Quiz!
Further Reading
In Defense of Food – Michael Pollan
"In Defense of Food shows us how, despite the daunting dietary landscape Americans confront in the modern supermarket, we can escape the Western diet and, by doing so, most of the chronic diseases that diet causes. Michael Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating."
Omnivore’s Dilemma – Michael Pollan
"The surprising answers Pollan offers to the simple question posed by this book, "What should we have for dinner?" have profound political, economic, psychological, and even moral implications for all of us. Beautifully written and thrillingly argued, The Omnivore’s Dilemma promises to change the way we think about the politics and pleasure of eating. For anyone who reads it, dinner will never again look, or taste, quite the same. "
Food Rules – Michael Pollan
"Eating doesn’t have to be so complicated. In this age of ever-more elaborate diets and conflicting health advice, Food Rules brings a welcome simplicity to our daily decisions about food...This indispensable handbook lays out a set of straightforward, memorable rules for eating wisely, one per page accompanied by a concise explanation. It’s an easy-to-use guide that draws from a variety of traditions, suggesting how different cultures through the ages have arrived at the same enduring wisdom about food. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat buffet, this is the perfect guide for anyone who ever wondered, “What should I eat?”"
Animal Vegetable Miracle – Barbara Kingsolver
"Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it."
Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods – Gary Paul Nabhan
"Nabhan, a subsistence hunter, ethnobiologist, and activist devoted to recovering lost food traditions, gave himself a task: to spend a year trying to eat foods grown, fished, or gathered within 250 miles of his Arizona home. His book, both personal document and political screed, details this experiment from the moment Nabhan purges his kitchen of canned and other processed foods ("If this year could resolve anything for me, perhaps it would rid me of the desire to ever again buy any packaged food that boasted of its homemade flavor....") to a final food-gathering pilgrimage."
How to Change the World – David Bornstein
"How to Change the World shows, as its title suggests, that with determination and innovation, even a single person can make a surprising difference. For anyone seeking to make a positive mark on the world, this will be both an inspiring read and an invaluable handbook. It will change the way you see the world."
Fatal Harvest – edited by Andrew Kimbrell
""We ... find ourselves in the midst of a historic battle over two very different visions of the future of food in the 21st century. A grassroots public movement for organic, ecological, and humane food is now challenging the decades-long hegemony of the corporate, industrial model." With 58 essays and more than 250 photographs, Kimbrell, director of the Center for Food Safety, aims to provide "a timely treasure trove of ammunition" for that movement. The ammunition includes a litany of environmental harms caused by industrial agriculture and a strategy for bringing about "the end of agribusiness.""
Fast Food Nation – Eric Schlosser
"It's no good denying it: people like fast food because it can taste pretty good. But what they may not know about is the cocktail of chemicals that gives the French fry its taste - nor the grisly events in the slaughterhouses that can put something nasty in the burger along with the beef. Eric Schlosser follows the food chain in the US, home of the fast food franchise"
"In Defense of Food shows us how, despite the daunting dietary landscape Americans confront in the modern supermarket, we can escape the Western diet and, by doing so, most of the chronic diseases that diet causes. Michael Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating."
Omnivore’s Dilemma – Michael Pollan
"The surprising answers Pollan offers to the simple question posed by this book, "What should we have for dinner?" have profound political, economic, psychological, and even moral implications for all of us. Beautifully written and thrillingly argued, The Omnivore’s Dilemma promises to change the way we think about the politics and pleasure of eating. For anyone who reads it, dinner will never again look, or taste, quite the same. "
Food Rules – Michael Pollan
"Eating doesn’t have to be so complicated. In this age of ever-more elaborate diets and conflicting health advice, Food Rules brings a welcome simplicity to our daily decisions about food...This indispensable handbook lays out a set of straightforward, memorable rules for eating wisely, one per page accompanied by a concise explanation. It’s an easy-to-use guide that draws from a variety of traditions, suggesting how different cultures through the ages have arrived at the same enduring wisdom about food. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat buffet, this is the perfect guide for anyone who ever wondered, “What should I eat?”"
Animal Vegetable Miracle – Barbara Kingsolver
"Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it."
Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods – Gary Paul Nabhan
"Nabhan, a subsistence hunter, ethnobiologist, and activist devoted to recovering lost food traditions, gave himself a task: to spend a year trying to eat foods grown, fished, or gathered within 250 miles of his Arizona home. His book, both personal document and political screed, details this experiment from the moment Nabhan purges his kitchen of canned and other processed foods ("If this year could resolve anything for me, perhaps it would rid me of the desire to ever again buy any packaged food that boasted of its homemade flavor....") to a final food-gathering pilgrimage."
How to Change the World – David Bornstein
"How to Change the World shows, as its title suggests, that with determination and innovation, even a single person can make a surprising difference. For anyone seeking to make a positive mark on the world, this will be both an inspiring read and an invaluable handbook. It will change the way you see the world."
