Dark winter days lend themselves well to reading. We thought we’d share the titles of recently published books about food and farming that we enjoyed this year (including some we’ve mentioned in previous newsletters). We recommend all of these:
Fields of Plenty, Michael Ableman — An entertaining tour of dozens of small American farms in summer. Includes recipes and photos.
Fields that Dream, Jenny Kurzweil — A similar premise: bios of small farms that sell at the Seattle University market. We loved the local focus and felt like Kurzweil brought more thought and research to her portraits than Ableman did to his.
What to Eat, Marion Nestle— Nestle is one of our #1 heroes. She’s an activist/academic nutritionist who blends her diet advice with revealing back-stories about the politics affecting what we eat. This book is a comprehensive look at the many food options we face as Americans.
Real Food: What to Eat and Why, Nina Planck — A less well researched and accredited book than Nestle’s, Planck addresses similar questions by focusing on the distinctions between industrial and traditional foods.
The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation, David Kamp — A gossipy account of chefs and food writers and how they influenced the way we eat in recent decades.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan — Pollan is a favorite writer of ours. This book is especially good, taking an extended (and entertaining) look at industrial foods and the alternatives. While we had a few arguments with the way he tends to reduce arguments, we highly recommend it. In fact, I was so touched by his final paragraph that I wanted to share it here as well:
“Imagine for a moment if we once again knew, strictly as a matter of course, these few unremarkable things: What it is we’re eating. Where it came from. How it found its way to our table. And what, in a true accounting, it really cost … we would no longer need any reminding that however we choose to feed ourselves, we eat by the grace of nature, not industry, and what we’re eating is never anything more or less than the body of the world.”
