Synopses & Reviews
In an age of uncertainty about how climate change may affect the global food supply, industrial agribusiness promises to keep the world fed. Through the use of factory “farms,” genetic engineering, and the widespread application of chemicals, they put their trust in technology and ask consumers to put our trust in them. However, a look behind the curtain reveals practices that put our soil, water, and health at risk. What are the alternatives? And can they too feed the world?
The rapidly growing alternative food system is made up of people reclaiming their connections to their food and their health. A forty-year veteran of this movement, Mark Winne introduces us to innovative “local doers” leading the charge to bring nutritious, sustainable, and affordable food to all. Heeding Emerson’s call to embrace that great American virtue of self-reliance, these leaders in communities all across the country are defying the authority of the food conglomerates and taking matters into their own hands. They are turning urban wastelands into farms, creating local dairy collectives, preserving farmland, and refusing to use genetically modified seed. They are not only bringing food education to children in elementary schools, but also offering cooking classes to adults in diabetes-prone neighborhoods—and taking the message to college campuses as well. Such efforts promote food democracy and empower communities to create local food-policy councils, build a neighborhood grocery store in the midst of a food desert, or demand healthier school lunches for their kids. Winne’s hope is that all of these programs, scaled up and adopted more widely, will ultimately allow the alternative food system to dethrone the industrial.
Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin’ Mamas challenges us to go beyond eating local to become part of a larger solution, demanding a system that sustains body and soul.
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
For twenty-five years
Mark Winne was the executive director of the Hartford Food System in Hartford, Connecticut. He speaks and consults extensively on community food-system topics and is the author of
Closing the Food Gap. Winne lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
A look at the growing power of local efforts across America to say no to the industrial food system and yes to self-reliance, better health, and community.
In Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin' Mamas, Mark Winne takes on "Big Ag," the industrial food system. Offering an antidote to this soulless system, Winne shows how people are empowering themselves beyond simply shopping at Whole Foods, creating programs and policies to bring people and their food closer together. He gives readers a hopeful vision--and a blueprint--for a world in which home-grown food options supplant the status quo.
Synopsis
Agribusiness giants don’t want you to know—or care—if the food you eat is genetically modified, factory farmed, or grown with toxic chemicals. But the rapidly growing alternative food movement is resisting these practices and helping people reclaim their connections to their food. A forty-year veteran of this movement, Mark Winne introduces us to innovative “local doers” defying industrial agribusiness and leading the charge to bring nutritious, sustainable, and affordable food to all. All across the country, these leaders are turning urban wastelands into farms, creating local dairy collectives, preserving farmland, bringing food education to children and adults in diabetes-prone neighborhoods, promoting food democracy, and empowering communities. Winne’s hope is that all of these efforts, scaled up and adopted more widely, will ultimately allow the alternative food system to dethrone the industrial—and he challenges us to go beyond eating local to become part of a larger solution, demanding a system that sustains body and soul.
Table of Contents
Part I: Authority or Freedom? Chapter 1 A Food Story for our Times: November 2020
Chapter 2 The Fight for the Soul of the American Food System
Chapter 3 The Industrial Food System: Ministry of Plenty or Department of Destruction?
Part II : Leading the Charge
Chapter 4 Maurice Small and the Greening of Cleveland
Chapter 5 Me and My Meat
Chapter 6 The Farmer’s Cow
Chapter 7 God Didn’t Make Nachos
Chapter 8 Healthy Schools Grow Healthy Kids
Chapter 9 Getting Our Heads Above the Plate
Chapter 10 Food Sovereignty: The Right to Control Our Food
Chapter 11 Food Citizens, Unite!
Chapter 12 Reflections on Food Democracy: A Chat with Two Visionaries
Conclusion Finding the Fire Within
Notes