ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, JUNK A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal

A great storyteller, food writer Bittman narrates this history of food (from "sustainable to suicidal") in a friendly, accessible way that invites listeners to consider food's centrality to everything, including pressing issues such as climate change and social justice. Sounding engaged and conversational as he shares his research on how we got to our current state of affairs (he's crunched down much history in this remarkably digestible offering), Bittman offers a frank, sobering assessment of "where we're at." That includes highlighting the dangers of monoculture, industrial agriculture, brutal labor practices, and poisonous pesticide use. Fortunately, his chapter titled "The Way Forward" illuminates steps toward progressive, sustainable agroecology practices listeners can support to create lasting changes to our food systems--now that they're aware of the logic behind them. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2021]