If you want to suggest a book we missed, please let us know in the comments below or by email.

Appetite for Change: Soulful Recipes from a North Minneapolis Kitchen
By Appetite for Change, Inc. with Beth Dooley

The dishes throughout Appetite for Change are decidedly Minnesotan. Although items like Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars may have a broad Midwestern appeal, Appetite for Change—the nonprofit behind the book—has a tighter focus. The book’s recipes were developed with a strong connection to the local community. Founded in 2011 as a social enterprise in Minneapolis’ historically Black northside, Appetite for Change uses food, youth programming, and workforce development to build health, wealth, and social change in the community.

So it’s no surprise that Appetite for Change the book is just as much about community stories as it is food. Take the Purple Rain Salad: An ode to Prince, the recipe—which combines raspberries with cabbage, radish, grapes, and more—was co-created by AFC youth and originally sold at Minnesota Twins baseball games. Eaters of all stripes, from vegans and vegetarians to committed carnivores, will discover recipes they’ll love in this book—and come away with a warm and fuzzy feeling about what’s possible in the world, too.
—Cinnamon Janzer

Transforming School Food Politics around the World
Edited by Jennifer E. Gaddis and Sarah A. Robert

School meal programs are a public good, a form of community care, and a means of advancing broader aims of justice, food sovereignty, education, environmental sustainability, and health. Or so argue university professors Jennifer Gaddis and Sarah Robert, the book’s editors. This collection of 15 essays spotlights how communities around the world are transforming school food programs—and politics—for the better.

Written by diverse voices, including youth, teachers, school food practitioners, farmers, and policymakers, the essays offer powerful examples of what could be. Japan’s holistic school meal program, for example, involves children in all aspects of the food cycle, from growing it to washing the dishes, in order to foster community spirit and an appreciation for nature and the food system. Brazil’s national requirement that 30 percent of school food ingredients be sourced from local and regional family farms helps empower and fund women agroecological producers. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Rebel Ventures puts youth at the center of innovating nutritious, enjoyable meals for Philadelphia students, while the Yum Yum Bus, the brainchild of school nutrition workers, ensures that all children who need summer meals get them in rural North Carolina.

Gaddis, an advisory board member of the National Farm to School Network, and Robert, author of School Food Politics, believe that feminist politics, which value the caring labor that goes into feeding and educating children, is essential for transforming meal programs. Additionally, they say, children must have a voice in policymaking. The book is a hopeful, informative read for anyone who seeks to change school food systems.
—Meg Wilcox

You Can’t Market Manure at Lunchtime: And Other Lessons from the Food Industry for Creating a More Sustainable Company
By Maisie Ganzler

Many, many years ago, I spent a long time covering the world of sustainable business practices. It left me with a greater understanding of the complexities of trying to make capitalism less extractive—and it also left me quite cynical about the endeavor. So I was interested to read Ganzler’s how-to book about making, achieving, and maintaining food-industry corporate sustainability goals.

Ganzler, who leads the sustainability efforts of Bon Appétit Management Company (BAMCO), knows what she’s talking about: BAMCO is recognized as a leader in sustainable food service, especially in the areas of climate-consciousness, local food, animal welfare, and worker rights. In You Can’t Market Manure, Ganzler showcases the commitments of high-profile companies like Stonyfield, Whole Foods, Clif Bar, and others, walking readers through how to best pursue corporate sustainability, set meaningful goals (and adjust when you fail), collaborate with partners and adversaries alike, and sell their company’s story.

While Marketing Manure is surely useful for sustainability leaders—and I also would have found it a priceless tool 15 years ago, when sustainability concepts and practices were fledgling—it also underscores the shortcomings of market-led sustainability. An early chapter focuses on improving chicken farming, touting the success of ambitious projects like No Antibiotics Ever and the corporate Better Chicken Commitment. At the time Ganzler wrote the book, these projects were still on a path to success, but, as we reported last month, have since taken a turn for the worse. Despite all the promises, corporate sustainability commitments will only become reality through consistent pressure and vigilance, and they all too easily devolve into mere lip service.
—Matthew Wheeland

Countering Dispossession, Reclaiming Land: A Social Movement Ethnography
By David Gilbert

Along the slopes of a volcano in Indonesia, a group of Minangkabau Indigenous agricultural workers began quietly reclaiming their land in 1993, growing cinnamon trees, chilies, eggplants, and other foods on the edges of plantations. This marked the beginning of an agrarian movement chronicled by David Gilbert in Countering Dispossession, Reclaiming Land.

An environmental anthropologist and scholar of social movements, Gilbert meticulously traces the two-decades-long effort to reclaim land that had been violently wrested from the local community by Indonesia’s New Order regime. Now the land is marked by a gate that reads “Tanah Ulayat” (Collective Land), leading into a vibrant, shared food forest where small vegetable plots are sheltered by a canopy of trees.

Based on 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork, this book offers a vivid, intimate microhistory of the village of Casiavera, where once-landless workers and peasant farmers created “a new political agroecology.” This scholarship is a work of trust, even capturing the eco-political movement’s emotional undercurrents. “We no longer trembled with fear. No, we were not afraid anymore,” said one resident of Casiavera, recalling a blockade they formed to take back the plantations.

Countering Dispossession, Reclaiming Land is a profound story of what a “land back” movement can look like in practice, reaffirming the possibility that violently occupied land can be reclaimed, from Palestine to Crimea.
—Grey Moran

A Call to Farms: Reconnecting to Nature, Food, and Community in a Modern World
By Jennifer Grayson

The fragility of our food system became more prominent than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, when supply chains struggled to stay tethered due to global trade disruptions. Six months into the pandemic, journalist Jennifer Grayson uprooted herself and her family from their home in Los Angeles and moved to Bend, Oregon, where Grayson embarked on a regenerative agriculture internship.

In A Call to Farms, Grayson highlights profiles of young farmers—from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina to central Massachusetts—working to create more sustainable farms. Underlying each profile are the effects and unique challenges farmers are facing due to a rapidly changing climate. These snapshots provide a window into a world of farming where young people are actively resisting the industrialized monocultures that dominate our landscape; their farms are often grounded in education, sustainable practices, and, above all, community.

Of her own time in Oregon, Grayson writes, “In my quest to bring my family to live with nature and connect to our food, I had forgotten an essential part of the equation: that throughout human history, neither was possible in the absence of community.”
—Nina Elkadi

Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey Toward Personal and Ecological Healing
By Jennifer Grenz

“To use only fragmented pieces of [Indigenous] knowledge is to admire a tree without its roots,” Nlaka’pamux ecologist turned land healer Jennifer Grenz writes in Medicine Wheel for the Planet. The book details her journey to connect head (Western science) with heart (Indigenous worldview)—the latter of which she says is the “missing puzzle piece” in our efforts to re-establish planetary health amid an ongoing climate crisis. The tome complements her work leading the University of British Columbia’s Indigenous Ecology Lab, which aims to restore natural ecosystems and reclaim food systems through community-applied traditional ecological knowledge.

