John Abraham began researching and publishing on the politics of food in his early twenties – inspired and guided by the pioneering work of Professor Erik Millstone on food additives and what would now be called the field of ‘ultra-processed foods’. Professor Millstone is one of the world’s greatest thinkers in food and science policy and his work on ultra-processed foods was, and remains, decades ahead of its time
John’s earliest work on the politics of food focused on direct food additives (e.g. food colourings, sweeteners etc.) and what national governments and international expert bodies were doing to ensure that such chemicals were safe for the public to consume. Together with Erik Millstone, he investigated all the published databases on all the food additives listed on food and drink products in the UK and what was then known as the EEC, as well as many of those used in the US and other countries.
Subsequently, John expanded his interests in food to global political economy, including the challenges and causes of under-nutrition. Drawing on political economy theories of modernization, dependency, underdevelopment, and entitlement, he argues that hunger and under-nutrition are intimately linked to lack of food entitlement under economic systems, such as capitalism imperialism, and colonialism. They cannot be adequately understood by reference to food scarcity, excessive population growth or narrowly conceived notions of ecological degradation. John’s work in the field of Political Economy of Food is exemplified by the following publications:
John Abraham Food and Development: The Political Economy of Hunger and the Modern Diet, 304pp, Kogan Page, 1991.
John Abraham (1987) ‘Food, Development and our Inner Ecology’ in (eds.) Lacey, C. and Williams, R., Education, Ecology and Development, pp. 39-64. Kogan Page.
Erik Millstone and John Abraham (1988) Additives: A Guide for Everyone, 219pp, Penguin Books, 1988.
John Abraham and Erik Millstone (1989) ‘Food additive controls: some international comparisons’ Food Policy 14: 43-58.
John Abraham and Erik Millstone (1997) ‘Food additive controls: some international comparisons’ in (ed.) Jasanoff, S., Comparative Science and Technology Policy. Elgar.
Erik Millstone and John Abraham (1986) ‘Additives Charts’ in Jackson, F. Take the E out of Eating, pp. 116-122. Windward.