|  YEAR
OF LOCALLY GROWN
RECOMMENDED
READING LIST
Books
Periodicals
Recommendations
(return
to Year of Locally Grown events)
BOOKS
 |
Angelou,
Maya Hallelujah!
The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes
New York: Random House, 2004.
Each story in the book is followed by corresponding recipes.
You'll laugh over "Pie Fishing" and be tempted
by Chicken and Dumplings. You'll be touched by a grandmother's
dedication to her granddaughter in "The Assurance
of Caramel Cake" and your mouth will water at the
accompanying photo. Another chuckle surely will follow
your reading of "Writer's Block" and the eclair
recipe begs to be tried. |
 |
Brockman,
Henry Organic
Matters: The Truth About Taste and Nutrition Revealed!
2001.
This short paperback, authored by a college educated multi-lingual
Illinois agrarian is densely packed with passion, history
and science. To learn more and acquire this book go to
www.Henrysfarm.com and click on “Main Menu”
> “About Us” > “Organic Matters”. |
 |
Denker,
Joel The World
on a Plate: A Tour through the History of America's Ethnic
Cuisine
Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2003.
This is an enjoyable, quick read that tells us a variety
of stories, many with human interest, of the introduction
of foods to the United States that originated in other
countries and cultures. For example, a German restaurant
owner in Texas, William Gebhardt, deserves a substantial
amount of credit for bringing chili flavored dishes to
the general public. |
 |
Moya
Kneafsey, Rosie Cox, Lewis Holloway, Elizabeth Dowler,
Laura Venn, Helena Tuomainen Reconnecting
Consumers, Producers and Food: Exploring Alternatives
2008.
The group of authors presents a detailed and empirically
grounded analysis of alternatives to current models of
food provision. The book revaluates the meanings of choice
and convenience and offers insights into the identities,
motives and practices of individuals |
 |
Parasecoli,
Fabio Bite
Me: Food in Popular Culture
Bite
Me considers the ways in which popular culture
reveals our relationship with food and our own bodies
and how these have become an arena for political and
ideological battles. Drawing on an extraordinary range
of material - films, books, comics, songs, music videos,
websites, slang, performances, advertising and mass-produced
objects – Bite Me invites the reader to take a
fresh look at today's products and practices to see
how much food shapes our lives, perceptions and identities.
|
 |
Reichl,
Ruth Tender at the Bone
New York: Random House, 1998.
An autobiographical account of a foodie discovering a
range of cooking and eating possibilities way beyond her
first, rather ghastly, home experiences. Reichl introduces
us to memorable characters who accidentally or deliberately
guided the development of her tastes. |
 |
Sendak,
Maurice In the Night Kitchen
1963.
This book uses food as a vehicle to express strong childhood
emotions, and, like many other children's texts, uses
rituals of eating as a metaphor for the power struggle
inherent to family dynamics. |
 |
Shapiro,
Laura Something from the Oven:
Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America
New York: Viking Penguin, 2004.
This book covers almost everything about American food
culture during the post-World War II years until the mid
1960s. There are accounts of the advent of convenience
foods, the literature of food, the rise of cooking shows
on TV, and the phenomenon of cooking contests such as
the Pillsbury Bake-Off. It chooses not to draw conclusions
offering an entertaining look at food from several historical
angles. |
 |
Steingraber,
Sandra Having Faith: An Ecologist's
Journey to Motherhood
2001.
Steingraber, raised in rural Illinois, takes Rachel Carson's
Silent Spring a step further by turning her scientific
gaze inward at the budding new life in her own womb. As
her personal and scientific inquiry unfolds, it becomes
piercingly clear that the tens of thousands of synthetic
chemicals now existing in our environment can disrupt
normal growth at every stage of development. In fact,
her findings strongly suggest that having a healthy child
today is even more of a miracle and is increasingly threatened.
|
 |
Hahn
Niman, Nicolette Righteous
Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory
Farms
Tells the personal story of Niman’s initiation
to the disturbing practices of hog factory farms as
an attorney working with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.; her
introduction to “traditional” farmers and
ranchers using environmentally sound practices; and
about her own transition from lawyer to environmental
activist.
|
 |
Roberts,
Paul The End of Food
Best-selling author of The End of Oil, turns his attention
to the modern food economy and finds that the system entrusted
to meet our most basic needs is failing dramatically. |
PERIODICALS
HEIFER RECOMMENDED REFERENCES
Soil and Health
by Sir Albert Howard |
Agroecology:
The Science of Sustainable Agriculture
by Migueal Altieri |
|
Agroecology:
The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems
by Stephen Gliessman |
New
Roots for Agriculture
by Wes Jackson |
DEBBIE
HILLMAN RECOMMENDS . . .
Locally
Grown Advisor
Coordinator, Illinois Local & Organic Food & Farm
Task Force
Co-chair, Evanston Food Policy Council
| McKibben,
Bill
Deep Economy: The Wealth of
Communities and the Durable Future
2007
 Connects
local FOODS with other aspects of local ECONOMY. Chapter
2 is titled "Year of Eating Locally."
An inspiring and analytical writer at the same time. |
Prentice,
Jessica
Full Moon Feast: Food and
the Hunger for Connection
2006
 A
cookbook structured across seasonal (local in TIME)
eating over a year (13 moons, from Hunger Moon to Wolf
Moon).
Rich detail, stories, history, lore, etc. Luscious.
|
Winne,
Mark
Closing the Food Gap: Resetting
the Table in the Land of Plenty
2008
 Mark
Winne is the "father" of food policy councils
(having started the first one in Connecticut 25 years
ago). His book is particularly good because it shows
the POLICY causes of many of our food-related problems.
Just reading Chapter 2 (Reagan, Hunger, and the Rise
of Food Banks) would get people thinking. Very easy
reading, but doesn't shy away from the complexities.
|
FRANCES
MURCHISON RECOMMENDS . . .
Locally
Grown Advisor
Founder, Mindfully Fed
| Madison,
Deborah |
Waters,
Alice |
|
Local
Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers'
Markets
2008
|
Preserving
Food Without Freezing or Canning: Traditional Techniques
Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold
Storage, and Lactic Fermentation
2007
|
Edible
Schoolyard:
A Universal Idea
2008
|
The
Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from
a Delicious Revolution
2007
|
MIKE SANDS RECOMMENDS . . .
Locally Grown Advisor
Environmental Team Leader, Prairie Crossing
|  Murray,
Sarah
Moveable Feasts: From Ancient
Rome to the 21st Century, the Incredible Journeys of
the Food We Eat
2008
This is a great collection of stories about the journeys
the food we eat takes. Each chapter has a very clear
and engaging history of how the existing supply chain
evolved and why it continues to exist today. Imagine
fresh salmon caught in the Atlantic, shipped to China
for filleting and shipped back to the US and sold as
fresh salmon.
|
(return
to Year of Locally Grown events)
Copyright 2001-10
Friends of Ryerson Woods
|
Alimentum
Edible
Chicago Magazine