A farm kid at heart, Grenz recalls how her perspective was dismissed and disparaged during her 20 years as a Pacific Northwest field researcher, when she was told time and again that she “takes her work too personally.” Instead of becoming discouraged, she doubled down on her unapologetic application of Indigenous wisdom. She encourages all of us to embrace a Native worldview, including the teachings of the medicine wheel’s four directions (as outlined in her book): the North, which draws upon the knowledge and wisdom of elders; the East, where we let go of colonial narratives and see with fresh eyes; the South, where we apply new-old worldviews to envision a way forward; and the West, where a relational approach to land reconciliation is realized. This, Grenz and other Indigenous thought leaders believe, is the only path forward.
—Kate Nelson

The Good Eater: A Vegan’s Search for the Future of Food
By Nina Guilbeault

Nina Guilbeault admits she isn’t the first person you might expect to write about how veganism entered the mainstream. The Harvard-trained sociologist was born to a modest family in the Soviet Union. “Growing up in the rubble of the collapse, we didn’t have much choice about what to eat,” she writes. But her life changed when her beloved dedushka, or grandfather, was diagnosed with cancer and she started to research the link between diet and disease.

Thus began a global journey to research vegan movements. Guilbeault ventured to Silicon Valley to examine veganism’s transformation from a social movement to a market-based model, and inside the U.S. “vegan mafia” to grasp the millions of dollars behind it. Guilbeault’s personal journey ends up being far more nuanced and complex than she ever expected. “A book I thought would be about veganism turned out to be about the much larger quest of discovering what kind of food system I wanted to build, and how,” she writes. In the end, The Good Eater is a worthwhile examination of eating well in a food system designed for the opposite.
—Naomi Starkman

Food in a Just World: Compassionate Eating in a Time of Climate Change
By Tracey Harris and Terry Gibbs

“Is there such a thing as happy meat?” This treatise on food-system reform poses this question and many others about how political and economic forces often beyond our control shape our dietary choices. How, then, can we foster what the authors term “compassionate eating”?

Learning how food is produced is a significant step, but it’s not easy: “Opacity insulates consumers from the worst practices of food production,” the authors write. Industrialized fish, poultry, and meat processing are far removed from consumer consciousness by design—corporations spend millions lobbying lawmakers to resist transparency, and to eschew regulations that hinder maximum profit.

Another step we can take is recognizing the interconnectedness between the land and its inhabitants, and making this the focus of our decision-making. “What has become increasingly obvious to many is that all struggles for justice for human and nonhuman animals and for environmental harmony are inextricably linked,” the authors write.

Food in a Just World makes this abundantly clear, and points to a largely plant-based diet as a solution for many of our planetary ills. But without significant changes to how we govern ourselves and conduct our economies, this solution seems out of reach. This book reminds us to raise our voices and make individual choices to, as the authors say, “begin to heal ourselves and the planet and everyone on it.”
—Leorah Gavidor

Hedgelands: A Wild Wander around Britain’s Greatest Habitat [U.S. Edition]
By Christopher Hart

Hedgelands is a delightful paean to a staple of British life and a critical part of the nation’s rural ecology: the hedge. Christopher Hart takes readers through the history of the hedge, or hedgerows, as an ancient cultural artifact through to its modern role as a threatened and an unexpectedly diverse and complicated ecological wonderland. Hedgelands reflects deep curiosity about and love for a ubiquitous landscape feature. Hart speaks particularly to “conservation hedges” designed for biodiversity and located along active agricultural lands, estates, woodlands, marshes, and anywhere else human stewardship might imagine.

Conservation hedges are growing in popularity worldwide, and this text makes a passionate case for them. Britons have been using a variety of techniques to shape hedges for centuries, and some well-maintained specimens are hundreds of years old. Within a healthy hedge environment, a criss-cross of branches shelters a variety of plants, insects, mammals, and birds that live in harmony with surrounding fields: an estimated 25 percent of Britain’s mammals, for example, call hedges home. The hedge is a unique combination of built and natural environment that reflects complex co-evolution, shaping both British farming practices and the natural environment.

Hedgelands makes an urgent case for conserving the nation’s remaining hedges—only around 400,000 kilometers of hedging remain, with Hart noting that many are in poor condition, consisting of little more than “stumps”—and the loss of this quintessential British symbol could have a profound ripple effect.
—s.e. smith

The Eighth Moon: A Memoir of Belonging and Rebellion
By Jennifer Kabat

The Eighth Moon is a personal history of a place. Set in the Western Catskills in upstate New York, where Kabat moves from London seeking to repair her health, this researched memoir is written in the continuous present, bringing geologic events and Indigenous and white settlements into close perspective.

The book opens during the Anti-Rent wars of the 1840s, with a violent populist uprising against unpayable rents, wherein young white men—tenant farmers—donned leather masks, calico dresses, and pantaloons to hide themselves as they rebelled against their landlords, the Dutch heirs who were part of the lingering feudal rent system installed two centuries earlier.

Kabat links this to other rent strikes over the next two centuries, and to the raging populism that began to percolate in the recession of the late aughts in the 21st century. Throughout, she questions hierarchies of ownership amidst people, plants, and the land, while tracing the communal dreams of utopias and cooperative movements that happened nearby. Her parents worked for and were deeply invested in cooperative business structures, from farms to groceries and electric co-ops. In a way, they set the stage for their daughter’s interrogation of how the socioeconomic structures we choose threaten democracy.
—Amy Halloran

On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America
By Abrahm Lustgarten

On the Move provides a poignant exploration of the climate-driven migration reshaping the American landscape. With scientific rigor and a compelling narrative, Lustgarten vividly portrays communities grappling with escalating climate impacts. As he looks at wildfire-ravaged California,hurricane-battered Gulf Coast towns, and other stricken areas, he critiques the shortsighted policies exacerbating vulnerability, particularly for marginalized communities.

The book’s emotional core lies in its portrayal of the human toll, from Central American farmers forced to abandon lands due to droughts to other once-thriving agricultural communities enduring ongoing depopulation. Lustgarten forecasts a significant northward shift in America’s climate niche and demands proactive social and infrastructural investments for agriculture and food system resilience.

On the Move offers a blueprint for how we can address climate migration, urging comprehensive strategies that integrate environmental defense and social supports. In doing so, the book compels us to confront one of our era’s defining challenges.
—Jonnah Perkins

The Basics of Regenerative Agriculture: Chemical-Free, Nature-Friendly and Community-Focused Food
By Ross Mars

Of all the buzzwords in the agricultural world, “regenerative” is surely among the buzziest. The label bears a certain aura of righteousness as a step beyond “organic,” yet it’s maddeningly difficult to pin down.

