Paleo 4 every1!!!!!!!!

Occasionally I get the criticism that the paleo diet would destroy the world if everyone ate this way or it's an impracticable diet for the world. But how many of us are preaching this diet as a cure for world hunger? Not many.

Most of the world's population can't eat paleo, but they also can't get enough calories. Does that mean we all should eat a diet of 800 calories millet gruel every day? Paleo, for most, is a diet of self-improvement and making the best out of your circumstances, which is a healthy and natural human desire.

But I did study agricultural development in college and I do think about what, for example, these people from Chad are eating:

Not much. You often hear the claim that if we devoted blah blah blah acres of land to growing beans for everyone instead of raising cattle we could feed the world. Yeah right. If for some reason farmers in the US had to stop raising cattle do you think they'd just randomly start growing grain for Africans and giving it away? Do you think this unlikely event would be good? How do you think the above farmers would feel if they spent grueling hours toiling over fields of millet and all the sudden there was free grain flooding the market and they couldn't sell their crop?

We need to think really hard about why these people don't have enough food. Corrupt governments mean messed up markets and sometimes the seizure of farmer's land in many third world countries. Lack of infrastructure and agricultural technology means they are unable to get much out of their land. The reasons why the third world is the third world have little to do with my decision to eat grass fed meat in the US.

If you think being a vegetarian will feed these people you are wrong. And if you asked these people from Chad what food they would like, they would say meat. Meat is the most prized food in most poor cultures and poor women will go to great lengths to get it for their children. Development projects they provide people with animals such as Heifer International or microloan programs are among the most successful. Livestock is an investment, provides milk/eggs, some meat, and fertilizer. One of the most revealing moments in my wealthy high school was when my homeroom was sponsoring a Heifer project. A wealthy white vegan girl was against it because she was worried that the people in Africa might eat the animal...

Paternalistic development projects that assume one size fits all models are mostly useless and sometimes devastating. I suggest everyone read development economist William Easterly's excellent book The White Man's Burden.

So what is the paleo diet? For most of us, it's not a project to save the world. It's a diet for a post-demographic transition society* where fertility is low and calorie availability is high. It's for people more worried about diabetes than dysentery.

I think most solutions have to be localized and local-driven, which also why I think the battle between the anti-organics and organics is so silly. Sometimes GMOs are a good solution and sometimes organic composting is a good solution. It depends on the local situation. I don't really believe either is a point-blank solution, particularly when infrastructure and badly hampered markets seem to be the elephant in the room.

*If you are worried about OMGTOOMANYPEOPLE you should definitely know about the demographic transition. Hint: Once women have jobs, they aren't so interested in having 12 children.