Food politics books: so much to read, so little time
I haven’t been reviewing books on this site, mainly because so many of them flood into my office that I cannot keep up with them. But the public relations reps for a couple of recent books have been pushing hard for mentions. The books are good, important contributors to the food movement, and deserve readers.
I’m listing them in alphabetical order by title in two batches, now and tomorrow. Some of them I’ve blurbed, some not, but all have plenty of useful and interesting to say. Enjoy!
Butcher’s Guide to Well-Raised Meat, Joshua and Jessica Applestone and Alexandra Zissu, Clarkson Potter, 2011. The owners of Fleisher’s butcher shop in Kingston, New York, tell the story of how a couple of vegetarians came to open butcher shops that specialize in grass-fed and organic meats, done right. I know lots of vegetarians who would eat meat from animals raised sustainably and humanely, and this book is a how-to guide to finding the right butcher or doing it yourself.
Cultivating an Ecological Conscience, Fred Kirschenmann, Kentucky, 2010: Kirschenmann describes himself as a farmer-philosopher and so he is as he ruminates on his vision for sustainable agriculture as practiced on his own farm. My blurb points out that he’s “right up there with the other agronomic philosophers–Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson…It should inspire everyone to start planting and to think deeply about the food we eat.”
Fair Food, Oran Hesterman, Public Affairs, 2011: Hesterman is an agronomist who used to work with the Kellogg Foundation and now heads the Fair Food Network to work for sustainable food systems in Michigan. The book advocates for public policies that promote sustainability and food justice and explains how to work toward that goal. You want to change the system but don’t know how? Start here.
Farm Together Now, Amy Franceschini and Daniel Tucker, Chronicle Books, 2010: The authors interviewed and photographed 20 farmers throughout the country who are producing food in ways that advocate for food justice, sustainable agriculture, and local food movements. The book should inspire anyone to get out and farm.
Milk, Deborah Valenze, Yale, 2011: I blurbed this one: “Milk is the place to go to begin understanding how we got from dairy maids to industrial milk production and the current debates about the value of raw.” This is a serious work of history with great illustrations.
More to come….
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Next public appearance
Seattle: Queen Anne United Methodist Church
This is one of a series of lectures at The Well on Food, Faith, and Planet.
Queen Anne United Methodist Church, 1606 5th Ave West, Seattle.
My talk on the farm bill and SNAP is at 7:00 pm in the church sanctuary, followed by Q and A and a book signing.
It requires tickets. Get them here.
Comments
I had to drive next to one of those trucks hauling cows to slaughter the other day. It was horrible. The stench of feces and fear – one cow was down and kept looking at me through the lowest hole where you could only see feet of other cows. But she was down there and had her eye pressed to the hole. So much pain and fear as she moved trying to stand up.
Please stop parroting the lies of the so called “humane” animal exploiting, agri business “organic” farmers. Rotting flesh is not organic. Calling that business green is like the mercury laden light bulbs labeled “green” by GE who manufactures them. It is propaganda which a few questions exposes.
Questions:
Where are the animals slaughtered? How do they get to the slaughterhouse? What is the record of the slaughterhouse? How many animals are “processed” every day? Have these butchers spent a day in the slaughterhouse? Have they filmed the “humane” ride and the unloading and the conditions while animals wait for slaughter? Have they filmed the kill and hoist up before the heart stops?
How many days does it take to drive the cows to the slaughterhouse? Are any sent to Muslim or Jewish slaughterhouses?
I do not believe Joshua and Jessica Applestone are vegetarians – I doubt it.
When those cows and pigs are not put on a truck for a horrific ride without food or WATER to a horror filled slaughterhouse to be electrocuted, dragged with broken bones, and sometimes skinned alive, then you can talk about humane treatment of “meat” (read animals) done right.
Yes, some vegetarians might eat it because they do not know how to get the protein they need every day. But a book on that subject would be more in keeping with the sustainable movement than propaganda from the meat lobby about vegetarian butchers.
Gag
Thanks for the list of books. I’m currently working my way through Omnivore’s Dilemma and Tomatoland.
Currently reading Tomatoland (riveting!), on next to Fair Food.
Oh my, Victorian “dairy maids”, yes!, yes!! Tess of the D’Urbervilles certainly puts the lead in my pencil!! Ahhh, but could we all source our milk pure. Fair, pure and unfiltered from some grubby cowpox-infested wench.
More soppy emotional romantic foolishness from NYU’s “science” department.
Here’s an appropriate ‘alternative’ viewpoint…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zfzT7QfLZc
yes, I’m a troll, and not a nice person overall, which is why I like to pick on people who make democracy meet the needs of the citizens.
If you think I like the idea that you people can rehabilitate the idea of public sector as not a mere servant of business interests, well, you’ve got delusions, like I do when I fight the idea that government should be of the people, and for the people. Corporate interests and we soulless folks lobbying for the corporate control of all government activities will rule you all. Government should never operate with the people’s interests in mind, the “people” didn’t buy the entire congress like we corporations have succeeded in doing.
The dimunation of usefulness of the public sector is our goal and you people better fall into line.
interests.
Anyone know how E.M. Depuis’ “Milk: The Perfect Food” relates to the “Milk” book Marion listed?
Thank you for this list of new books. There seems to be a lot to read and ponder.
Marion: Thank you for the list of books. I have heard Fred Kirschenmann speak at the OEFFA conference in Ohio a few years ago. His story is very interesting and his points about the current food system and where it will take us were very enlightening. I will start with that one. I am also going to share your blog and the list of books with the shareholders of my CSA.
I ordered all of them! Thank you. I’m sure you feel swamped by the deluge of new books, but what a wonderful job perk!
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