Introduction
Food is an essential element among people under dynamic spectral views due to its significant contribution to the body’s energy index. This research focuses on the evaluation of the impact of food availability and consumption during the war. Transcendentally, the primary literature source enshrines an article from the Journal of Late Antiquity entitled “War, food, climate change, and the Decline of the Roman Empire” by Paul Erdkamp, published in 2019. During combat, regions and communities experience a proficient paradigm shift in daily engagements, mainly concerning the supply process of basic needs. At the onset of World War I, a significant percentage of the military troops encountered prominent challenges based on the distribution system and the essence of distinctive food culture. The vital issue of food sustenance during armed conflict encompasses comprehending the importance of the rural world, food acculturation, and the markets in advancing production and consumptive rates.
The Weaponization of Food Scarcity during Warfare
Food is an emblem of a country’s economic growth and development on account of the profitability from the high demand and supply essence. In the research by Erdkamp (2019), it is noted that one of Winston Churchill’s insights on winning World War I encompassed starving the enemies. Over the decades, different states prioritized certain trading approaches, hence the prominence of importing food in exchange for distinctive commodities. However, the warfare attributed to a profound disruption in the supply chain of food across the trade routes. Ideally, Erdkamp (2019) postulates that the food market system formed an optimal opportunity for military enemies to exploit with the aim of counterparts conceding defeat. The strategic management in the distribution and accessibility of food across the populace proficiently contributed to the sustenance of economic growth and development and a unitary structure.
The Politics of Hunger During Warfare
Food during warfare adeptly impacts the associated politics of hunger in distinctive societies. Erdkamp (2019) indicates that countries optimized the positive outcome of the affiliated politics on food distribution during the First World War, On the one hand, it was the government’s responsibility to protect the citizens from starvation. On the other hand, the administrations faced the issue of accessing adequate food and effective distribution channels to the military teams at the front. Therefore, such countries as French and Britain merged forces on enhancing the distribution of food across the region despite the warfare. In a different spectrum, Erdkamp (2019) postulates that the essentials of food distribution depend on the articulate regional food culture. According to the researcher, a significant percentage of urban residents rely on the supply of food from rural areas (Erdkamp, 2019). Fundamentally, food is a mediating factor to a functional unitary system within a nation while promoting interdependence among communities.
Food Acculturation During Warfare
Despite the proficient role of the politics on hunger to ensure control in the food distribution system, a major challenge encountered during warfare engulfs the embodied culture. Different societies uphold distinctive cuisines based on the available resources, norms, and beliefs. Erdkamp (2019) depicts that Britain, French, and Germany survived during the first world war due to the acculturation effect of intensifying calorie intake. The strategy empowered the soldiers with extra body energy to effectively participate and engage in the battle. Santich (2011) articulates that during skirmishes, the prominence of food consumption disregards taste and experience for optimal energy retention. In a different study, Fischler (1988) argues that food determines an individual’s identity. It is crucial to establish vital perceptions and ideologies regarding eating habits among personnel in various communities.
Food acculturation is an initiative attributed to the alternative overview of provision especially during warfare. Fischler (1988) establishes that different professionals assess the impact of food across dynamic gradients. However, the researcher depicts that the core relationship between food intake and human behavior regards three mediating factors; nutritional demand, metabolic regulation, and code of conduct among personnel (Fischler, 1988). Erdkamp (2019) exploits Fischler’s (1988) concept of interdependence to justify cultural relativism mainly during combat. The desperation among nations participating in the first world war triggered the importance of alliances prominently to advance the food supply chain based on the reduced economic activities and disruption of trade routes. While Fischler (1988), Van de Berghe (1984) stipulated the marginal outlier between natural and culturally oriented feeding systems. According to Van de Berghe (1984), the evolution from eating raw food to cooking rendered the shift to cultural elements within the food sector. Therefore, the distinction between feeding habits and well-being optimally relies on the food culture. An excellent example is French cuisine which optimizes quality. Nevertheless, warfare fosters the acculturation of ethnic cuisine as a means of satisfying the dynamic populace on account of achieving the main goal of winning the battle.
Attribution of Self-identity through Food Acculturation during Warfare
Self-identity is a necessity that steers the emergence of individualism and ultimate growth and development. Fischler (1988) indicates that food is a constructive agent to a person’s psychological, biological, and sociological dimensions. Transcendentally, the researcher further postulates that although food is a multifaceted phenomenon mainly on its influential capacity on the human body, two amplitudes justify the functional essence of the community (Fischler, 1988). One of the linkages influencing human behavior enshrines alignment on biological to cultural perspective while the other approach entails individualism to collective quotients on psychological and social indicators. Ideally, Fischler (1988) adopts an interdependent relationship with the distinctive variables defining the parameters of self-actualization. In the study by Erdkamp (2019), the increase in calories focused on the second standpoint regarding the function of food during warfare. Ideally, the governments override the essential focus on prioritizing balanced dieting to a conventional perspective on body performance psychologically and socially.
Food Production during Warfare
Food production is an embedded pillar that determines a country’s sociocultural, economic, and political growth and development. Research by Renard and Tilman (2019) focuses on the stabilization of food distribution and availability through the incorporation of crop diversity. Although the initiative is a sustainable outlier, the core challenge involves relevance during the war. Renard and Tilman (2019) note that sustenance in agricultural farming involves articulating the vital elements enhancing the provision of food with high nutritional value. In a different continuum, Mazo (2020) aligns the argumentative construct along the margin of humanitarianism. Ideally, Mazo (2020) establishes that international humanitarian law forbids countries from weaponizing food scarcity for enemies to concede war. However, Erdkamp (2019) further intensifies the perspective based on the integral aspect to ensure a functional and convenient food supply system. The assessment of food during combat renders a profound insight concerning its mediating role across the human society, globally.
Conclusion
Consequently, food supply during warfare is a necessity to all entities due to the demand for human body energy to engage in the event. Politicizing the food supply chain and accessibility is against humanitarian law due to the prominent negative extensive impact on the general populace. Therefore, it is the government’s responsibility to establish distribution routes advancing sustainable growth and development, especially regarding food accessibility during combat. As a multifaceted phenomenon, food culture attributes to the diversity of consumptive habits that are altered during skirmishes to ensure the representation of divergent individualism and self-identity within the spectral overview.
References
Erdkamp, P. (2019). War, food, climate change, and the decline of the Roman Empire. Journal of Late Antiquity, 12(2), 422-465.
Fischler, C. (1988). Food, self and identity. Social Science Information, 27(2), 275-292.
Mazo, A. F. (2020). The protection of access to food for civilians under international humanitarian law: Acts constituting war crimes. The Age of Human Rights Journal, (14), 181-209.
Renard, D., & Tilman, D. (2019). National food production stabilized by crop diversity. Nature, 571(7764), 257-260.
Santich, B. (2011). Looking for flavour (2nd ed.). Adelaide, Australia: Wakefield Press.
Van den Berghe, P. L. (1984). Ethnic cuisine: Culture in nature. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 7(3), 387-397.