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In Europe, concerns about obesity have been stimulated by trends in several member states, raising challenges for multilevel governance. This paper gives a picture of obesity in Europe, pointing to variations between and within countries. It discusses the various explanations of generalized weight gain, and the policy levers that might tackle it, the paper also maps current policy responses. Policy considerations raised include financial burdens, health-care management, social inequalities, cultural issues, welfare support, and farm and food industry drivers. The paper proposes that obesity is unlikely to be reduced unless it receives both multi-level and multi-field analysis and intervention. In this context, action in Europe is hampered by a fragmented institutional architecture at all levels of governance. It also raises serious questions about the unequal relations between the state, the market and civil society within Europe. The paper concludes with a suggestion that obesity warrants improved European linkages across discrete areas of policy.

Introduction : what's the problem? -- Sustainable diets : welcome to the arguments -- Methodologies : measuring what matters while not drowning in complexity -- Health : nutrition science and the messy effects of diet on health -- Environment : why food drives ecosystems stress -- Culture : the social conditions shaping eating patterns -- Food quality : everyone likes their own food -- Real food economics : runaway costs and concentration -- Policy and governance : will anyone unlock the consumption lock-in? -- Conclusions : why sustainable diets matter now

India was the third country in the world to enact into law a constitutional commitment to the right to food, following Brazil and South Africa. The 2013 National Food Security Act (NFSA) was the latest in a long line of post-Independence food policies aimed at tackling hunger. This paper explores the range of discourses among NFSA policy-makers, their views and disagreements, from drafting to the final Act. The research used mixed methods. Elite semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 individuals who were either directly involved in NFSA formulation or food security specialist observers. Policy documents covering the period from before the Act and during the Act's passage were critically analysed. Significant intra-governmental disagreements were apparent between two broad positions. A 'pro-rights' position sought to formulate a law that was as comprehensive and rights-based as possible, while a 'pro-economy' policy position saw the NFSA as a waste of money, resources and time, although recognising the political benefits of a food security law. These disagreements were consistent throughout the formulation of the NFSA, and in turn cast the Act as a product of compromise. Although there was broad consensus for a food security act, there was surprisingly little agreement exactly how that Act should look, what it should contain, and whom it should target. There was little consensus even on the right to food approach itself. The article contributes to the understanding of policy formulation in India specifically, and in developing countries in general, as well as to lend credence to the suitability of policy analysis to developing nations, otherwise normally grounded in Western traditions. The paper highlights a lack of cross-government cooperation in policy formulation, with the continued pressure of a short-term economic rationale undermining the policy goal of lessening hunger, despite some success.

Food policy has long been viewed as an essential part of the public health agenda, but this book identifies the importance of environmental damage and social inequalities to these issues. The authors offer a review of current and past food policy, proposing the need for a new ecological public health approach to food policy