The late Australian permaculturist Ross Mars dedicated his career to fleshing out the word in theory and practice. His final work, The Basics of Regenerative Agriculture, offers an accessible primer to a lifetime of learning. Mars argues that any meaningful definition of “regenerative” must concentrate on outcomes, such as increased biodiversity and stable livelihood for farmers, and he shares a list of 20 principles like “enable nutrient cycling” and “enhance ecological succession” as lodestars for the movement. He’s particularly concerned with soil health—“We are technically made of topsoil,” he points out—and readers come away with a deep understanding of how carbon and nutrients flow (aided by charming hand-drawn illustrations).

But Mars believes that a regenerative paradigm shift can heal much more than the soil, transforming all parts of an industrial agricultural system that both contributes to and risks disruption from the climate crisis.
—Daniel Walton

Insatiable City: Food and Race In New Orleans
By Theresa McCulla

Do you know what and who is considered Creole? Insatiable City: Food and Race in New Orleans answers this question and unveils the realities of how New Orleans was founded and who shaped it—both willingly and forcibly. Mixed with doses of food culture, the book delves into the journeys that brought people and food to the city, the lifestyles of free and enslaved Black American laborers along with white powerholders, and tourism.

Each chapter captures a different historical aspect of New Orleans’ food and people. One chapter describes the slave trade blocks that were an attraction for tourists, and another juxtaposes luxurious hotels and food with the atrocious cruelties behind the scenes—laborers eating scraps, or no food at all. “Field and Levee” focuses on the huge sugar industry that dominated New Orleans’ economy and the laborers who worked hard on the boats. And “Mother Market” introduces the Choctaw, who established a public market that became a place for Black Americans to trade and sell goods until they were barred, and the market became a place for travelers and the elite to shop. To top it off, McCulla masterfully ties images to newspaper excerpts and individual stories, dipping you into an earlier time in New Orleans.
—Kalisha Bass

On Gold Hill: A Personal History of Wheat, Farming, and Family, from Punjab to California
By Jaclyn Moyer

The child of a forbidden marriage between a white American man and a Punjabi-American woman, Jaclyn Moyer did not learn much about her Indian heritage growing up. Because of the family fracture, she never visited India, did not speak the language, and could not replicate her grandmother’s traditional cooking. That changed, however, after Moyer and her partner established an organic farm on 10 acres in the Sierra foothills of California.

The couple decided to grow, in addition to vegetables, an heirloom variety of wheat called Sonora. Moyer soon learned that this variety of wheat originated in Punjab, the region in northern India where her mother was born. “Might this obscure wheat contain within it a door to my own heritage?” she asks. “Could cultivating it offer me an opportunity to make up for all that had not passed down to me?”

In On Gold Hill, Moyer weaves together her attempt to grow the grain with the story she unearths of her family through the generations. She layers these personal narratives with the larger histories of wheat cultivation over the millennia and the more recent organic farming movement. Moyer writes with beautiful, evocative prose. She does not romanticize her own farming experience, or the global chain of events at the center of today’s food and farming systems. This well-researched memoir about identity, heritage, and the systems that feed us is sweet, insightful, and challenging from the first page—and very much worth a read.
—Christina Cooke

Plant Magic: A Celebration of Plant-Based Cooking for Everyone
By Desiree Nielsen

Dietitian and author Desiree Nielsen doesn’t want to tell you what you shouldn’t eat. Instead, she practices “positive nutrition” by advocating for “unrestricted eating” of all kinds of cool plants that should be making their way onto our plates. As she writes in Plant Magic, this approach works because our brains will fight back against restrictions—and because what we put into our bodies will have a greater impact on our health than what we don’t.

Nielsen shares her joy for getting more nutrient-dense plants into our diets, with some helpful insights. Chew on a few fennel seeds after dinner to ease digestion and freshen your breath, for example, or incorporate cumin for its anti-inflammatory and digestion-soothing properties. She leans hard into tahini, pairing it with tomatoes and dates; transforming it into a ranch dressing to coat a broccoli salad; or whipping it with sweet potato and harissa for a spicy dip.

If you’re new to plant-based cooking, you may need to add some new ingredients to your pantry, such as spelt flour or hemp hearts. But doing so will open up a new world of meat-free possibilities, and Nielsen promises they will taste good. “If it’s not delicious,” she writes, “what’s the point?”
—Tilde Herrera

Perennial Ceremony: Lessons and Gifts from a Dakota Garden
By Teresa Peterson

In a busy world that seems so often to be filled with struggle, despair, and hate, Teresa Peterson shares a tale of love, wisdom, and reciprocity cultivated through the close observation and attentive following of her garden’s seasonality. Delicately weaving together poetry, prose, and recipes for dishes like Wild Rice, Roast, and Hominy for a Crowd and Zucchini Brownies, Peterson offers an easily devoured glimpse into mitakuye owasin—the Dakota way of living and being in deep relationship with our natural relatives: land, plants, and water.

Told through sections that follow the seasons, Peterson brings us along for everything from her struggle to reconcile Christianity with Dakota spirituality to tales of her great-great-grandmother’s eventual return to her homelands. We learn, too, of her encounters with outspoken red squirrels and conversations with university students enrolled in a course on sustainability leadership. It’s gardening as an act of love for Mother Earth that ties these seemingly disparate threads together. “The garden has always been a space for me to work through my own everyday problems or to reflect on issues too big for me to solve,” Peterson writes—a balm for the soul residing in an often-troubled world.
—Cinnamon Janzer

The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
By Zoë Schlanger

Plants create the oxygen we breathe; they feed and shelter us and an infinity of other creatures; and they delight us in innumerable ways—with their beauty, their fragrance, the shade they provide. Obviously, they’re alive—but how alive, exactly? Over the past 20 years, aided by leaps in technology, botanists have uncovered plant behaviors that challenge our very idea of what a plant is.

For environmental journalist Zoë Schlanger, this was a story “too good to stay locked in the realms of academia.” She embarked on a years-long journey, interviewing scores of scientists all over the world and describing, in shimmering prose, their findings: Plants can communicate with one another—and even other species—by releasing chemicals into the air, or through a network of underground fungi. Some plants can recognize genetic kin, arranging their roots and leaves to hospitably share light and soil. They can hear sounds. Plants have recent memories that they pass on to their seeds. A few are able to shape-shift, mimicking the forms of other plants around them.

A rigorous thinker and gifted, expansive storyteller, Schlanger gives us the context to understand what we’re learning, interspersing details of plant physiology with sweeping overviews of how life evolved on Earth, the history of the scientific method, and the place of plants in Indigenous cultures. This stunning book upends our take-them-for-granted view of plants and encourages us to really see them—to our profound benefit.
—Margo True

Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora
By Khushbu Shah

This cookbook explores Indian immigrant foodways in America and invites readers to add these methods and ingredients to everyday cooking. Shah is the first person of color to serve as restaurant editor for Food & Wine magazine, and her enthusiasm will send you straight to the kitchen. She starts by dismantling myths about all Indian food being spicy and overly complicated, then addresses assumptions about vegetarianism and briefly discusses caste and its relation to eating, giving reading references for a deeper dive.

