In Planet Palm: How Palm Oil Ended Up in Everything—and Endangered the World, Jocelyn Zuckerman chronicles how palm oil, a traditional West African crop, was co-opted by Europeans and now hides under hundreds of names in nearly half of packaged grocery store products. Zuckerman takes the reader through the past 150 years of the palm oil industry—from its colonial origins to how it continues to exploit workers, consumers, and the environment today. Zuckerman is a journalist at heart and does not shy away from exposing the abusive, capital-driven decisions made by political leaders, nor is she afraid to admit her personal fears during the dangerous journey she embarked on to collect material for this book.
Zuckerman begins with the dark history of how European imperialism spread the palm oil plant (Elaeis guineensis) from Africa to South America and Southeast Asia. She then explains the catastrophic environmental and ethical consequences...
University of California Press