The Third Plate Buchzusammenfassung - das Wichtigste aus The Third Plate

Einleitung anhören

00:00

Zusammenfassung von The Third Plate

Name: The Third Plate
Rating: 4.2 (20 reviews)
Author: Dan Barber

Dan Barber

Field Notes on the Future of Food

4.2 (20 Bewertungen)

22 Min.

Themen

Cook Books

Inhaltsübersicht

The Third Plate
in 11 Kernaussagen verstehen

Audio & Text in der Blinkist App

Kernaussage 1 von 11

What’s in it for me? Get a sneak peek at the sustainable cuisine of the future.

As you munch away on your French fries and slurp your soda, you’re probably aware that it isn’t very good for you. But it’s not just unhealthy for you, it’s doing great harm to the environment.

These blinks will take you on a journey of the life of food: how it is produced, how monoculture wiped out former agricultural practices, how the oceans are being destroyed, and why we need to rethink the way we eat to create a healthier, sustainable and better-tasting cuisine.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how monoculture caused the Dust Bowl;
how you get your carrot to burst with sweet flavor; and
what the risotto of the future looks like.

Our eating habits need a makeover to ensure sustainability: chefs can help.

What springs to mind when you think of a quality restaurant meal? Perhaps a large cut of meat or fish and some vegetables on the side drizzled with a special sauce? Sounds delicious, but what does a meal like this mean for the environment?

Most of us in the Western world are lucky enough to be able to eat just about any kind of food we want. However, most of us also fail to realize that it’s environmentally unsustainable. With increasing populations and changing food habits, our ecology is being threatened. And while population control is extremely difficult to put into action, we can change the way we eat. And chefs can help us do it.

Chefs create food trends and influence how and what we eat at home. For example, many restaurants focus on meat and fish, products that require a wealth of natural resources to produce. Vegetables, meanwhile, only play a supporting role.

Restaurants also often center on eating high on the animal. In other words, eating the cuts of meat that are literally high on the animal’s body, like beef or fish filets. These cuts have become popular for their tenderness and because they look great on a plate.

The problem is, each animal can only provide few such cuts. As a result, we use less of the animal’s meat than ever before. To make matters worse, as the meat market grows, so does the need to feed these animals. For example, one pound of beef requires a whopping 13 pounds of grain feed to produce. This puts a massive strain on our environment.

So we’re faced with the need to find a sustainable cuisine. This cuisine, let’s call it the third plate, needs to use more food varieties in order for it to be sustainable.

Having the world turn vegetarian isn’t the answer, as our ecological system is based on animals and plants existing alongside one another. Rather, we need to understand the complexity of our ecosystems and the diversity required to sustain them.

Modern wheat is a perfect example of how crops have changed over the last 100 years.

Bread, pasta, pastries, couscous… They all have one thing in common: wheat. But where does all this wheat come from?

Historically, wheat was processed in gristmills that ground the whole kernel of the wheat, producing a wheat rich in minerals, protein and fatty acids. But this method also meant that the wheat only kept for about a week. Modern production techniques have changed that.

Monoculture has severe consequences on soil quality and the robustness of ecosystems.

Picture boundless golden stretches of corn and wheat, the wind billowing through it. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Unfortunately, there’s a nasty downside to it.

Monoculture, or the practice of growing one type of plant in one area, wreaks havoc on the soil and drains its nutrients. But there is hope: namely, traditional farming techniques. Native Americans, for example, used the three sisters technique, where corn, beans and squash were all grown together, each playing vital roles in replenishing the earth’s nutrients.

Depleted soil results in food with less taste and fewer nutrients – which is harmful to our health.

Since soil is food for the plants that grow in it, imagine what happens to them if they only eat junk food. That’s what’s happening today: food grown in monocultures lacks nutrients, which affects our health.

When plants can’t get what they need to thrive from the soil, they become stressed. Just like us, this makes them more susceptible to sickness and pests.

Despite large-scale meat production, we eat less of each animal than ever before.

Picture-perfect scenes of chickens frolicking freely around the barnyard were a reality a few decades ago. But times have drastically changed since then. What happened? The American broiler chicken: a prime example of how we’ve industrialized meat production.

It started with The Perdue Chicken Company, founded in the 1920s to produce eggs; chicken meat was only a by-product. But when Frank Perdue, the son of the eponymous founder, took over the company, he saw the chance to focus on meat production.