Shah shows you how to stock your pantry and get rolling with simple basics, like Cabbage Nu Shaak, a quick stir-fry that her mother, a dentist, made multiple times a week—and that Shah still makes today, paired with Yogurt Rice, a simple stovetop pudding. Paneer and dal are the starring proteins in this mostly vegetarian cookbook that provides excellent meat alternatives—for instance, the Tandoori chicken wing marinade of yogurt and spices works great on cauliflower.

Using this book is fun, and with Shah’s curiosity as your guide, you’ll be looking at noodles and flour tortillas from a whole new perspective. Dive into cheeky pokes at stereotypes with a bingo board that names common objects of the diaspora and note maybe the best blurb ever—a goofy quip from the author’s father urging you to buy this book because his daughter didn’t become a doctor.
—Amy Halloran

Food Margins: Lessons from an Unlikely Grocer
By Cathy Stanton

Bringing in more grocery stores seems like a straightforward solution to serve communities that lack access to food—especially to diverse and fresh locally grown produce. But what seems like an obvious solution comes with deep-rooted problems that require much untangling. Scholar Cathy Stanton explores these complexities in Food Margins, a blend of history, ethnography, and memoir.

The book spotlights Quabbin Harvest, a food co-op in downtown Orange, Massachusetts, a former mill town that has seen better days. Ever since Quabbin launched in 2015, it has struggled to stay afloat, at one point on the brink of bankruptcy. Stanton’s book focuses on the co-op’s trials and tribulations as it wrestles with supply chain issues and maintaining its membership base. The book is at its best when Stanton writes about her personal involvement in the initiative; she eventually steps in to manage the business, working with the board, volunteers, and consultants. She packs in gripping stories of how she and fellow local-food supporters try to attract shoppers/members to Quabbin –launching a cooked food line, running fundraisers, creating a share-the-shelf program, downsizing freezers—and covering them with chalkboard signs reading, “We are re-imagining the store” when they couldn’t stock them with enough food. There is a touching story of Dean Cycon, the owner of Dean’s Beans, snapping up Quabbin memberships for all his staff and arranging a credit arrangement to help the co-op keep going.

Ultimately, Food Margins leaves the reader gripped with the question of whether Quabbin will survive and with a deep appreciation of what it takes to bring fresh food to the shelf.
—Amy Wu 

Feeding a Divided America: Reflections of a Western Rancher in the Era of Climate Change
By Gilles Stockton

In this collection of interconnected essays, Gilles Stockton straddles two worlds: the bucolic grasslands of Montana, where he ranches cattle and sheep, and the polished halls of Congress, where he’s pushed for agricultural reform as a past president of the Montana Cattlemen’s Association. He ably bridges those perspectives here, exploring “the realities of production agriculture within the context of living in rural America.”

At his best, Stockton comes across like a latter-day Wendell Berry with an economics degree, connecting his unshakeable convictions in the value of rural community with detailed analysis of dysfunction in the livestock industry. While some sections can get wonky, Stockton also keeps his writing grounded in references to his real-world experience, like seeing huge tracts of nearby rangeland be bought up by absentee billionaires. “Is it wise for urban America to continue treating the rural parts of this country as a mere colony?” he asks.

Although Stockton admits that there are no easy answers, Feeding a Divided America advocates for diversified farming and rural respect as good places to start repairing a persistent cultural divide.
—Daniel Walton

Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves
By Nicola Twilley

While a cool drink and a good summer read may go hand in hand, Nicola Twilley’s new book, Frostbite, will have you thinking twice about taking that refreshing sip for granted. As the seasoned journalist and co-host of the podcast Gastropod reveals, the fridge that keeps beer frosty and sprigs of mint fresh is just the tip of the iceberg in the cold supply chain. Starting with refrigerated storage on the farm, the artificial cryosphere includes meat processing facilities, distribution centers, trucks and shipping containers, and supermarket display cases—a vast network designed to ensure safe, efficient, and convenient delivery of food into our iceboxes.

Through meticulous reporting—the result of a titanic, 17-year odyssey into the chilly depths of the refrigeration infrastructure, including a stint in the numbing cold of a freezer warehouse—Twilley unveils the history of cold storage and its evolution into the extensive and pervasive refrigerated food system we have today. But despite the technology’s promise to deliver food security and abundance, our seemingly insatiable appetite for manufactured cold comes at a shiver-inducing price, she discovers, with profound impacts on our health, socioeconomic and geopolitical landscape, and climate change.
—Naoki Nitta

The SalviSoul Cookbook: Salvadoran Recipes and the Women Who Preserve Them
By Karla T. Vasquez

As journalists, we understand the importance of documentation—the need to record moments in time to memorialize them in history. As food journalists, we understand even further that how people nurture themselves not only informs their personal identities, but culture as a whole. The SalviSoul Cookbook fully encapsulates food’s power to preserve all of this.

When author, food historian, and Salvadoran Karla Vasquez started researching Salvadoran cuisine 10 years ago at the Los Angeles Central Library, a librarian tried to help her find recordings of Salvadoran foodways. Coming up short, she quipped to Vasquez that if she wanted to find a book about Salvadoran cuisine, “You’re going to have to write it yourself.” And that’s exactly what Vasquez did.

In addition to recipes, the book contains 33 stories from Salvadoreñas that Vasquez sat down with to speak about their histories. The book makes readers feel like they’re learning to prepare traditional Salvadoran meals with love, while sitting at a table with phenomenal women who crossed borders carrying with them the recipes they used to feed their families. Known as the first exclusively Salvadoran cookbook from a major publisher in the United States, this cookbook creates space for more books that document overlooked foodways.
—Marisa Martinez

Into the Weeds: How to Garden Like a Forager
By Tama Matsuoka Wong

In the popular understanding, hunter-gatherer societies were replaced by those that adopted modern agricultural practices. In Into the Weeds, however, Tama Matsuoka Wong introduces readers to the anthropological concept of the “middle ground” between foraging and farming.

Many people around the world, she explains, have long both collected and tended to plants, and we can follow that example to create “wild gardens of the middle ground.” Into the Weeds unpacks this philosophy and acts as a guidebook for applying it to any backyard. Instead of clearing expanses of arable land, she says, we can plant gardens that build on the existing natural elements of a place, forage for wood sorrel on the edges of garden beds, and gather purslane that’s poking through cracks in cement.

Given Matsuoka Wong’s credentials as forager to renowned New York City restaurants, including Daniel and Atomix, one might imagine her approach to be entirely aspirational. While that’s partly true, the book is also filled with practical advice, like simple instructions for collecting and storing seeds and how to use chicken wire to protect crops from deer. Plus, the entire premise should help relieve the pressure traditional gardeners often feel to create neat, weed-free rows and maintain clearly delineated divisions between what we grow and what grows around us. “In the end, she writes, “nature slips through the boundaries and blurs them.” And that’s a good thing.
—Lisa Held

Other Notable Books

Planting With Purpose: How Farmers Create a Resilient Food Landscape
By Stephen Ellingson

Hungry Beautiful Animals: The Joyful Case for Going Vegan
By Matthew C. Halteman

A-Gong’s Table: Vegan Recipes from a Taiwanese Home
By George Lee

Farmer Eva’s Green Garden Life (a children’s book)
By Jacqueline Biggs Martin

Our Recent Books Coverage

Forage. Gather. Feast. 100+ Recipes from West Coast Forests, Shores, & Urban Spaces
By Maria Finn
One of this foraging cookbook’s goals is to inspire people to develop deeper relationships with their local ecosystems so they’ll be motivated to protect those places.

