Historically, food was about sustenance and survival; for too much of the world in the twenty-first century, it still is. But as societies develop beyond immediate need, what we eat can be a pleasurable part of our lives, as well as an exploration of cultures and experiences from around the world. This snapshot of a debate at the Battle of Ideas shows the pleasure we derive from food might ultimately be destroyed by our modern obsessions. Will anxieties and fear about food, ultimately spoil the stuff of life and as a London doctor argues are the ‘5-a-day’ health brigade propagandists and wrong?
