Book review: Jill Richardson's "Recipe for America"

[Guest ncm2169]

Posted by SusanG on Daily KOS. A long read, but very interesting.

 

Recipe for America: Why Our Food System is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It

By Jill Richardson

Paperback, 224 pages, $15.95

Ig Publishing: Brooklyn, NY

July 2009

Can we turn our currently unsustainable food system, a system that is unfair to workers, bad for our health, cruel to animals and destructive to our environment, into one that treats workers fairly, respects human and animal rights, nourishes our bodies and renews the land?

Food activist Jill Richardson answers the far-reaching question of whether fundamental change to our food system is possible with a resounding "Yes!" in her new Recipe for America, even as she acknowledges the difficulties and challenges of transforming the complicated, interconnected network that makes up today's food supply chains.

Richardson, who first discovered her talent for writing about food issues here at Daily Kos as OrangeClouds115, has turned in a terrific book in Recipe for America, managing to organize into one smooth narrative information as disparate as employing undocumented workers and the lobbying that goes into the Farm Bill. Under her educated eye, the pieces of the enormous puzzle of legislation, policy, science and environmentalism are woven together in a book that can serve as an introduction to those unfamiliar with the sustainable food movement, while expanding the base of knowledge of those who've been reading on the topic for years.

This is no small feat. Juggling the needs of newcomers to a topic without losing the interest of the already informed is a problem that many writers with many more books under their belt than Richardson have failed to solve.

At least part of the reason she's able to reach different audiences is the organization of the book. Wisely, she begins with an account of her own journey in the opening chapter of the book, "From Eater to Activist." In this section, she recounts a journey familiar to many Daily Kos users--interest in a subject becomes deepened by participation in the community, and interaction with fellow activists who inform each other leads to participation in the wider sustainability movement as a whole.

Richardson focuses thereafter on the many threads that make up the pattern of food politics and policy today. She gives an overview of the burgeoning organics movement, tracing the beginning of the use of pesticides, the discovery that many of the chemicals were harmful, and the resulting fight that began in the last century to move to natural methods of control. This fight takes on not only agribusiness, but behemoth chemical companies like Monsanto as well, and she chronicles both the science behind the struggles and the policy ins-and-outs as well.

Richardson approaches her subject on a very personal level. Her descriptions of food, fields and farms clearly comes from a person who genuinely luxuriates in the natural settings she investigates, but it also signals someone who richly enjoys the taste, look and feel of of healthy food. She gets to know the vendors at the farmers markets she frequents, she relishes tours of sustainable hog farms. Every step of the way, she is weaving factual material and news accounts about food safety, agricultural policy, the mistreatment of undocumented workers, animal rights.

Labeling, complicated enough to be worthy of a book in its own right, is distilled down to its essence in Richardson's account, and the chapter explaining the evolution of the growing consumer demand to know exactly what's in the food that's going into our systems is sharp and focused. The Farm Bill, in all its arcane detail--how it came to be and all that goes into it--rates a chapter of its own.

The strongest part of the book addresses marketing to children and, in particular, looks at school lunch programs and the efforts to incorporate more healthful food. So many restraints are in place, both at the national level and at the local institutional level, it would be tempting to give up altogether in this area: fiscal restrictions, logistical problems with transporting healthful food to urban schools in a timely fashion, the seeming monopoly the junk food industry has negotiated to market products to students. Yet it's here that Richardson's real gift shines; despite the monolithic obstacles, she manages to focus on the problem, part by part, breaking down where political and social pressure can be brought to bear to begin change in each area.

Throughout the book, this can-do attitude as reflected while still grappling with the systemic macro problems. A helpful appendix to the book is specifically action-oriented, chockfull of handy reference material and contacts for specific issues. In what the author calls an "action tool kit," readers can find out how to sign up for action alerts regarding consumer rights, water concerns or organic food labeling; how to track pertinent food legislation; how to follow Congressional committee hearings live; how to read the best blogs on food policy and issues; and how to write a letter to the editor.

Many of these actions would probably be well-known to Richardson's hometown activist crowd at Daily Kos, but it's likely that not all of them are. And that attention to detail in each related area is what makes this book succeed on multiple levels, for neophyte and informed activist equally. The micro and the macro are masterfully blended, and the information, passionately and painstakingly delivered, is packaged to empower rather than overwhelm readers with despair.