Devoured: The Extraordinary Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Ate the South
By Ayurella Horn-Muller
Journalist Horn-Muller detangles the South’s fickle relationship with the boundless kudzu vine, chronicling the way it has evolved over centuries and dissecting what climate change could mean for its future across the United States.

Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry
By Austin Frerick
In his new book, the Iowa native and competition expert exposes the system that has allowed seven families, including those behind Cargill, JBS, Driscoll’s, and Walmart, to build enormous power.

The Winter Market Gardener: A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Year-Round Harvests
By Jean-Martin Fortier and Catherine Sylvestre
In his latest book, the Canadian market farmer and educator hopes to inspire a new generation of small-scale farmers to extend their growing seasons in an effort to boost food sovereignty.

The post Our Summer 2024 Food and Farming Book Guide appeared first on Civil Eats.

]]> https://civileats.com/2024/05/20/getting-schooled-on-preserving-and-storing-food-with-civic-kitchen/ https://civileats.com/2024/05/20/getting-schooled-on-preserving-and-storing-food-with-civic-kitchen/#comments Mon, 20 May 2024 09:00:19 +0000 https://civileats.com/?p=56224 A version of this article originally appeared in the “Revitalizing Home Cooking” issue of The Deep Dish, our members-only newsletter. Become a member today and get the next issue directly in your inbox. “We’re super concerned with the longevity of what we bring in and don’t want to waste it, so we have all kinds of […]

The post Getting Schooled on Preserving and Storing Food With Civic Kitchen appeared first on Civil Eats.

]]> A version of this article originally appeared in the “Revitalizing Home Cooking” issue of The Deep Dish, our members-only newsletter. Become a member today and get the next issue directly in your inbox.

“We’re super concerned with the longevity of what we bring in and don’t want to waste it, so we have all kinds of storage techniques,” Nurse says.

For example, the cooking school, like all professional kitchens, uses the first in, first out (FIFO) system so that the oldest food in its refrigerators, freezer, and pantry are used first.

Below are more food storage and preserving tricks and hacks from Civic Kitchen and 18 Reasons, a San Francisco nonprofit that promotes home cooking to increase food security.

Produce. For many types of fruits and vegetables, the key is to wash, dry, and store them in the refrigerator or pantry. After Civic Kitchen receives a produce order, for example, they fill a sink or large container with cool water and add most types of fruits and vegetables (see note below on berries) to soak before scrubbing everything—Nurse loves using Japanese tawashi brushes—and laying them out to dry completely on a wire rack or towel without touching. “If we do that and store in our pantry or fridge, it lasts a really long time and anything you reach for is already clean,” Nurse says.

Tomatoes and potatoes can be washed and dried but shouldn’t be stored in the refrigerator. Potatoes can go into a brown paper bag once dry to shield them from light, which turns them green. Onions don’t need to be washed before storage or refrigeration. If your mushrooms are very dirty, wash them (quickly, to keep them from soaking up water) right before use.

Ethylene gas is released as produce ripens and can speed up ripening in nearby produce. Onions produce a lot of ethylene, so Kayla Whitehouse at 18 Reasons recommends storing them away from potatoes. Bananas also ripen quickly and produce ethylene, so store those away from apples.

Berries. For delicate berries such as strawberries or raspberries, Nurse spreads them out, unwashed, on a paper towel-lined sheet pan in a single layer, without touching. Then she layers another paper towel on top, followed by a layer of plastic wrap. Finally she stores them in the refrigerator to be washed right before using. For sturdier berries, such as blueberries and blackberries, she’ll follow the same procedure but washes and dries them first.

Herbs. Nurse advises against washing fresh herbs directly under hard running water, which can bruise the leaves. Instead, fill a large bowl or sink with cold water and float the herbs for a while. Lift them out and use a salad spinner to dry them as much as possible. For multiple kinds of herbs, nest a dry towel between the bunches in the salad spinner to keep from getting mixed up. Gather the stems in the same direction like a flower bouquet. Store the herbs upright in the refrigerator in a container with a little bit of water covering the stems. Or wrap the stems in a paper towel folded lengthwise, keeping the leaves loose, and store in an airtight container or Ziploc bag. “You throw a few bunches of herbs in there, squeeze out the air, zip it up, and it will last for at least two weeks,” Nurse says. This technique doesn’t work with basil, which should be washed right before using—and never refrigerated.

Ginger. Civic Kitchen stores half-used ginger in the freezer with the skin on. “You just grate it or use it straight from frozen, and it’s wonderful,” Nurse says. She notes that it’s easier to grate with the skin on and recommends choosing young ginger with fresh, fine skin and washing it before using.

Animal Protein. Most raw proteins last longer in the refrigerator than people think, Nurse says. She recommends buying and cooking fish within a couple days, and within three to four days for other types of protein. Throw out food if it smells off or looks discolored. Once cooked, most proteins will last three to five days.

Freshness. Nurse noted there can be a big difference in freshness and shelf life of what is available at a farmers’ market or farm stand vs. the grocery store. “I can say absolutely without a doubt that the produce and herbs from the farmers’ market typically last at least twice as long as what you get in the grocery store,” she said. Although some things may be cheaper at a grocery store, buying from a farmers’ market or farm stand also ensures that more of your dollars are going directly into farmers’ pockets.

Storage containers. Nurse recommends using clear, airtight containers that are stackable and nest well with each other, such as square- or rectangle-shaped containers rather than round ones. Although some people steer clear of plastic due to safety concerns, Nurse doesn’t have a problem with food-grade plastic containers like Cambro. She advises placing labels in the front of containers, rather than on top, so you can quickly see what needs to be used first.

Freezing. If you can’t cook your food or eat your leftovers in a timely manner, “your freezer is your friend,” Nurse says. Whitehouse recommends blanching vegetables before freezing them to retain texture and flavor; she also recommends buying frozen vegetables to save money on out-of-season produce. Overripe bananas can be frozen with or without their skin and used in smoothies or banana bread.

If using Ziploc bags to store food in the freezer, Nurse says it’s important to squeeze out as much air as possible because many freezers are designed to cycle through freeze and thaw periods; as they cycle up and down in temperature, food will refreeze, which can lead to freezer burn if the food is exposed to air.

Preserving. Extra onions and other vegetables can be pickled with a quick brine, which will extend their life for a month and provide fun toppings for tacos and sandwiches. Onions can also be caramelized, which will keep for a week or be frozen. Lemons preserved in salt and sugar can add a kick to salad dressings, sauces, cocktails, and marinades. For herbs about to turn, Nurse recommends making a simple green sauce that can be added to meat, sandwiches, pasta, or dressing, or can be frozen for later use.

