I’ve only begun to educate myself about our current food system and related issues over the past 5 years or so. It started when I went to culinary school. I admit sheepishly that before, I was happily ignorant to what was going on in the world of food, you know, except for the eating of it! In culinary school, they really didn't delve too much into the food system either but that's where I first caught wind that not all was hunky dory. I was 30 years old and astonished that I really had no clue.
So what I have I done in the past 5 years? Well, not a whole lot. Read a couple books, watched a few documentaries. Felt some guilt. And then it sort of faded away...
I don’t know what changed in me most recently but I know when it happened. I was browsing Netflix and came across the documentary Vegucated. I gave it a whirl. Vegucated is a decent flic but it didn’t really present any information that I didn’t already know. What it did do, once again, was challenge me to question my attitudes and eating.
What was the difference this go around? Well, I think it was that I was finally ready. Like many things in life, you can’t force yourself to do something until you’re ready. You can quit smoking a hundred times but you won’t be successful until you’re ready to do it. Making a big shift in life requires a huge effort and dedication, especially at first. I realized that it was finally time. I had to stop making excuses, stop living a lie. It was time to carefully examine my own practices and make a plan to do my part, big or small, to change a system that I believe to be inherently wrong. It is a process and I am far from having it all figured out but the more I get informed, the easier it gets.
I wanted to compile a list of books and films that have influenced me to change the way I look at food. Now just because I have watched a certain film or read a certain book does NOT mean that I prescribe 100% to what its author is putting out there. I am simply looking to enhance my knowledge and understanding of the world. By exposing myself to as much information as I can, I am able to take from it what I want, form opinions and make decisions on issues that I deem to be important.
This list is by no means complete and is not listed in any particular order. I'm sure I have forgotten many titles. I will continue to add to this list as I remember or as I come across new material (or new to me material). Feel free to make recommendations!
Books of Interest:
The Green History of the World: The Environment & the Collapse of Great Civilisations
by Clive Ponting
The Atlas of FOOD: Who Eats What, Where and Why
by Erik Millstone & Tim Lang
The 100 Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating
by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon
Becoming Vegetarian: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Vegetarian Diet
by Vesanto Melina & Brenda Davis
Gwich’in Ethnobotany
by Alestine Andre & Alan Fehr
Celebrate Yukon Food Seasonal Recipes
compiled by Fireweed Community Market Society
The Boreal Herbal: Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North
by Beverley Gray
The Boreal Gourmet: Adventures in Northern Cooking
by Michele Genest
Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health
by William Davis
The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat
by Loren Cordain, Ph. D.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp & Camille Kingsolver
Whitewater Cooks: pure, simple and real creations from the Fresh Tracks Café
by Shelley Adams
Recipes I've tried and loved: Hungarian Mushroom Barley Soup (p.25), Tabbouleh & Chickpea Salad (p. 43), Whitewater Veggie Burger (p.52), Torta Rustica (p.66), Pad Thai Fried Noodles (p. 68).
Whitewater Cooks: at home
by Shelley Adams
Recipes I've tried and loved: Goat Cheese & Sun-dried Tomato Terrine (p. 28), Warm Goat Cheese Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette (p. 38), Cool Sesame Miso Noodle Salad- half the rice wine vinegar and lime juice! (p.48), Karen's Roasted Potato & Fresh Mint Salad- half the oil & salt (p. 49), Roasted Vegetable Salad (p. 58), Cedar Planked Salmon with Maple Soy Glaze (p. 108).
Whitewater Cooks: with friends
by Shelley Adams
http://www.whitewatercooks.com
Videos of Interest:
Food Inc.
Food Matters
The Future of Food
Fast Food Nation
Vegucated
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
http://www.angelicorganics.com/ao/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=148&Itemid=182
Hungry for Change
Gary Yourofsky- Best Speech You Will Ever Hear
Graham Hill: Why I’m a weekday vegetarian (Ted Talks)
Ann Cooper talks school lunches (Ted Talks)
Dan Barber’s foie gras parable (Ted Talks)
Vegan Style
Check out the movie King Corn on youtube...it will make you cry.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out!
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