Where Does Your Food Come From?

Summer is finally here! As I was outside last week planting my vegetable garden, I was thinking about some of the books and movies I have seen recently that explore the question "Where does your food come from?" All of these titles are available at the Glenview Public Library.


Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Kingsolver and her family take a vow to grow their own food for a year on their family farm. Over the course of a year she chronicles daily life on the farm with thoughtful observations on the amount of work and time farming consumes, the challenges of eating seasonally and the pleasure of returning to a meat eating diet.


EatingWell In Season: The Farmer's Market Cookbook by Jessie Price
In this cookbook by the editors of EatingWell magazine you can find 100 recipes that feature fresh produce and different ways to preserve summer's bounty, organized by season.




The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
Published in 2006, this book has become a modern classic for readers interested in the origin of their food. Pollan traces the source of four different meals from McDonald's, Whole Foods, a sustainable farm and the wild. His observations are realistic, yet critical, and suggest that our food choices have and will continue to have an impact on our own health and the health of the planet.


The Seasons on Henry's Farm: A Year of Food and Life on a Sustainable Farm by Terra Brockman
Brockman, a biologist and the sister of a sustainable farmer, presents a week-by-week account of life on Henry's farm located in central Illinois. Detailed descriptions of the science, the hard work and the complexity involved in farming will inspire a new appreciation for the food on your plate.

King Corn
In this documentary, two college friends return to their native Iowa to grow one acre of corn and see what happens to it as it is harvested, processed and assimilated into the food system. Even though the tone of this video is light, serious issues and questions are raised and explored.


Food Inc.
Recently shown on PBS, this documentary presents an overview on several aspects of the American food industry. Visits to factory farms and food production facilities demonstrate how the safety of food workers and our food supply is being compromised as corporations seek to increase profits. Not just gloom and doom, the documentary also features people and corporations in the food business that are working to sustain a humane business model.