Avoid the danger zone. Nurse advises home cooks to beware of the danger zone, the 40° F to 140°F range in which bacteria can quickly grow. The saying goes, “Keep hot food hot, and cold food cold.” Food safety experts recommend discarding perishable food that has been held in this temperature range cumulatively for more than four hours.

Cooking Tips From the Civil Eats Team

Introduction by Lisa Held

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of the Civil Eats’ team are enthusiastic home cooks. Some of us have been to culinary school, some have picked up favorite recipes from their parents, and others have found inspiration in the wide world of recipes and how-to videos now available online. Here, the team shares some of the best tips and tricks we’ve learned along the way. We’d love to hear your tips as well—send us an email!

When it comes to home cooking, we all pick up knowledge in different ways.

Part of my story involves marrying an award-winning chef. (I know, what a brag.) In almost all ways, it’s a dream. He cooks for me constantly, and for that, I am unceasingly grateful.

But for an enthusiastic home cook, it can also be complicated. I love to cook and always thought I was pretty good at it. But when we first got together, my “skills” suddenly seemed ridiculous. I was filled with anxiety chopping vegetables in his presence and terrified any time he took a bite of a dish I’d made. (To be clear, he is only ever supportive and uncritical; it’s just about my internal desire to measure up in all ways at all times.)

Over time, that fear was whittled away by love and partnership. And along the way, I got better at cooking. The best part is that the pure joy he gets from making and sharing something delicious rubbed off on me. While some people dread the question, his eyes light up when he asks (sometimes literally at 10 a.m.), “What do you want to have for dinner tonight?” But I also use more salt and pepper than I ever did before and know how to make many more simple condiments. (Try this: diced white onion, cilantro, lime juice.)

“One extra step.” If time is the only variable that matters, you can live without this. Especially because yes, there will be more dishes. But one thing I noticed is that chefs always add an extra step that happens before the main “cooking” event. I never would have bothered with it in the past, but I have realized it can really improve the outcome. For example, boiling hard vegetables like potatoes or broccoli that are going to end up sautéed, roasted, or fried. Or sweating eggplant: Cover slices or dices with plenty of salt, let it sit for 20 minutes, put it in a towel, and squeeze out the water. —Lisa Held

A final touch. I used to laugh at the idea of carefully plating or garnishing a weeknight dinner for two, but there is something so lovely about someone putting a plate in front of you that looks like it was made with care. The most simple bowl of rice and beans comes to life with a little cilantro garnish on top. —Lisa Held

Garlic oil at the ready. For years I have sautéed garlic in olive oil before using it in pesto or other sauces that don’t get cooked; it mellows out the flavor and significantly reduces my garlic-breath woes. For the last six months or so, I have been doing that “one extra step” that Lisa mentions and sautéing more garlic and oil than I immediately need, and keeping the extra in a jar on my counter. Being able to quickly add garlic oil to any dish makes it a little more magical, and it makes pesto that much quicker to whip up. —Matt Wheeland

Storage and presentation. Anything that’s getting stored in the fridge gets masking tape with an ID and a date. It takes two seconds, and I think it really does help you make sense of what’s in your fridge, which helps you come up with dinner plans more quickly and avoid food waste. —Lisa Held

Consult internet experts. When I want to figure out how to make something come out great, I go to YouTube to find tricks. I recently learned how to make fluffy omelets and how to pop the best popcorn every time! —Kalisha Bass

4 words to cook by. Samin Nosrat’s principle of “Salt Fat Acid Heat” is really helpful for figuring out how to cook and season to taste. It’s the idea that good-tasting food strikes a balance between salty, fatty, and acidic elements, while also considering how it is cooked (heat). So if the food doesn’t quite taste right, it’s likely one of those factors needs adjusting. —Grey Moran

Look to simple, veggie-forward recipes for inspiration. We got into a rut with menu ideas to prepare for two kids and with limited time. We found ourselves making pasta, tacos, or a plate of rice and roasted vegetables over and over, ad infinitum. While we’re not ones for prescriptive diets, we’ve recently found inspiration with Mediterranean diet-inspired recipes, which prioritize vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and heart-healthy fats. The new ideas have spiced up our rotation: spinach and feta frittata! Lemony roasted shrimp and asparagus! Tuna melts! The variety has been refreshing, and the kids have been happy. We look for recipes that are simple and require as few ingredients and steps as possible. —Christina Cooke

Simple, high-quality ingredients. The one tip I share the most is really the simplest: Buy the best ingredients you can afford and let them shine. Because I don’t eat meat, I often spend more on fresh vegetables at the farmers’ market as well as high-quality olive oil—and I use a lot of it. People often seem amazed how really good olive oil can transform vegetables, not only in cooking and roasting, but also as a finishing touch and in salad dressing. Caramelized baby cauliflower, fennel, spring onions, and carrots, for example, can be transformed into a simple delicacy with a peppery olive oil and salt. —Naomi Starkman

Cook with, and for, friends. The Civil Eats team is tired of me talking about my soup swap, but it’s one of my favorite cooking improvements in the last few years. Throughout the winter, a neighbor friend and I exchange a quart of soup every week. I’ll make a slightly larger pot of soup—which takes almost no extra effort—and I get an extra meal by swapping with my neighbor. It’s like two meals for one! Plus, I get to try a bunch of recipes that I never would’ve discovered on my own. —Matt Wheeland

For kids, find recipes that can be deconstructed. With two kids, ages 3 and 5, who each have particular tastes, we look for recipes that sound tasty to my husband and me—but can be served in deconstructed form as well. That way, we can enjoy the whole dish as intended, and they can enjoy the individual components they find most appealing. We recently prepared a variation of this farro, chickpea, spring veggie, and feta salad, for example. While we ate the marinated salad all mixed together, the kids enjoyed farro, roasted chickpeas, and slices of avocado, and could avoid the radishes and lettuce, which they were less likely to eat. —Christina Cooke

Finishing touches. Ice cube trays are great for freezing small portions of extra sauce; the cubes can be stored in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. For example, you can pull out a few cubes of stock, pesto, or chile sauce for a quick addition to a dish. We also typically have fresh herbs, citrus, and good olive oil and butter on hand for finishing a dish. —Tilde Herrera

Preserving family memories. The act of passing on a family recipe can often be forgotten or put off for years. Sometimes it’s best to be the initiator and ask to learn how to make your mom’s famous chimichurri or arroz con pollo. Not only will seeking guidance on how to prepare beloved dishes allow another generation to experience the love of cooking that spans decades, but it will also honor the cooks themselves. Take this as a sign to ask that family member about their iconic dish and then be sure to pass down the knowledge in your own time. —Marisa Martinez

All interviews in this issue have been edited for length and clarity

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]]> https://civileats.com/2024/05/20/getting-schooled-on-preserving-and-storing-food-with-civic-kitchen/feed/ 1 https://civileats.com/2024/03/12/civil-eats-appoints-veteran-food-journalist-and-editor-margo-true-as-editorial-director/ https://civileats.com/2024/03/12/civil-eats-appoints-veteran-food-journalist-and-editor-margo-true-as-editorial-director/#comments Tue, 12 Mar 2024 09:00:03 +0000 https://civileats.com/?p=55639 True worked as a food editor for many years in New York at Gourmet and at Saveur as executive editor. She later joined Sunset, where she was the food editor for 14 years. Most recently, she was the lead copywriter, journals editor, and recipe editor for Patagonia Provisions, the food division of Patagonia, focusing on […]

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Civil Eats is thrilled to announce the hiring of Margo True as its new editorial director. True is a longtime, award-winning food writer and magazine editor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Naomi Starkman, who founded the organization 15 years ago, and has since served as its editor-in-chief, has been appointed executive director. Former Managing Editor Matthew Wheeland was promoted to the role of operations director.

