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This was such an excellent book! Little spent three years researching The Fate of Food - visiting eleven countries and thirteen states in the process - and it really shows in her writing.
The Fate of Food is such a fascinating look into current, global issues within the food industry and the various approaches in the works for solving these issues in the future. I learned so much and found many new things to research. Did you know the U.S. owns farmland in more than 25 countries, and that we’re not even the number one nation doing this? Did you know Almería, Spain has 64,000 collective acres of contiguous greenhouses that can be seen from SPACE?
I appreciated how Little approached each topic she covers: first by discussing the food-related issue (such as food waste or the use of GMOs), then explaining how the issue is currently being addressed, and then describing some of the consequences of each side/view point. As a reader, I felt I had enough neutral information to make my own decisions on each topic but had enough direction I could choose to research any topic further.
The Fate of Food ultimately asks you this: Is our current path sustainable, and if not, how can we fix it? Little also encourages the reader to evaluate their roles and habits in their own choices and local communities. It’s not about which solution is the best - it’s about how we can incorporate the best parts of each solution into our future. Will the entire planet go vegan? That’s probably not realistic. Can we support our current consumption trends? Unlikely. Can we find a way that integrates multiple aspects of old ways with new technology? Definitely.
Little also points out how not every solution is viable in every context. She does an excellent job of showing this when she discusses GMOs - something the U.S. certainly has heated debates about but are vital to food security in parts of Kenya.
The global population is expected to reach 9.8 BILLION by 2050, with a projected two thirds of that population living in cities (for comparison, in August 2019 we are currently at 7.5 billion according to https://www.census.gov/popclock/world). Thirty years may seem like a long time, but current issues will only become more pressing as time passes and population increases. Shouldn’t we focus on fixing these issues before they can evolve into a crisis?
The Fate of Food is such a fascinating look into current, global issues within the food industry and the various approaches in the works for solving these issues in the future. I learned so much and found many new things to research. Did you know the U.S. owns farmland in more than 25 countries, and that we’re not even the number one nation doing this? Did you know Almería, Spain has 64,000 collective acres of contiguous greenhouses that can be seen from SPACE?
I appreciated how Little approached each topic she covers: first by discussing the food-related issue (such as food waste or the use of GMOs), then explaining how the issue is currently being addressed, and then describing some of the consequences of each side/view point. As a reader, I felt I had enough neutral information to make my own decisions on each topic but had enough direction I could choose to research any topic further.
The Fate of Food ultimately asks you this: Is our current path sustainable, and if not, how can we fix it? Little also encourages the reader to evaluate their roles and habits in their own choices and local communities. It’s not about which solution is the best - it’s about how we can incorporate the best parts of each solution into our future. Will the entire planet go vegan? That’s probably not realistic. Can we support our current consumption trends? Unlikely. Can we find a way that integrates multiple aspects of old ways with new technology? Definitely.
Little also points out how not every solution is viable in every context. She does an excellent job of showing this when she discusses GMOs - something the U.S. certainly has heated debates about but are vital to food security in parts of Kenya.
The global population is expected to reach 9.8 BILLION by 2050, with a projected two thirds of that population living in cities (for comparison, in August 2019 we are currently at 7.5 billion according to https://www.census.gov/popclock/world). Thirty years may seem like a long time, but current issues will only become more pressing as time passes and population increases. Shouldn’t we focus on fixing these issues before they can evolve into a crisis?
Thank you to NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
The Kitchen Without Borders is a fantastic cookbook that I know I will continue to return to as I work my way through every recipe. Like the Eat Offbeat chefs pointed out in the book, it’s less about the food (although each recipe is a delicious standalone) and mainly about the stories - each dish carries history and memories from cultures all over the globe.
This cookbook is an amazing collection of delightful recipes that celebrate the diversity (and possibilities) of food. It also carries an important message, sharing another side to the refugee conversation with educational spotlights on some of Eat Offbeat’s refugee chefs.
Beyond the included conversion tables and the recommendations for substituting (or omitting) unique ingredients that aren’t as familiar (or as readily available) to Western audiences, each recipe includes:
- The chef & the dish’s country of origin,
- Dish name,
- A sentence about what the dish is,
- Quantity the dish makes,
- Short description by the chef of why this dish is special,
- Ingredients,
- Easy to follow directions, &
- Most recipes also include photos; in the final version I hope there is a photo for each recipe.
I loved every aspect of this book - it’s SO well thought out and I cannot wait to add a physical copy to my collection. The hummus recipe alone is worth purchasing the book for - it’s easy to make and absolutely PHENOMENAL. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves cooking, anyone who wants to broaden their culinary taste buds, or anyone who just plain enjoys good food.
