There is no doubt that we need to think more carefully about where our food comes from. Food has a staggering impact on the planet: the systems involved in its production account for over a third of total greenhouse gas emissions and 70 per cent of fresh-water usage, while also causing 40 per cent or more of river and lake pollution. As the world’s population grows and the impact of climate change ratchets up, the need to design and deliver sustainable and resilient food systems, grounded in a shared responsibility to care for people and the planet, is becoming ever more critical.

Julian Baggini is a philosopher who has written many books on how to be and how to think. His straightforward proposition is that philosophy should have an impact on how we live our lives. His writing often explores the connections between principles and practices – the complex circuitry between how we think and how this works out day to day. I admired his How to Think Like a Philosopher, which puts forward twelve principles derived from the practice of philosophical thinking. Like all good philosophers, Baggini is concerned with questions of morality, knowledge and value – with what is right, what is true and how we should act.

Food is a recurring theme in Baggini’s writing, though it’s not clear to me whether he’s a foodie. In The Pig That Wants to be Eaten, he uses food to dish up wider philosophical problems. In another book, The Virtues of the Table, he addresses the subject of food directly,