Fatal Harvest – edited by Andrew Kimbrell
""We ... find ourselves in the midst of a historic battle over two very different visions of the future of food in the 21st century. A grassroots public movement for organic, ecological, and humane food is now challenging the decades-long hegemony of the corporate, industrial model." With 58 essays and more than 250 photographs, Kimbrell, director of the Center for Food Safety, aims to provide "a timely treasure trove of ammunition" for that movement. The ammunition includes a litany of environmental harms caused by industrial agriculture and a strategy for bringing about "the end of agribusiness.""
Fast Food Nation – Eric Schlosser
"It's no good denying it: people like fast food because it can taste pretty good. But what they may not know about is the cocktail of chemicals that gives the French fry its taste - nor the grisly events in the slaughterhouses that can put something nasty in the burger along with the beef. Eric Schlosser follows the food chain in the US, home of the fast food franchise"
Relevant Documentaries
King Corn
"Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat--and how we farm."
An Inconvenient Truth
"While global warming is a hotly-debated subject, what everyone on both sides can agree upon is that, if real, it's a very bad thing. Since losing the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore has busied himself by being an outspoken figure against this potential environmental disaster. As much about the man as about greenhouse gases, this candid, powerful and informative documentary illuminates some of the myths surrounding both of its subjects equally well."
Food Inc
"In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA...Food, Inc. reveals surprising - and often shocking truths - about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here."
Supersize Me
" Why are Americans so fat? Two words: fast food. What would happen if you ate nothing but fast food for an entire month? Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock does just that and embarks on the most perilous journey of his life...Spurlock's grueling drive-through diet spirals him into a physical and emotional metamorphosis that will make you think twice about picking up another Big Mac."
The Future of Food
"'The Future of Food' illuminates the major issues ultimately affecting us all -- some surreal, some futuristic, many frightening. Yet, 'The Future of Food' is a hopeful film, featuring insightful and moving interviews with farmers, agriculture and business experts and policymakers. It sees a future in which an informed consumer can join the revolution by demanding natural, healthy food sources that insure environmental integrity."
"Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat--and how we farm."
An Inconvenient Truth
"While global warming is a hotly-debated subject, what everyone on both sides can agree upon is that, if real, it's a very bad thing. Since losing the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore has busied himself by being an outspoken figure against this potential environmental disaster. As much about the man as about greenhouse gases, this candid, powerful and informative documentary illuminates some of the myths surrounding both of its subjects equally well."
Food Inc
"In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA...Food, Inc. reveals surprising - and often shocking truths - about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here."
Supersize Me
" Why are Americans so fat? Two words: fast food. What would happen if you ate nothing but fast food for an entire month? Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock does just that and embarks on the most perilous journey of his life...Spurlock's grueling drive-through diet spirals him into a physical and emotional metamorphosis that will make you think twice about picking up another Big Mac."
The Future of Food
"'The Future of Food' illuminates the major issues ultimately affecting us all -- some surreal, some futuristic, many frightening. Yet, 'The Future of Food' is a hopeful film, featuring insightful and moving interviews with farmers, agriculture and business experts and policymakers. It sees a future in which an informed consumer can join the revolution by demanding natural, healthy food sources that insure environmental integrity."
Further Web-Surfing
www.sustainabletable.org
"Sustainable Table celebrates local sustainable food, educates consumers on food-related issues and works to build community through food. Start with our introduction, or jump right in and get involved!"
www.transfairusa.org
"Fair Trade USA enables sustainable development and community empowerment by cultivating a more equitable global trade model that benefits farmers, workers, consumers, industry and the earth. We achieve our mission by certifying and promoting Fair Trade products."
www.fairtrade.net
"We are 24 organizations working to secure a better deal for producers. From our headquarters in Bonn, Germany, we set international Fairtrade standards and support Fairtrade producers... FLO is the organization that coordinates Fairtrade labelling at an international level. From our offices, in Bonn, Germany, we set international Fairtrade standards, organize support for producers around the world, develop global Fairtrade strategy, and promote trade justice internationally."
www.foodsecurity.org
"The Community Food Security Coalition catalyzes food systems that are healthy, sustainable, just, and democratic by building community voice and capacity for change."
vwww.localharvest.org
"The best organic food is what's grown closest to you. Use our website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies."
www.centerforfoodsafety.org
"Center for Food Safety works to protect human health and the environment by curbing the proliferation of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture."
www.thefoodproject.org
"Our mission is to grow a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a sustainable food system. We produce healthy food for residents of the city and suburbs and provide youth leadership opportunities. Most importantly, we strive to inspire and support others to create change in their own communities."
www.eatwild.com
"Your source for safe, healthy, natural and nutritious grass-fed beef, lamb, goats, bison, poultry, pork, dairy...and other wild edibles."
www.cropchoice.com
"CropChoice is an alternative news and information source for American farmers and consumers about genetically modified crops, corporate agribusiness concentration, farm and trade policy, sustainable agriculture, wind farming and alternative energy, and rural economic and social issues. CropChoice has news that big companies may not want farmers to hear. The CropChoice news service provides balance. It complements other news sources and helps American producers make the best planting and management decisions. Consumers are better infomed about the food they're buying, how it was produced and processed, and its source."