What more could one ask for from an activist who found her voice in an activist community?

In Recipe for America, Richardson has shown what can emerge when an ordinary citizen finds her subject and her stride, and brings her knowledge onto a bigger stage.

[Guest greatness]

I'm a foodie

 

This book seems interesting. Thanks for the book review. I will look into the book next time I drop by at a book store.

 

Posted by SusanG on Daily KOS. A long read, but very interesting.

 

Recipe for America: Why Our Food System is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It

By Jill Richardson

Paperback, 224 pages, $15.95

Ig Publishing: Brooklyn, NY

July 2009

Can we turn our currently unsustainable food system, a system that is unfair to workers, bad for our health, cruel to animals and destructive to our environment, into one that treats workers fairly, respects human and animal rights, nourishes our bodies and renews the land?

Food activist Jill Richardson answers the far-reaching question of whether fundamental change to our food system is possible with a resounding "Yes!" in her new Recipe for America, even as she acknowledges the difficulties and challenges of transforming the complicated, interconnected network that makes up today's food supply chains.

Richardson, who first discovered her talent for writing about food issues here at Daily Kos as OrangeClouds115, has turned in a terrific book in Recipe for America, managing to organize into one smooth narrative information as disparate as employing undocumented workers and the lobbying that goes into the Farm Bill. Under her educated eye, the pieces of the enormous puzzle of legislation, policy, science and environmentalism are woven together in a book that can serve as an introduction to those unfamiliar with the sustainable food movement, while expanding the base of knowledge of those who've been reading on the topic for years.

This is no small feat. Juggling the needs of newcomers to a topic without losing the interest of the already informed is a problem that many writers with many more books under their belt than Richardson have failed to solve.

At least part of the reason she's able to reach different audiences is the organization of the book. Wisely, she begins with an account of her own journey in the opening chapter of the book, "From Eater to Activist." In this section, she recounts a journey familiar to many Daily Kos users--interest in a subject becomes deepened by participation in the community, and interaction with fellow activists who inform each other leads to participation in the wider sustainability movement as a whole.

Richardson focuses thereafter on the many threads that make up the pattern of food politics and policy today. She gives an overview of the burgeoning organics movement, tracing the beginning of the use of pesticides, the discovery that many of the chemicals were harmful, and the resulting fight that began in the last century to move to natural methods of control. This fight takes on not only agribusiness, but behemoth chemical companies like Monsanto as well, and she chronicles both the science behind the struggles and the policy ins-and-outs as well.

Richardson approaches her subject on a very personal level. Her descriptions of food, fields and farms clearly comes from a person who genuinely luxuriates in the natural settings she investigates, but it also signals someone who richly enjoys the taste, look and feel of of healthy food. She gets to know the vendors at the farmers markets she frequents, she relishes tours of sustainable hog farms. Every step of the way, she is weaving factual material and news accounts about food safety, agricultural policy, the mistreatment of undocumented workers, animal rights.

Labeling, complicated enough to be worthy of a book in its own right, is distilled down to its essence in Richardson's account, and the chapter explaining the evolution of the growing consumer demand to know exactly what's in the food that's going into our systems is sharp and focused. The Farm Bill, in all its arcane detail--how it came to be and all that goes into it--rates a chapter of its own.

The strongest part of the book addresses marketing to children and, in particular, looks at school lunch programs and the efforts to incorporate more healthful food. So many restraints are in place, both at the national level and at the local institutional level, it would be tempting to give up altogether in this area: fiscal restrictions, logistical problems with transporting healthful food to urban schools in a timely fashion, the seeming monopoly the junk food industry has negotiated to market products to students. Yet it's here that Richardson's real gift shines; despite the monolithic obstacles, she manages to focus on the problem, part by part, breaking down where political and social pressure can be brought to bear to begin change in each area.

Throughout the book, this can-do attitude as reflected while still grappling with the systemic macro problems. A helpful appendix to the book is specifically action-oriented, chockfull of handy reference material and contacts for specific issues. In what the author calls an "action tool kit," readers can find out how to sign up for action alerts regarding consumer rights, water concerns or organic food labeling; how to track pertinent food legislation; how to follow Congressional committee hearings live; how to read the best blogs on food policy and issues; and how to write a letter to the editor.

