon and Breach Publishers (with a dozen books in the series) from 1986 – 1995 and is Editor-in-Chief of the “Encyclopedia of Food and Culture” published by Scribners (Gale) in 2003, which was awarded six major national and international awards and prizes including the Dartmouth Medal (US) and the Emerald Award (UK) in 2004 for the best reference publication of 2003. In 2007, Katz was elected as a trustee to the Council for a World Parliament of Religions with an emphasis on integrating science and religion into the CWPR.