Thank you again to NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.
The Kitchen Without Borders is a fantastic cookbook that I know I will continue to return to as I work my way through every recipe. Like the Eat Offbeat chefs pointed out in the book, it’s less about the food (although each recipe is a delicious standalone) and mainly about the stories - each dish carries history and memories from cultures all over the globe.
This cookbook is an amazing collection of delightful recipes that celebrate the diversity (and possibilities) of food. It also carries an important message, sharing another side to the refugee conversation with educational spotlights on some of Eat Offbeat’s refugee chefs.
Beyond the included conversion tables and the recommendations for substituting (or omitting) unique ingredients that aren’t as familiar (or as readily available) to Western audiences, each recipe includes:
- The chef & the dish’s country of origin,
- Dish name,
- A sentence about what the dish is,
- Quantity the dish makes,
- Short description by the chef of why this dish is special,
- Ingredients,
- Easy to follow directions, &
- Most recipes also include photos; in the final version I hope there is a photo for each recipe.
I loved every aspect of this book - it’s SO well thought out and I cannot wait to add a physical copy to my collection. The hummus recipe alone is worth purchasing the book for - it’s easy to make and absolutely PHENOMENAL. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves cooking, anyone who wants to broaden their culinary taste buds, or anyone who just plain enjoys good food.
Thank you again to NetGalley and Workman Publishing Company for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.
Grow Your Own Tea: The Complete Guide to Cultivating, Harvesting, and Preparing
Christine Parks, Susan M. Walcott
Thank you to NetGalley and Timber Press for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
Grow Your Own Tea is an in-depth informative guide about the Camellia plant and how to grow and harvest it for your own homemade tea. If you’re looking for a growing guide to turning your home garden into a tea garden with a variety of plants to make your own tea blends, this is not that book. Instead, this book is geared towards those who are unfamiliar with growing their own Camellia plants for tea harvest and would like to get started. I particularly enjoyed learning about Camellia plant ecology and contemporary tea growers in America.
However, I think the biggest issue I had with this book was its organization in the first section (A World of Tea). I think this section would be much more effective if it started out with who the authors are, how this book was researched and put together, and then about the Camellia plant before going into the history of tea and contemporary tea growing.
It seemed like the majority of this book was geared towards those who are unfamiliar with the entire tea process (such as that tea comes from the Camellia plant) and therefore would be unfamiliar with the authors themselves. So, more time spent on the authors’ combined expertise and how they are able to write this book would have been appreciated. However, there were several instances within the book where it felt like the authors were talking to their friends and the reader was entering halfway through the conversation. I don’t think these audiences are interchangeable and the authors need to stay consistent and pick one. As one example, during the first part of the book, the authors frequently refer to results of a survey they did without actually describing the survey itself.
Overall, this read like a coffee table book to me (rather than a reference/general nonfiction book) and while I can now definitely say Camellia plants are not in my immediate gardening future, I did enjoy learning about them. Thank you again to NetGalley and Timber Press for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.
Grow Your Own Tea is an in-depth informative guide about the Camellia plant and how to grow and harvest it for your own homemade tea. If you’re looking for a growing guide to turning your home garden into a tea garden with a variety of plants to make your own tea blends, this is not that book. Instead, this book is geared towards those who are unfamiliar with growing their own Camellia plants for tea harvest and would like to get started. I particularly enjoyed learning about Camellia plant ecology and contemporary tea growers in America.
However, I think the biggest issue I had with this book was its organization in the first section (A World of Tea). I think this section would be much more effective if it started out with who the authors are, how this book was researched and put together, and then about the Camellia plant before going into the history of tea and contemporary tea growing.
It seemed like the majority of this book was geared towards those who are unfamiliar with the entire tea process (such as that tea comes from the Camellia plant) and therefore would be unfamiliar with the authors themselves. So, more time spent on the authors’ combined expertise and how they are able to write this book would have been appreciated. However, there were several instances within the book where it felt like the authors were talking to their friends and the reader was entering halfway through the conversation. I don’t think these audiences are interchangeable and the authors need to stay consistent and pick one. As one example, during the first part of the book, the authors frequently refer to results of a survey they did without actually describing the survey itself.
Overall, this read like a coffee table book to me (rather than a reference/general nonfiction book) and while I can now definitely say Camellia plants are not in my immediate gardening future, I did enjoy learning about them. Thank you again to NetGalley and Timber Press for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.