http://eatseasonably.co.uk/what-to-eat-now/calendar/
"Every fruit or vegetable has its season, the time of the year when you can enjoy it at its very best. This simple tool will guide you through what's in season when so you can better enjoy fruit and veg that tastes better, is better value and is better for the planet." (Note: this calendar may show slightly different growing months as it is a tool from the UK)
http://www.cuesa.org/seasonality/charts/vegetable.php
A seasonal vegetable calendar that shows approximately when produce is being harvested and when it will be available in farmer's markets.
http://www.plowcreek.org/farm/calendar.htm
Another useful seasonality calendar.
http://michaelpollan.com/
Michael Pollan is the author of Food Rules, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and In Defense of Food. His website includes valuable information through resources such as books, articles, media, news, and more.
http://eatlocalchallenge.com/
"EatLocalChallenge.com is a group blog written by authors who are interested in the benefits of eating food grown and produced in their local foodshed. Spanning the United States, the group is committed to challenging themselves to eat mainly local food during a specific period of time during the year."
http://www.eatwellguide.org/i.php?pd=Home
"Find farms, markets, restaurants, and more in the US and Canada." This website has an incredible search engine where you can search by keywords, zipcode, or city and state. There's even a "Plan a Trip" feature in which you can find sustainable options along your driving route.
http://www.ted.com/talks/birke_baehr_what_s_wrong_with_our_food_system.html
An eleven year old boy who talks about all the perils of our current industrial food system (in a cute southern accent).
"Sustainable Table celebrates local sustainable food, educates consumers on food-related issues and works to build community through food. Start with our introduction, or jump right in and get involved!"
www.transfairusa.org
"Fair Trade USA enables sustainable development and community empowerment by cultivating a more equitable global trade model that benefits farmers, workers, consumers, industry and the earth. We achieve our mission by certifying and promoting Fair Trade products."
www.fairtrade.net
"We are 24 organizations working to secure a better deal for producers. From our headquarters in Bonn, Germany, we set international Fairtrade standards and support Fairtrade producers... FLO is the organization that coordinates Fairtrade labelling at an international level. From our offices, in Bonn, Germany, we set international Fairtrade standards, organize support for producers around the world, develop global Fairtrade strategy, and promote trade justice internationally."
www.foodsecurity.org
"The Community Food Security Coalition catalyzes food systems that are healthy, sustainable, just, and democratic by building community voice and capacity for change."
vwww.localharvest.org
"The best organic food is what's grown closest to you. Use our website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies."
www.centerforfoodsafety.org
"Center for Food Safety works to protect human health and the environment by curbing the proliferation of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture."
www.thefoodproject.org
"Our mission is to grow a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a sustainable food system. We produce healthy food for residents of the city and suburbs and provide youth leadership opportunities. Most importantly, we strive to inspire and support others to create change in their own communities."
www.eatwild.com
"Your source for safe, healthy, natural and nutritious grass-fed beef, lamb, goats, bison, poultry, pork, dairy...and other wild edibles."
www.cropchoice.com
"CropChoice is an alternative news and information source for American farmers and consumers about genetically modified crops, corporate agribusiness concentration, farm and trade policy, sustainable agriculture, wind farming and alternative energy, and rural economic and social issues. CropChoice has news that big companies may not want farmers to hear. The CropChoice news service provides balance. It complements other news sources and helps American producers make the best planting and management decisions. Consumers are better infomed about the food they're buying, how it was produced and processed, and its source."
http://eatseasonably.co.uk/what-to-eat-now/calendar/
"Every fruit or vegetable has its season, the time of the year when you can enjoy it at its very best. This simple tool will guide you through what's in season when so you can better enjoy fruit and veg that tastes better, is better value and is better for the planet." (Note: this calendar may show slightly different growing months as it is a tool from the UK)
http://www.cuesa.org/seasonality/charts/vegetable.php
A seasonal vegetable calendar that shows approximately when produce is being harvested and when it will be available in farmer's markets.
http://www.plowcreek.org/farm/calendar.htm
Another useful seasonality calendar.
http://michaelpollan.com/
Michael Pollan is the author of Food Rules, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and In Defense of Food. His website includes valuable information through resources such as books, articles, media, news, and more.
http://eatlocalchallenge.com/
"EatLocalChallenge.com is a group blog written by authors who are interested in the benefits of eating food grown and produced in their local foodshed. Spanning the United States, the group is committed to challenging themselves to eat mainly local food during a specific period of time during the year."
http://www.eatwellguide.org/i.php?pd=Home
"Find farms, markets, restaurants, and more in the US and Canada." This website has an incredible search engine where you can search by keywords, zipcode, or city and state. There's even a "Plan a Trip" feature in which you can find sustainable options along your driving route.
http://www.ted.com/talks/birke_baehr_what_s_wrong_with_our_food_system.html
An eleven year old boy who talks about all the perils of our current industrial food system (in a cute southern accent).