True worked as a food editor for many years in New York at Gourmet and at Saveur as executive editor. She later joined Sunset, where she was the food editor for 14 years. Most recently, she was the lead copywriter, journals editor, and recipe editor for Patagonia Provisions, the food division of Patagonia, focusing on food’s role in restoring ecosystems.

“I’m excited to be joining Civil Eats as editorial director,” True said. “I’ve long admired this publication for the breadth, depth, and quality of its reporting on the state of our food system. Civil Eats is widely respected for uncovering stories that tend to stay hidden from public view, yet have profound, everyday impact on our lives, especially as we face the climate crisis. I’m looking forward to supporting this talented team and their work to make good food a civil right for everyone.”

During her time at Saveur, the magazine received eight National Magazine Award nominations (winning two) and 25 James Beard Journalism Award nominations (winning 12). At Sunset, True created a backyard farming blog that won the magazine its first James Beard journalism award and was the basis for several articles, a book, and a West-wide contest. True has also edited cookbooks, including the Canal House series, The Sunset Cookbook, and the award-winning Great Outdoors Cookbook.

“I can’t think of a more qualified and outstanding journalist than Margo True to guide Civil Eats into its next era,” said Starkman, who, in collaboration with the Civil Eats team, spent more than a year reorganizing the award-winning publication. “True has decades of experience, is a tenacious reporter, investigator, and editor, and is one of the most respected individuals in our field. We are lucky to welcome her to our team.”

True grew up in several different countries as the daughter of a diplomat. Gradually, she came to understand that food could be a subtle, powerful way of helping people bridge cultures, and she believes that still. “For more than 30 years, I’ve been fascinated by food and the way it connects to and reverberates through all aspects of life,” said True.

“Civil Eats is a unique journalistic organization that provides much needed reporting and insight into the politically charged and dynamically changing food system,” said Will Rosenzweig, chairperson of Civil Eats’ board of directors. “Margo True has the special skills, knowledge, and passion to continue the legacy of quality and integrity established by Naomi Starkman and her team at Civil Eats.”

“The publication will undoubtedly continue to grow, inform, and thrive under True’s direction,” Rosenzweig continued. “With Starkman and Wheeland in continuing, promoted positions, this independent publication’s leadership is strong and its future is bright.”

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]]> https://civileats.com/2024/03/12/civil-eats-appoints-veteran-food-journalist-and-editor-margo-true-as-editorial-director/feed/ 1 https://civileats.com/2024/02/07/civil-eats-welcomes-sam-mogannam-and-tracie-powell-to-its-board-of-directors/ Wed, 07 Feb 2024 09:00:34 +0000 https://civileats.com/?p=55204 A leader in philanthropic efforts to increase racial equity and diversity in media, Powell is the founder of The Pivot Fund, which seeks to support independent civic news and information. Mogannam is the second-generation owner of the San Francisco-based Bi-Rite Family of Businesses, a values-driven B Corporation, whose mission is to create community through food. […]

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We are pleased to announce that Civil Eats welcomes two new board members, Tracie Powell and Sam Mogannam.

A leader in philanthropic efforts to increase racial equity and diversity in media, Powell is the founder of The Pivot Fund, which seeks to support independent civic news and information. Mogannam is the second-generation owner of the San Francisco-based Bi-Rite Family of Businesses, a values-driven B Corporation, whose mission is to create community through food.

“As Civil Eats marks its 15th anniversary, we welcome the depth of knowledge and experience that both Powell and Mogannam bring to our board of directors,” Civil Eats Board Chairperson Will Rosenzweig said. “Their wealth of experience and knowledge, in media and food systems respectively, make them highly capable stewards and thought partners for Civil Eats. We look forward to incorporating their wisdom and guidance into our next chapter.”

Under Mogannam’s direction, Bi-Rite has grown to include two neighborhood markets (with a third slated to open this summer), a creamery, a catering division, and 18 Reasons, a nonprofit cooking school dedicated to empowering the community with the knowledge and creativity they need to buy, cook, and eat good food every day.

He’s also the co-author of Eat Good Food: A Grocer’s Guide to Shopping, Cooking and Creating Community Through Food. In addition to being inducted into the Specialty Food Association’s Hall of Fame, Mogannam was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business and selected to be on Forbes list of Small Giants.

“I am so honored to serve on the Civil Eats board,” Mogannam said. “Civil Eats has been my main source of information and inspiration about the responsible food movement. Its in-depth reporting is exceptional, and unique at a time when mainstream media’s budget cuts have adversely impacted the quality of information to which we have access.”

Powell served as board chair from 2017 to 2023 for LION Publishers, and was founding fund manager of the Racial Equity in Journalism (REJ) Fund at Borealis Philanthropy. She was a senior fellow with the Democracy Fund and a 2016 JSK (Knight) fellow at Stanford University. Powell is also the founder of AllDigitocracy.org, which focuses on the media and its impact on diverse communities.

“I have known Naomi Starkman for nearly eight years, and I believe and admire her leadership,” Powell said. “Civil Eats is a groundbreaking news source that explains food policy in a way that makes it accessible to almost everyone. I am happy to be a part of that inclusive and impactful vision, and I look forward to serving alongside an incredible board to help lead this organization into its next successful phase.”

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]]> https://civileats.com/2023/12/28/our-best-food-access-reporting-of-2023/ Thu, 28 Dec 2023 09:01:48 +0000 https://civileats.com/?p=54777 Over the course of this year, we continued to report on how food insecurity is taking shape around the country—looking at the causes and effects of food inflation, how the people who grow our food often can’t afford to buy it for themselves, and the potential return of school lunch shaming. Here are our most […]

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Nearly three years since the COVID-19 pandemic began upendeding the global food system, we are still seeing food insecurity in all the same places. Early, and major, changes to federal food-assistance programs did address rising food insecurity, but the end of those programs, coupled with astronomical inflation and food prices, put many more households at risk of going hungry.

