Kick off 2022 with these 20 Food Tank Recommended Books. Trace the history of corn in the work of Helen Anne Curry corn in danger and discover the roots of modern conservation strategies. Or join the efforts to combat climate change from your kitchen with Alejandra Schrader’s plant-based recipes. The Low Carbon Cookbook and Action Plan. If you’re looking for more inspiration, try Everyone eats: communication and paths towards food justice, to learn how residents of a midsize North Carolina town mobilized to improve their local food system.
The 20 books on this list will help readers envision a more sustainable and resilient food system for the future.
one. AgriCulture: Urban Agriculture and the Patrimonial Potential of the Agrarian Landscape, edited by Lionella Scazzosi and Paola Branduini.
farming is inspiring reading for any food system stakeholder, from local officials to farmers to citizens. With chapters addressing urban gardening in Italy, Australia, Mexico, and more, these examples help show how cultural heritage can be used to improve landscapes and quality of life in urban settings. And they advocate collective action on a local and global scale.
two. This changes everything: capitalism VS the climate, by Naomi Klein.
Listed as number five in the New York Times bestseller list and finalist for the PEN America Literary Award, the work of Naomi Klein this changes everything take on the climate crisis. Klein argues why people should abandon a free market ideology, restructure the global economy, and rebuild political systems.
3. Corn in danger: industrial agriculture and the crisis of extinction, by Helen Anne Curry.
In this book, historian Helen Anne Curry investigates the history of maize in Mexico and the United States to reveal a hidden narrative of how the crop shaped modern conservation strategies. corn in danger works to understand how cultural narratives shape science and advocates for new strategies to protect crop diversity.
Four. Everyone Eats: Communication and Pathways to Food Justice, by Marianne LeGreco and Niesha Douglas.
everybody eat tells the story of Greensboro, North Carolina, where in three years, the local food community reduced its food shortage rate by eight percent. An inspiring story told through eight case studies, this book shows that by engaging neighborhood voices, mobilizing creative resources, and having conversations, communities can transform themselves.
5. Farming for Our Future: The Science, Law, and Policy of Climate-Neutral Agriculture, by Peter H. Lehner and Nathan A. Rosenberg.
This book examines specific policies and legal reforms that can help make America’s agricultural sector climate neutral. In Agriculture for our future, Peter H. Lehner and Nathan A. Rosenberg demonstrate how farmers and ranchers can be part of the solution to the climate crisis and build a more resilient food system.
6. Feeding Istanbul: The Political Economy of Urban Provisioning, by Candan Turkkan.
Feeding Istanbul dive into the history of Istanbul, Turkey, once the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Author Candan Turkkan examines how the city fed its people to argue that food policies and urban provisioning policies should be at the forefront of discussions of sovereignty.
7. “Food Connects Us All”: Grassroots Voices from North America on the Importance of Building Agroecology, Fighting for Policy, and Joining Global Struggles, by ActionAid USA.
Available online, this ActionAid USA publication expands on the stories of grassroots movements in the United States and Canada fighting for agroecology and food sovereignty. Their featured stories highlight civil society groups, including Food Secure Canada, the African American Farmers Organic Network of the Southeast, the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Mechanism, and more. Together, they demonstrate how, through global coalitions, people can transform the food system.
8. Food 5.0: How we feed the future, by RobertSalk.
Food 5.0 examines the question of how to feed the world’s population. Author Robert Salk argues that technologies including sensors, robotics, and machine learning can help farmers who bear the burden of increasing the world’s food supply. Salk also hopes to inspire readers to support a food system that takes advantage of new innovations.
9. Get something to eat in Jackson, by Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr.
In Get something to eat in Jackson, Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr. traces contemporary African-American ways of eating, including food availability and access, in Jackson, Mississippi. Through this lens, he explores the interplay of race and class in the contemporary urban South and works to challenge the perception of a homogeneous black community in the US.
10 Local food systems and community economic development, edited by R. David Lamie and Steven C. Deller.
Edited by two professors, R. David Lamie and Steven Deller, this book examines how food system development is perceived and analyzed. The book addresses four critical arguments for the current food system, balancing each with a counterargument. Through this approach, Local food systems and community economic development aims to strengthen the foundation for academic research and lead to a more sustainable food system.
eleven The Low Carbon Cookbook and Action Plan: Reduce Food Waste and Fight Climate Change with 140 Sustainable Plant-Based Recipes, by Alejandra Schrader.
