Food and Revolution: Fighting Hunger in Nicaragua, 1960–1993

Abstract

This new book by historian Christiane Berth takes a fresh look at the Nicaraguan Revolution (1979–90) through the lens of food culture and policy. Her study makes a welcome contribution to the existing literature on revolutionary food policy by shedding light on food security matters over the several decades leading up to the revolution and during the revolution itself, explaining how these were consequential for the ultimate success of the revolutionary project. The novelty of Berth's approach is twofold: on the one hand, she broadens the analysis of (pre)revolutionary food politics to include international relief agencies, and, on the other hand, she places Nicaraguan consumers at the center of her analysis.The main premise of the book is that “insufficient access to food contributed to the rise and demise of the Nicaraguan Revolution” (5). Berth develops this thesis over six chronological chapters, followed by a seventh chapter that explores the unique food history of the Caribbean Coast and an epilogue that provides a look at more recent developments in the area of food policy. The first few chapters focus on early efforts by Central American development organizations to document malnutrition and hunger in Nicaragua in the 1950s and 1960s and the failure of the Somoza government to meaningfully respond to growing food insecurity, which ultimately helped to boost opposition to the regime. Access to food became a significant issue in the 1970s, particularly for low-income Nicaraguans, due to a number of factors, including waning Alliance for Progress food aid, low harvests resulting in dependence on expensive food imports, increasing urbanization, and the government's mismanagement of international aid funds following the 1972 earthquake that destroyed much of Managua. Against this backdrop, local food cultures were shifting as middle- and upper-income Nicaraguans increasingly preferred locally produced processed and fast foods and imported luxury foods. Influenced by discourses on US imperialism, revolutionaries rejected the growing influence of Americanized food cultures in favor of personal austerity in solidarity with low-income communities.Upon the success of the revolution in 1979, the revolutionary government, led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), prioritized food security as a critical component of the revolutionary project. Through an innovative package of policy reforms and public programs, the FSLN government sought to eliminate hunger and malnutrition by promoting self-sufficiency and traditional Nicaraguan foods. International cooperation and relief agencies worked with the government and local actors to realize these goals. However, as Berth argues, these measures ultimately underestimated the food preferences and demands of a diverse national constituency that included urban and rural consumers as well as the unique food cultures of Caribbean Coast communities.By the mid-1980s, Nicaragua found itself in a crippling economic crisis, leading to food scarcity and, in response, the increasing importation of food that weakened the revolution's goal of food self-sufficiency. Despite attempts by the revolutionary government to galvanize support for the revolutionary food project, these efforts were derailed by disproportionate access to food across geographic regions and social groups. As Berth notes, “Nicaraguan consumers' dissatisfaction over food insecurity turned into overall disillusionment with the revolutionary project in 1988” (145). With the success of opposition candidate Violeta Chamorro in the 1990 presidential election came the end of the revolution and the beginning of neoliberalism. However, Berth asserts that the period of transition to the new government was one of continuity and not a sharp break, given the FSLN's adoption of austerity policies beginning in 1986 to stabilize the economy. Furthermore, she argues that hunger and malnutrition had been growing during the later years of the revolution and continued to do so into the early 1990s. In this context, Nicaragua remained dependent on food aid while elites promoted US models of consumption, and imported goods once again became popular.A key strength of Berth's analysis is that it provides a comprehensive historical portrait of change (and continuity) in the national food regime as well as a nuanced understanding of the roles of international aid and relief agencies and their interactions with the government and local actors. Furthermore, the chapter on the Caribbean Coast is an appreciated addition because, as Berth points out, it is often overlooked in studies on food policy in Nicaragua. That said, readers may find the structure of the book curious. While the epilogue on more contemporary debates over food security and sovereignty is timely, the book lacks a concluding chapter to pull together the various strands of inquiry examined in the book. This does not diminish the important contribution of this book in terms of its scope of inquiry, however, and the epilogue in fact opens the door for future scholarship that examines, for example, the ways in which history may in fact be repeating itself in Nicaragua.