The Spanish dehesa: a biodiverse culture that produces some of the best food in the world.

The Spanish word tierra is often translated as land. But it’s far more than that: it’s the earth, roots, climate and so on – a complex, biodiverse place. The dehesa, in the Southern region of Extremadura in Spain, is one example of this. Once filled with flocks of Merino sheep, the land is sectioned off by stone, crops and oak trees. On the surface it might seem barren, but it’s home to one of the world’s most beloved foods.

The world’s best ham, Jamón Ibérico de Bellota, hails from the dehesa. This ham comes from the Iberian pig, whose food of choice is acorns, which give the ham its signature nutty flavor. As the pigs are free to roam and exercise, their muscles make room for oleic acid, which comes from the acorns and is the same unsaturated fat found in olive oil.

Fishing and agriculture have depleted the ocean of fish.

If industrialized farming on land wreaks havoc there, why not turn to the resources of our seas? Bad idea. We’ve already taken so much from our oceans that overfishing has reached critical levels.

Over the past 60 years, fishing increased fourfold, from 19 million tons in 1950 to 87 million tons in 2005. Now, over 85 percent of the world’s fish are endangered.

Traditional fish farms are bad for the environment, but there are alternatives.

Fish farming presents an alternative to fishing in oceans and rivers. But this is nothing new: China has been doing it since 500 BC.

The annual growth in fish farming, which hovers around 8.8 percent, is just enough to keep pace with the global increase in fish consumption. Some even argue that, by 2018, all the fish we eat will have been farm-raised. While this doesn’t seem problematic at first sight, the environment is suffering for it.

It all begins with seeds: they hold the key to the future of our food.

Whether it’s grains for animals or for human consumption, they exist thanks to seeds. Seeds hold the answer to our food future. And, as we know, being ready for the future requires learning from the past.

Let’s look back to the proliferation of hybrid plants, which created today’s monocultures. Hybrids are essentially two plants which are crossbred to create a new plant. The plus side of hybrids is that, for example, a corn plant can become more resistant to drought or a wheat plant can produce larger yields.

Food production affects what we eat, so let’s look at the menu of the future.

We now understand that monocultures have a negative impact on our environment, our health and our cuisine. So what might sustainable cuisine look like? Let’s take a look at two dishes.

First, the beloved risotto: a classic first course at many high-end restaurants. However, it’s also the quintessential monoculture dish of rice, stock and cheese.

Final Summary

The key message in this book:

The way we eat affects the way we produce our food, and vice versa. But the way we farm and produce food today is unsustainable. Still, there is hope. We are capable of growing, producing and cooking food that is better for our environment and tastes great, too.

Du möchtest die gesamte Zusammenfassung von The Third Plate sehen?

Kernaussagen in The Third Plate

Mehr Wissen in weniger Zeit

Sachbücher auf den Punkt gebracht

Kernaussagen aus Sachbüchern in ca. 15 Minuten pro Titel lesen & anhören mit den „Blinks”

Zeitsparende Empfehlungen

Titel, die dein Leben bereichern, passend zu deinen Interessen und Zielen

Podcasts in Kurzform ^Neu

Kernaussagen wichtiger Podcasts im Kurzformat mit den neuen „Shortcasts”

Worum geht es in The Third Plate?

The Third Plate (2014) is about food: the way we cook it, eat it, produce it and the ways in which all these things are intertwined. Barber examines the dangers of monocultures and presents a powerful argument for sustainable food. He not only explains how we can go about making food more sustainable, but how we can make it even more delicious, too.

Bestes Zitat aus The Third Plate

A gastronome who is not an environmentalist is stupid. – Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini

—Dan Barber

Wer The Third Plate lesen sollte

Anyone interested in the future of our food
People who care about the environment and sustainable cuisine

Über den Autor

Dan Barber is a chef and co-owner of Blue Hill in Manhattan and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, just north of New York City. He is a key proponent of the farm-to-table movement, has been featured in several TV shows and is famous for his TED talk How I Fell in Love with a Fish.

