The Grand Food Bargain

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O

n a weekend reprieve from work, Pablo and I traveled down a

washboard dirt road so straight it narrowed before vanishing

into the horizon. We were in South Africa, near Botswana’s

border. Staring back at us was a brown monotone landscape of des-

ert bushes, rock outcroppings, and plateaus. Such drab, uninspiring

scenery was not what I had hoped for, given the region’s importance in

human history. For anyone who ever lived in the last eight thousand

generations, this continent was home—this was where the human

race began.

Journeying this far merited contemplation of long-ago history, but

the immediate future took priority. Within an hour we would arrive at

a game park reserve and stay overnight. Pablo had made arrangements

for a guided safari deep within the park’s boundaries so that we could

observe, up close, wild animals within their natural habitat.

Chapter 3

More Is Never Enough

Each morning on the plains of Africa, a gazelle awakens, knowing it must outrun the

fastest lion or be killed. At the same time, a lion wakes up, knowing it must outrun

the slowest gazelle or starve to death. So whether you are a lion or gazelle does not

matter. When the Sun comes up in the morning, start running.

—African Proverb

Kevin D. Walker, The Grand Food Bargain: And the Mindless Drive for More,

DOI 10.5822/ 978-1-61091-948-7_3, © 2019 Kevin D. Walker.