This book offers a critical analysis of how the West created the global food crisis. The hike in global food prices has pushed hundreds of millions more people into poverty, and sparked riots and protests in the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. Walden Bello, the leading writer and activist on the global South, provides a penetrating analysis of the various causes: not just the rise in energy costs, but also the IMF and WTO-led restructuring of the worldwide agricultural system. Charting the evolution of the current crisis, Bello also offers a way forward: the principle of food sovereignty, allowing the developing world to protect and sustain a diverse range of crops. "The Food Wars" is an impassioned, informed and constructive account of a critical turning point in the system of global trade.