Inside America’s Underground Food Movements by Sandor Ellix Katz
A great book looking for a better title
Sandor Katz writes about the many avenues available for procurement of food, such as buying locally at farmers’ markets, joining underground co-ops, growing our own, foraging for wild plants, reclaiming vacant city lots to garden in, saving seeds, and dumpster diving. He discusses many ways small-scale producers get around the burdensome laws that hamper them from dealing directly with consumers. Each chapter also includes a list of related books, videos and organizations.
But this book is even more about the regulatory state of affairs, corporate dominance and government abuse than what we consumers are doing. I just wanted to learn about where I can get good, healthy food, and found myself feeling helpless against government coups and land grabs and the enormous loss of farm land to urbanization.
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I began to lose interest in the book three-quarters of the way through as I came across recipes for cannabis butter and sassafras root beer, vegetarian ethics and roadkill worth scavenging. How do I wrest control of food production from government and corporate dominance by learning about water rights, eating of insects and recycling of vegetable oils?
Katz seems to be someone who has traveled a long and rich road on his life’s journey, a clear benefit to his wonderful writing which avoids dogmatism and absolutism. He is both candid and circumspect, and I am impressed with the depth of his knowledge regarding the world’s foodways and their history.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of our current food options, politics and the government’s excessive control. It loses some focus as the author tries covers every conceivable topic related to food. I recommend it to anyone interested in the history of food politics.
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