Over the course of this year, we continued to report on how food insecurity is taking shape around the country—looking at the causes and effects of food inflation, how the people who grow our food often can’t afford to buy it for themselves, and the potential return of school lunch shaming. Here are our most important stories about food insecurity in the U.S., as well as how cities, states, and communities are trying to address this persistent problem.

Can Discount Grocer Lidl Offer Better Food Access in DC’s Ward 7?
The recent opening of the German grocery chain in Southeast DC gives residents a much-needed source for healthy, affordable food. Many hope it will drive other solutions to food insecurity in the under-served area.

Pay-What-You-Can Farm Stands Feed Communities Against Tough Odds
COVID and inflation made fresh fruit and vegetables harder for many to access. Farms offering produce based on what people can pay have played an increasingly important role in keeping communities around the country healthy.

How Food Inflation Adds to the Burdens Disabled People Carry
Between the dramatic increase in food prices and the end of pandemic-era SNAP benefit increases, disabled people are struggling to access the food they need to stay healthy.

Food Prices Are Still High. What Role Do Corporate Profits Play?
Corporate food companies have made record profits these last few years, and they’re hoping it stays that way.

States Are Fighting to Bring Back Free School Meals
Over the last year, momentum has been building to revive the pandemic-era model of universal school food access. A new coalition is pushing the federal government to act.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The Struggle for Food Sovereignty in Immokalee, Florida
The majority of migrant farmworkers live below the federal poverty line, without easy access to healthy foods or affordable housing. To survive, many in this tight-knit community have found strategies for mutual aid and collaborative resilience.

How Benefit Cuts May Create a ‘Perfect Storm’ for Food Insecurity
Hunger advocates and researchers believe the end to emergency allotments—coupled with revised work requirements for SNAP—will pressure food banks, hurt public health, impact kids, and revive old prejudices.

Photo credit: Victoria Pearce, Feeding San Diego

Food Insecurity Is Common in the US Military. Will Congress Vote to Expand Benefits?
Despite its enormous budget, experts and former service members say the U.S. military is failing to ensure soldiers can feed their families.

Photo Essay: How DC Central Kitchen Tackles Hunger, From Food Trucks to Training Programs
The nonprofit is the primary school food provider to 19 Washington, D.C., schools. But kids need meals even when schools close for the summer. Here’s how it feeds kids—and families—where they are.

Congress Puts Federal Support for Urban Farming on the Chopping Block
Since the last farm bill, the USDA has spent more than $50 million to support food production in cities and suburbs, but the programs might not last.

Changes to WIC Benefits Would Cut Food Access for Millions of Parents
In this week’s Field Report, the WIC program faces funding cuts that could affect access to staple foods and infant formula, crop insurance costs rise as the climate changes, and more.

Without Federal School-Meal Support, Lunch Shaming May Be Back on the Menu
Before the pandemic, some schools determined to manage school meal debt had resorted to tactics that embarrassed kids. The government provided universal free meals for two years, but the federal waivers expired in July.

Tribes Are Building Food Sovereignty With Help From the Nation’s Largest Hunger-Relief Group
Five tribal nations are working with Feeding America to improve their ability to produce more food and respond to disasters. If it works, the pilot could inform a larger shift in how the massive organization works with Indigenous communities.

The post Our Best Food Access Reporting of 2023 appeared first on Civil Eats.

]]> https://civileats.com/2023/12/28/our-best-food-and-farm-labor-reporting-of-2023/ Thu, 28 Dec 2023 09:00:06 +0000 https://civileats.com/?p=54772 The food sector was less active on the strike front—aside from the Culinary Union strike in November—but workers earned some significant improvements after the large number of strikes that shook up the industry in 2022. This year saw Chicago abandon the tipped minimum wage, New York City implement a minimum wage for gig delivery workers, […]

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The rising tide of labor organizing accelerated in 2023, as workers from the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ guild and the auto industry earned significant successes.

The food sector was less active on the strike front—aside from the Culinary Union strike in November—but workers earned some significant improvements after the large number of strikes that shook up the industry in 2022. This year saw Chicago abandon the tipped minimum wage, New York City implement a minimum wage for gig delivery workers, and California tussle with the fast food industry by trying to set a minimum wage and revive a regulatory council to support workers.

All is not well in the world of food and farm labor, however. Over the course of the year we reported on industry efforts to roll back hard-won gains on the minimum wage and efforts to build paths to citizenship for immigrants, risks from extreme weather due to climate change, and the perilous nature of work in seafood and animal agriculture. Here are some of our most important stories of the year about the people behind our food.

Photo credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Farmworkers Finally Won Overtime Pay. Now the Industry Wants to Repeal It.
As Washington and Oregon move to implement historic overtime laws, ag industry leaders are pushing for exemptions that are leaving them at odds with farmworkers and their advocates.

Congress Killed a Bill to Give Farmworkers a Path to Citizenship. What Comes Next?
A look inside the complicated failure of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

All Eyes on California as Fast-Food Worker Rights Land on the 2024 Ballot
The state’s landmark law giving fast-food workers a greater voice was set to start in January—until opponents stalled it with a ballot referendum.

California Farmworkers Are Underwater in More Ways Than One
Farmworkers who can’t work in flooded, damaged fields are losing out on weeks—or months—of wages.

Illustration credit: Tina Zellmer

The True Cost of Tuna: Marine Observers Dying at Sea
The harassment, abuse, and sometimes death of the marine observers who uphold sustainable seafood standards are the industry’s worst-kept secrets. Critics say the people and companies that earn the most money on tuna aren’t doing enough to secure their well-being.

Cheap Imports Leave US Shrimpers Struggling With ‘Starvation Wages’
Unable to compete with imports, Louisiana’s shrimpers are calling for emergency action to shore up their shrinking industry.

Photo credit: David Bacon

Photo Essay: A Cooperative Farm’s Long Path to Liberation for Farmworkers
Tierra y Libertad in northern Washington is the first farmworker-owned co-op in the Pacific Northwest; after years of uncertainty, the group is focused on growing a solidarity economy.

Congress Likely to Preserve OSHA Loophole That Endangers Animal Ag Workers
A 2022 Civil Eats investigation found that a budget rider that prohibits OSHA from spending money to ​regulate small farms leaves most animal-ag operations without oversight. Lawmakers appear poised to renew the rider once again.

Nighttime Harvests Protect Farmworkers From Extreme Heat, but Bring Other Risks
Farmworkers are laboring in the dark more often due to climate change. Experts say more data, and more protections against new risks are needed.

A Culinary Worker Strike Could Reshape the Nation’s Restaurants
Thousands of food and beverage workers are striking across the country and demanding higher wages and better protections. The outcome could have ripple effects across the U.S.

Diving—and Dying—for Red Gold: The Human Cost of Honduran Lobster
The Walton Family Foundation invested in a Honduran lobster fishery, targeting its sustainability and touting its success. Ten years later, thousands of workers have been injured or killed.

The post Our Best Food and Farm Labor Reporting of 2023 appeared first on Civil Eats.

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