Kategorien mit The Third Plate

Technology & the Future Nature & the Environment Health & Nutrition

Ähnlich wie The Third Plate

Simple Tips, Smart Ideas

Erica Wolfe-Murray

Build a bigger, better business

And Other Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon

Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship

18 min

3.9

How to Read a Financial Report

John A. Tracy and Tage C. Tracy

Essential Information for Entrepreneurs, Lenders, Investors, Analysts, and Management

Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary

18 min

3.6

It Takes What It Takes

Trevor Moawad with Andy Staples

How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your Life

Say Less to Get More from Any Pitch or Presentation

27 min

4.5

Language Intelligence

Joseph J Romm

Lessons on Persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga

An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Listening to Ignite the Human Mind

How to Boost Your Sex IQ and Own Your Pleasure

Why It's Not Always Rational to Be Rational

A Tale of Morality, Betrayal and The Dark Secrets of Puritanism

13 min

The 5 AM Club

Robin Sharma

Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life.

The Bullet Journal Method

Ryder Carroll

Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future

26 min

4.3

Seven and a Half Lessons about the Brain

Lisa Feldman Barrett

Have Your Understanding of Consciousness, Emotions, and Memory Revolutionized

20 min

4.0

Every Man's Battle

Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker with Mike Yorkey

Winning the War on Sexual Temptation One Victory at a Time

16 min

3.0

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Marie Kondo

The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

Why Success Doesn't Feel Like It Should... and What to Do about It

13 min

3.7

The Cask of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe

A Dark Romantic Tale of Revenge, Deceit, and Murder

Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success

9 min

4.3

Crazy Joy

Mary Katherine Backstrom

Finding Wild Happiness in a World That's Upside Down

13 min

4.0

The Soul of the World

Roger Scruton

In Defense of a Sacred World

25 min

3.7

Stop Walking on Eggshells

Paul T. Mason & Randi Kreger

Taking Your Life Back When Someone You Care about Has Borderline Personality Disorder

18 min

4.8

The Mythical Man-Month

Frederick P. Brooks

Essays on Software Engineering

Feeling Is The Secret

Neville Goddard

Ideas that Shape the World

Winning the Heart of the Woman of Your Dreams

16 min

3.9

Good Strategy, Bad Strategy

Richard Rumelt

The Difference and Why It Matters

In Search of Erotic Intelligence

How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses

The Psychology of How We Perceive Time

15 min

3.9

A World Without Email

Cal Newport

Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload

The Classic that Moved the Environmental Movement

14 min

4.5

The Imperfectionists

Robert McLean and Charles Conn

Strategic Mindsets for Uncertain Times

Better Business Makes the Greater Good

Little Things That Can Change Your Life… And Maybe The World

A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity

19 min

4.5

Crucial Conversations

Kerry Patterson

Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High

Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Unorthodox advice for growing companies

How the Science of Mental Preparation Can Help You Succeed

Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety

A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives.

Enter the Virtual World With This Cyberpunk Epic

25 min

The Happiest Man on Earth

Eddie Jaku

The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor

25 min

4.8

The Alcohol Experiment

Annie Grace

A 30-day, Alcohol-Free Challenge to Interrupt Your Habits and Help You Take Control

366 Meditations on Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kids

16 min

4.7

❤️ für Blinkist️️️

Ines S.

Ich bin begeistert. Ich liebe Bücher aber durch zwei kleine Kinder komme ich einfach nicht zum Lesen. Und ja, viele Bücher haben viel bla bla und die Quintessenz ist eigentlich ein Bruchteil.

Genau dafür ist Blinkist total genial! Es wird auf das Wesentliche reduziert, die Blinks sind gut verständlich, gut zusammengefasst und auch hörbar! Das ist super. 80 Euro für ein ganzes Jahr klingt viel, aber dafür unbegrenzt Zugriff auf 3000 Bücher. Und dieses Wissen und die Zeitersparnis ist unbezahlbar.

Ekaterina S.

Extrem empfehlenswert. Statt sinnlos im Facebook zu scrollen höre ich jetzt täglich zwischen 3-4 "Bücher". Bei manchen wird schnelle klar, dass der Kauf unnötig ist, da schon das wichtigste zusammen gefasst wurde..bei anderen macht es Lust doch das Buch selbständig zu lesen. Wirklich toll

Nils S.

Einer der besten, bequemsten und sinnvollsten Apps die auf ein Handy gehören. Jeden morgen 15-20 Minuten für die eigene Weiterbildung/Entwicklung oder Wissen.

Julia P.

Viele tolle Bücher, auf deren Kernaussagen reduziert- präzise und ansprechend zusammengefasst. Endlich habe ich das Gefühl, Zeit für Bücher zu finden, für die ich sonst keine Zeit habe.