Many of these actions would probably be well-known to Richardson's hometown activist crowd at Daily Kos, but it's likely that not all of them are. And that attention to detail in each related area is what makes this book succeed on multiple levels, for neophyte and informed activist equally. The micro and the macro are masterfully blended, and the information, passionately and painstakingly delivered, is packaged to empower rather than overwhelm readers with despair.

What more could one ask for from an activist who found her voice in an activist community?

In Recipe for America, Richardson has shown what can emerge when an ordinary citizen finds her subject and her stride, and brings her knowledge onto a bigger stage.

[Lookin]

Thanks! I just ordered a copy from Amazon.

 

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S7BAtJQBL.jpg

[+ Lucky]

From Amazon??? Do you have something against the small bookstores that are struggling to stay alive? You remember them, the ones that actually knew where the books were, and what they were about? The ones that had clerks who could look up the book and tell you when it was coming in? The ones who would set one aside for you? The ones where the clerks knew who the authors were? The ones that carried smaller titles, local authors, and even had newspapers for sale-sometimes out of town ones.

 

But no, you bought from Amazon. It's a good thing you don't live up there in San Francisco- they'd skin you alive if you tried to kill their local bookstores!

Next thing you'll be canceling your NYTimes subscription to read it online!

[+ purplekow]

He meant he ordered from an Amazon, the lesbian owner of his local bookstore

[Romann]

Thank you for the review!

[Lookin]

Do you have something against the small bookstores that are struggling to stay alive?

Sad to say, I'm pinching pennies these days. I'm on a fixed income, and the sole support of an elderly drug habit. http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w195/kookybooboo/Emoticons/Smileys/th_StonedSmiley.gif

[Guest zipperzone]

From Amazon??? Do you have something against the small bookstores that are struggling to stay alive? You remember them, the ones that actually knew where the books were, and what they were about? The ones that had clerks who could look up the book and tell you when it was coming in? The ones who would set one aside for you? The ones where the clerks knew who the authors were? The ones that carried smaller titles, local authors, and even had newspapers for sale-sometimes out of town ones.

 

But no, you bought from Amazon. It's a good thing you don't live up there in San Francisco- they'd skin you alive if you tried to kill their local bookstores!

Next thing you'll be canceling your NYTimes subscription to read it online!

 

If you live in a metropolis chances are that the small bookstores have already succumbed and there is not much left but the big chains. I much prefer the small independents - even the smell is different and there always seems to be a cute young college student behind the counter.

 

The one thing for the chain stores is that their selection is so much greater so browsing is more interesting and you have a chance to check out the contents before you commit.

 

But - I buy a lot of books (more than I should - just ask my banker) and the appreciable savings offered by Amazon is hard to resist in these difficult days. What with free shipping and delivery right to your door, it's a business model whose time has come.

[Guest greatness]

You are not alone

 

Most of us are having a hard time. My friend is on a public press board so she gets some books for free. I simply go to her home and get some interesting books. One of the books were Collapse by Jared Diamond. Actually, I rarely buy books myself. I get it from others. However, I buy a lot children's book from my local small book store and send them to my niece and nephew. I buy cards for them there too. Every year my local book store has an angel tree event. I buy children's books and send them to random kids. It is one of the happiest things I can do during Christmas for children.

 

 

Sad to say, I'm pinching pennies these days. I'm on a fixed income, and the sole support of an elderly drug habit. http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w195/kookybooboo/Emoticons/Smileys/th_StonedSmiley.gif

[MsGuy]

Maybe it's because I live in a rural area but I'm a little leary of folks who casually pronounce the modern system of food production unsustainable and nasty. Specifically, it's difficult to understand why the cost of food should be any higher than necessary. I read organic, seasonal, locally produced food as a lot of folks going to bed hungry.

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-allen30-2009aug30,0,2592815.story

 

Can't say that I agree with everything Ms. Allen says but I can understand why well to do foodies rattling on about organic cherries sets her off.

[Guest greatness]

hmm

 

I do get organic cherries...

 

Maybe it's because I live in a rural area but I'm a little leary of folks who casually pronounce the modern system of food production unsustainable and nasty. Specifically, it's difficult to understand why the cost of food should be any higher than necessary. I read organic, seasonal, locally produced food as a lot of folks going to bed hungry.

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-allen30-2009aug30,0,2592815.story

 

Can't say that I agree with everything Ms. Allen says but I can understand why well to do foodies rattling on about organic cherries sets her off.