Menu

Next World TV

Common Sense Solutions - Starting Now

The $200 Hamburger

Subscribe to Next World TV

Your e-mail address is kept absolutely private
We make it easy to unsubscribe at any time

Cheap Food Cheats

Raj Patel is a British/American activist, writer and academic. In his most recent book, The Value Of Nothing, he examines the hidden costs of supporting today's conventional food business.

Here he speaks of the $200 hamburger. You may only be paying $4 for that burger, but there are $196 worth of damages to be paid sooner or later. They include the hidden costs of the environmental destruction. What about the biodiversity that is lost when you chop down a rain forest to grow feed for cattle, and the oxygen that is lost in the process? How about the hidden costs of a chronically underpaid factory farm workforce?

How about the cost of one disease alone: diabetes? 1 in 5 health care dollars is spent on diabetes in the United States today.

We are paying right now, in plenty of ways for this "inexpensive" burger.

"Cheap food cheats" he says. But the hidden price does have to be paid sooner or later.

Raj Patel has been quoted as saying: "Why are there markets of food at all?" about global food economy.

What an excellent question.

--Bibi Farber

This video is produced by Cooking Up A Story

For more Food Choices videos, click here

See the complete catalog of
next world tv videos