Category: Food Systems

Food From the Radical Center by Gary Paul Nabhan

America has never felt more divided. But in the midst of all the acrimony comes one of the most promising movements in our country’s history. People of all races, faiths, and political persuasions are coming together to restore America’s natural wealth: its ability to produce healthy foods.

In Food from the Radical Center, Gary Nabhan tells the stories of diverse communities who are getting their hands dirty and bringing back North America’s unique fare.

Is This the End of the Small Boat Fisherman?

What’s a guy to do when life slaps him in the face? When a roll of the boat knocks him to the
deck? When a rogue wave drenches him in water? He gets up, dries himself off, and figures out a way.

Pete Knutson has always been the kind of guy to find a way around the hurdles and challenges life tosses his way.

Growing a Revolution: Bringing our Soil Back to Life by David R. Montgomery

The problem of agriculture is as old as civilization. Throughout history, great societies that abused their land withered into poverty or disappeared entirely. Now we risk repeating this ancient story on a global scale due to ongoing soil degradation, a changing climate, and a rising population.

But there is reason for hope.

Grass, Soil, Hope by Courtney White

Grass, Soil, Hope is a compendium of sites and associated behaviors all pointing to some aspect of stewardship. The scope is worldly including farmers and ranchers in Australia but also very domestic describing the trials and tribulations of a rooftop vegetable grower in New York City.

Collaboration as opposed to division is expressed throughout.

There is Something Wrong; Really Wrong!

Big Food, Big Ag, Big Org(anic), and Big Business have all convinced us that the “American Food System” is a wonderful thing to be maintained at all costs.

Maintained on the backs of farmworkers, meat processing workers, food service workers, and other “invisible” workers, our food system delivers cheap strawberries from California, Mexico, and Chile year ‘round, and chicken nuggets and hamburgers by the barrel full.

What Food Is On Your Deserted Island?

Traveling in a campervan – The Rainbow – for 10 months across South America with two kids and a dog; Nico Parco, our contributor, reminds us that with such limited space, the question of food is important.

However, as they roam from country to country, from culture to culture, the pantry changes in appearance: a bag of aplanchados in Colombia, the finest chocolate in Ecuador, rich gourmet sauces in Peru, empanadas in Chile, pizzas and pastas in Argentina.

A Lesson in Diversity – The Potato

Around 100 years ago there were hundreds of varieties of vegetable and fruit seed available to the farmer and home gardener. By 1983 those varieties had been reduced by more than a factor of 10.

Or in the case of potatoes, by a factor of 1000…