Currently browsing posts about: Books

Maryn McKenna.  Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats.  National Geographic, 2017.

I did a blurb for this terrific book, out on September 12:

If you think raising farm animals on antibiotics is nothing to worry about, Big Chicken will change your mind in a hurry.  McKenna, a compelling writer, tells a gripping story: how antibiotics helped transform chicken-raising from backyard to industrial.  Her account of the profit-driven politics that allowed widespread antibiotic resistance should be required reading for anyone who cares about food and health, and especially for congressional representatives who have consistently failed to take action on this critical issue.

Bronwen and Frances Percival.  Reinventing the Wheel: Milk, Microbes, and the Fight for Real Cheese.  University of California Press, 2017.

In this book, the Percivals take a serious deep dive into the culinary history, sociology, politics, terroir, microbiology, and how-to of the making and eating of cheeses, raw and pasteurized.  Both kinds, when done right, can be delicious and safe.  This book should convince anyone that the making of wondrous cheeses is a science as well as an art.

Laura Shapiro.  What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells their Stories.  Penguin Random House, 2017

I happily did a blurb for this one:

Laura Shapiro has done it again!  She’s given us a fascinating and wonderfully entertaining history of six women of the last two centuries you might never have thought of as foodies, yet here they are distinguished by how differently they dealt with the overwhelming importance of food in their lives.  What She Ate argues—and proves–that every woman has a food story.  It ought to inspire all of us who love food to get busy on our memoirs.

I can hardly believe that I have been writing this blog for ten yers, but this is indeed the tenth anniversary of its official beginning.  I will be writing about the blog this week, reflecting on its origins and why I keep doing it.

Stay tuned.

In the meantime, have a thoughtful and generous Memorial Day! 

Amy E. Guptill, Denise A. Copelton and Betsy Lucal.  Food & Society: Principles and Paradoxes, 2nd ed.  Polity, 2016.  

I did a blurb for this one:

Food & Society gives us a fascinating introduction to the issues in food studies of greatest current concern.  From identity to health, marketing, and the externalized costs of food, this exceptionally well researched and written book explains why food matters so much and why it generates such intense controversy.  The book may be aimed at students, but anyone interested in food issues will have much to learn from the paradoxes it presents.

Tanya M. Kerssen and Teresa K. Miller.  Food First: Selected Writings from 40 Years of Movement Building.  Food First Books, 2015.

I just got sent my copy of this book, for which I did this blurb:

For 40 years, Food First has been at the forefront of deep thinking about the consequences of agricultural and food consumption practices and injustices, and what needs to be done to achieve food systems that are healthier for people and the planet.  It is an invaluable resource for students, scholars, and advocates.  May it flourish for another 40 years at least!

It’s a reader, introduced by Francis Moore Lappé, with dozens of short essays on hunger, food aid, the green revolution, agroecology, peasant food sovereignty, food justice, climate justice, and transformative food movements.

It also has a timeline of the impressive achievements of Food First, starting with Frankie Lappé’s inspirational Diet for a Small Planet (I used it as a textbook in the first nutrition class I ever taught) and ending with Eric Holt-Gimenez’s anniversary speaking tour.

Happy anniversary First Food, and apologies for the late greetings.

Stephen Ritz with Suzie Boss.  The Power of a Plant: A Teacher’s Odyssey to Grow Healthy Minds and Schools.  Rodale, 2017.  

I did a blurb for this most entertaining book:

Here’s proof positive that one person can make a difference.  Stephen Ritz uses food plants—the Bronx Green Machine–to transform kids and their school environments.  You can do this too!

Katy Keiffer. What’s the Matter with Meat?  Reaktion Books, 2017.

Katy has a terrific show on Heritage Radio that I’ve been on several times and I was happy to do a blurb for her new book:

Katy Keiffer has produced a thorough and well researched analysis of everything that’s wrong with industrial meat production.  Her book is worth reading for its focus on animal welfare, antibiotic resistance, and worker safety, but even more for its critique of the effects of animal feed production on international trade and land grabs.  This book is for everyone who cares about how meat-eating affects our planet.