The Low Carbon Cookbook and Action Plan offers 140 plant-based recipes to help readers fight climate change from their kitchens. In this book, Alejandra Schrader analyzes the carbon footprint of the food supply chain and encourages cooking with locally sourced ingredients. It also includes a foreword by Gunhild Stordalen, founder and CEO of the EAT Forum.
12 Food supply policy in Colombia, by Felipe Roa-Clavijo.
Felipe Roa-Clavijo delves into the Colombian food system after the national strikes of 2013-2014. Food supply policy in Colombia discover the conflicts, politics, and socioeconomic effects of food provisioning. And by analyzing the tension between the development of alternative agri-food systems that work within national food markets, Felipe Roa-Clavijo works to reframe the debate on the future of food.
13 The Problem of Feeding Cities: The Social Transformation of Infrastructure, Abundance, and Inequality in America, by Andrew Deener.
Author Andrew Deener offers a sociological and historical examination of the American food system over the past century in The problem of feeding cities. Denner profiles food bank employees, public health advocates, and more to make the case that the food supply is more about profit margins. Ultimately, he argues, the country must rethink the way it eats.
14 Regeneration: ending the climate crisis in a generation, by Paul Hawken.
TO New York Times Best seller, Regeneration offers a comprehensive guide to combating the climate crisis in a generation. The book addresses regenerative actions and policies to transform oceans, forests, and industries along with a checklist of steps readers can take to make their lifestyles greener. Along with the nonprofit Regeneration Organization, Hawken is also launching a series of initiatives including an online video series, curriculum and podcasts to further guide global citizens looking to take action.
fifteen. Ripe Figs: Recipes and Stories from Turkey, Greece and Cyprus, by Yasmine Khan.
Through recipes, author of tales of saffron Y Zaitoun, Yasmin Khan explores the importance of borders, identities and migration in an interconnected world. ripe figs contains a variety of recipes that represent the nuances of the Mediterranean, including pomegranate and sumac chicken, candied pumpkin with tahini and date syrup, and zucchini and feta fritters.
sixteen. The Secret History of Home Economics: How Pioneering Women Harnessed the Power of the Home and Changed the Way We Live, by Danielle Dreilinger.
In The secret history of home economics, Journalist Danielle Dreilinger explores the evolution of the domestic economy throughout history. Dreilinger concludes with recommendations to help revive the field, including diversifying the profession, adopting life skills, and advancing progressive, scientific, and ecological vision within home economics.
17 The $16 Taco, by Pascale Joassart-Marcelli.
Geographer Pascale Jossart-Marcelli follows three urban San Diego neighborhoods whose marginalized communities must pander to the tastes of wealthy white newcomers. By exploring gentrification and emotional, cultural, economic, and physical displacement, Jossart-Marcelli demonstrates how food-related development can occur at the expense of the communities they claim to celebrate.
18 technology at the table, by Richard Munso.
In Technology at the table Richard Munso introduces readers to 25 innovations, including lab-grown meat and 3D-printed cakes, designed to transform the food system. Munso believes there is an urgent need to rethink the food system. And he argues that entrepreneurship and disruptive technologies offer a new path to address the climate crisis, hunger and obesity.
19 This is your mind on the plants, by Michael Pollan.
In his recent book, Michael Pollan explores three plant drugs: opium, caffeine, and mescaline. Through history, science, memories and participatory journalism, This is your mind over plants shows how legal and illegal drugs reflect human needs and aspirations, their relationship with the natural world and ways of thinking.
twenty We Are the Land: A Native California Story, by Damon B. Akins and William J. Bauer.
we are the earth argues that the history and land of California were not shaped by Manifest Destiny, the gold rush, or colonial society, but by the indigenous peoples of the region. The book examines indigenous activism in the late 20th and early 21st centuries and struggles for statehood, genocide, and land rights.
Photo courtesy of Brandi Redd, Unsplash
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