A closely argued sociological treatise...Otero draws on realms of data to demonstrate that neoliberal ideology—the belief that human welfare is best achieved through state-supported private enterprise—results in market-based agricultural systems that destroy subsistence farming, traditional diets, and health, while blaming the displaced victims for their own fate.
~Marion Nestle, The Lancet
A remarkable, comprehensive book that gives the reader the sense of attending an advanced lecture series on global food politics led by a seasoned food expert…The Neoliberal Diet is critical reading for food studies scholars, but it is also useful for anyone interested in understanding transformations in the global political economy over the last several decades and their effects on food production, diets, migration, labor rights, and social movements...[The Neoliberal Diet] takes us very far in understanding the origin and scope of the problems we face and where we need to go.
~Contemporary Sociology
This volume is a 'must read' for agriculture, food, and nutrition science and policy professionals…[a] path-breaking analysis.
~Ellen Messer, Human Ecology
Otero makes several points that warrant the attention of food policy analysts and advocates.
~Nicholas Freudenberg, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
The cogency, clarity, and significance of Gerardo Otero's [The Neoliberal Diet] has become more apparent since the Covid-19 pandemic upended livelihoods across the globe...The Neoliberal Diet interrogates how the combined effects of neoliberal economic policy have engendered vast health inequalities around the world... Otero’s study is an ambitious critique of neoliberalism’s tendency to situate the consumer as almost solely responsible for their health and well-being...Even as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, Otero reminds us that the neoliberal food regime has, in many ways, laid the groundwork for our present unhealth.
~Food, Culture & Society
An important and well-documented work. Rejecting the notions that diet is a matter of choice and that with education, the poor would become slimmer and healthier, Otero analyzes structures that limit healthy choices for the poor, particularly in countries linked to developed countries, as Mexico is through NAFTA. He documents how this form of food insecurity is increasing with the implementation of patented genetic engineering. Without the policies that make the technology quite useful for financialization and capital accumulation, combined with laws and tax policies that favor increased concentration in agricultural-input industries and retail distributors, the food system would look very different—as would international migration streams and environmental quality.
~Cornelia Butler Flora, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor Emerita of Sociology, Iowa State University, coauthor of Rural Communities: Legacy + Change
