There are moments in life when doubts on closely held beliefs begin to surface, as truth gets distilled out of social delusion. It eventually guides us to hold our assumptions to a deeper scrutiny. That is what award-winning journalist Jocelyn Zuckerman has succeeded through her groundbreaking research, compelling the reader to examine the connections between the choices we make at the grocery store that keeps the planet under siege. That palm oil’s overwhelming presence in soap and lipstick to baby formula and dog feed is the cause for persistence of poverty and hunger in other parts of world would unsettle any sane mind.
Having insinuated itself into every facet of our lives over the past few decades, palm oil alone counts for one-third of total global vegetable-oil consumption. With annual purchase of 9.2 million metric tones in 2019, India is the world’s number-one palm oil importer. Far from being a boon to the world economy, the multi-billion dollar palm oil business has been a bane instead. Our growing appetite has worsened the situation - more forests are cleared for new plantations, forcible evictions have escalated human sufferings; and enhanced carbon emissions remain the resultant outcome. Despite its long term health and environmental implications, the worrisome aspect is how a lesser-known oil suddenly became an indispensable consumer product? Did consumers really demand it, or had it somehow been the other way round?
Zuckerman unearths palm oil troubled colonial legacy to draw a parallel with its current fetishism, promoted by ruthless industrialization of our modern food systems. With multiple uses and an economic life of a quarter century, palm oil productive potential could not escape the attention of maverick George Goldie, credited for securing Nigeria for the Crown, and quirky businessman William Lever, for establishing oil-palm plantations in Congo, whose disturbing ways of the 19th century continue to loom large over the palm oil industry today. The story of palm oil is the story of colonialism, which is sinister in its present-day design involving armed gangsters, murderous executive, and corrupt politicians.
Planet Palm is not only a disturbing expose on contemporary ills associated with the palm oil trade but holds unsuspecting consumers complicit in the corporate monopolisation of $65 billion global business. Trade liberalisation has contributed to this inconspicuous consumption, easing crossborder peddling of ultra-processed junk foods by multinational companies. ‘Part of the problem, ‘ explains Zuckerman, ‘is the sort of nutrient-deficient, heavily processed junk that all of this cheap oil enables’. And land planted with oil palm across the developing world, an estimated 104,000 square miles, is land which is diverted from growing healthy foods. Having traveled across four continents, from Indonesia to Honduras and from Liberia to India, the author is unsparing in her revelations, providing disturbing evidences on the world’s most environmentally damaging product – something most of us unknowingly use every day.
It is an extraordinary work of investigative journalism that will make the discerning reader rush to look differently at the items stacked in its kitchen and bathroom. The collective power of consumer choices is critical to turning things around as incidences of violence against those opposing the industry has grown – half of 212 eco-defenders reported killed in 2019 were opposing palm oil interests. Such intimately linked are national economies (those of Malaysia and Indonesia) to the palm oil industry that even the governments remain obliged to defend the commodity. What could be more shocking than the fact that France was diplomatically forced to drop plans for a tax on palm oil in 2016, as Indonesian government had made it clear that passage of the law might result in the execution of a French citizen then being held in Jakarta on drug-trafficking charges. Palm oil business is reviving the colonial-era historical horrors.
Engaging, intriguing and disturbing, Zuckerman provides compelling account of the darkest underside of late-stage capitalism. While there is no denying that our food systems need overhauling, equally important for the consumers is to raise their voices to demand more transparency from the industry. Zuckerman leaves the reader with an optimist note to wean ourselves away from palm oil by using synthetic versions of the oil and convincing companies to adopt no-deforestation policies in their production codes.
Planet Palm is a riveting account blending history, science, politics, and food as seen through the lives of people upended by this hidden ingredient. Instructive and provocative, Planet Palm makes an essential reading for everyone who wonders if our food choices matter.
by Jocelyn C. Zuckerman
Hurst & Co, London
Extent: 335, Price: Rs. 1,606.
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