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Food Truths from Farm to Table: 25 Surprising Ways to Shop & Eat without Guilt
What is the only "food" on your dinner table that does not contain hormones? How can animals raised for food also be treated with respect? Is it true that a typical serving of broccoli has more estrogen than a serving of steak? Why is more than 40 percent of food wasted in the United States? Food Truths from Farm to Table: 25 Surprising Ways to Shop & Eat without Guilt answers all of these questions and many more, bringing an unheard voice into the highly emotional food debate. Authored by Michele Payn, a leading farm and food advocate with an in-depth understanding of both sides of the plate, this intriguing book helps readers understand how food is really produced, answers food critics, and points out how food marketing and labels are often half-truths or even "less-than-half truths."
These 25 food truths enable an understanding of how food is grown, providing a transparent window into today's farming and ranching practices that empowers you to make informed personal choices and determine what is right for your family. Each chapter presents a farm or ranch story, answers questions around a major issue, provides science-based information, and includes a sidebar section of food truths and myths.
Readers will gain insights from a food expert who offers a viewpoint that stands in stark contrast to the typical sensationalist and often negative perspective on fashionable food accurate information that will help you to better trust the intentions and processes in farming and ranching. The revelations in this book will simplify food shopping, reduce guilt about being a consumer, and give you the freedom to enjoy your food again.
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These 25 food truths enable an understanding of how food is grown, providing a transparent window into today's farming and ranching practices that empowers you to make informed personal choices and determine what is right for your family. Each chapter presents a farm or ranch story, answers questions around a major issue, provides science-based information, and includes a sidebar section of food truths and myths.
Readers will gain insights from a food expert who offers a viewpoint that stands in stark contrast to the typical sensationalist and often negative perspective on fashionable food accurate information that will help you to better trust the intentions and processes in farming and ranching. The revelations in this book will simplify food shopping, reduce guilt about being a consumer, and give you the freedom to enjoy your food again.
"
232 pages, Hardcover
Published March 20, 2017
6 people are currently reading
742 people want to read
About the author
Michele Payn
3 books24 followersMichele Payn speaks from the intersection of farm and food to bring clarity and common sense to the grocery store. A farm girl since birth and a foodie since living in Italy, she is one of North America’s leading farm and food advocates. Payn is passionate about getting back to the truth in food raised the right way, by the right people, for the right reasons. She is an in-demand media resource whose work has appeared in USA Today, Food Insight, Food & Nutrition Magazine, Grist, and others as well as on NPR and CNN.
As a Certified Speaking Professional, she has addressed hundreds of groups, such as Dietetic Associations, Universities, Genome Prairie, Michigan Vegetable Growers, Farm Credit Council, Apple Processors Association and Farm Bureaus, helping thousands of people around the world translate farm to food.
She holds B.S. degrees in animal science and agricultural communications from Michigan State University, where her impact has been featured in a Spartan Saga. She’s owned cattle and baked bread since she was nine years-old—and believes her life’s calling is to connect those two worlds. She and her daughter reside on a small farm in Indiana.
Payn is the author of Amazon best seller Food Truths from Farm to Table: 25 Ways to Shop & Eat Without Guilt and No More Food Fights! Growing a Productive Farm & Food Conversation. She invites you to connect with @mpaynspeaker across social media to remove confusion and guilt from your food.
As a Certified Speaking Professional, she has addressed hundreds of groups, such as Dietetic Associations, Universities, Genome Prairie, Michigan Vegetable Growers, Farm Credit Council, Apple Processors Association and Farm Bureaus, helping thousands of people around the world translate farm to food.
She holds B.S. degrees in animal science and agricultural communications from Michigan State University, where her impact has been featured in a Spartan Saga. She’s owned cattle and baked bread since she was nine years-old—and believes her life’s calling is to connect those two worlds. She and her daughter reside on a small farm in Indiana.
Payn is the author of Amazon best seller Food Truths from Farm to Table: 25 Ways to Shop & Eat Without Guilt and No More Food Fights! Growing a Productive Farm & Food Conversation. She invites you to connect with @mpaynspeaker across social media to remove confusion and guilt from your food.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 7, 2017
As a food scientist, I am often amused/frustrated when I seen food demonized because of how they were raised/grown. I often wish folks would take the time to research why these practices were put into place in the first place, why farmers adopted certain practices, and how the farming community is always striving to do better- for their own families, for their communities, and for the food they are producing.
Therefore, I was very excited to read Food Truths and discover Michele was able to capture much of this in her new book. The book is easily organized so you can read it from start to end OR just go to the section that you have questions about and learn from the farmers from themselves. It addresses many questions we hear about our food today so it is a handy book to keep within reach.
Therefore, I was very excited to read Food Truths and discover Michele was able to capture much of this in her new book. The book is easily organized so you can read it from start to end OR just go to the section that you have questions about and learn from the farmers from themselves. It addresses many questions we hear about our food today so it is a handy book to keep within reach.
March 8, 2017
Ever sit at the dinner table and hear a family member spout a "fact" about food you know can't be right, but can't refute because you don't KNOW the real truth? Me too. Michele Payn loaded this book with easily digested (food pun intended), science-backed information to help us all make choices about to eat and shop. These food truths are great tools to get past marketing messages and misinformation. Some of the truths were challenging for me, especially a few around meat, but I appreciated the exercise of examining WHY I make certain choices at the grocery store. I discovered some of my choices were not based on facts, but rather unfounded beliefs. I'm empowered to feel good about the choices I make for my family and not feel guilty.
February 28, 2017
I loved reading this book. As consumers we are bombarded with information about what we should and shouldn't eat. Food Truths gives a breakdown of each part of the grocery store - what's truth and what's myth. My mind is now at ease with the food choices I make each week.
February 28, 2017
This is a great book for people who want true information. It has helped me understand how animals are raised. Farmers share their stories. There is also a lot of explanation given about how marketing affects how we feel about the groceries we buy. I think this book is a great reference, especially to those who don't have firsthand knowledge about food production. You will be glad you read it!
February 27, 2017
Who regulates the labels on the food that I'm buying? I'm looking forward to getting the answers in Food Truths from Farm to Table. Are we really getting "grass-fed", "gluten free", "all natural", or "hormone free"? I hope this books gives us all some clarification.
April 10, 2021
I began reading, admiring the down to earth and personal approach. It didn’t last.
The author encourages us to trust the farmers and the regulatory system. Even though I began to read sympathetically, I still don’t trust them. I realise she has experience and education. She tells us.
She also tells us about the down home nature of family farmers, many with two or more adorable children and a grandparent who started the ranch. But then I find they farm many thousands of acres, though as she says, the average in the country is under five hundred. And they use far less fertiliser and pesticide than they used to... and they love their animals... Such a rosy picture and so many straw men addressed.
I have seen 18 month old layer hens as my daughter adopts them. Pitiful- but capable of laying eggs and enjoying life still.
I have read about people living near pig farms where the amount of excrement makes nearby people suffer from respiratory diseases and drops their house value too.
Today the news reported a fire which killed 55thousand pigs. Disease can sweep through hen barns.
I have driven on I 5 in California past the acres of penned cattle readying for slaughter.
I know of crops ploughed in or sent to landfill because of the lack of (often undocumented) workers on whom the “family farms” rely.
My husband is allergic to additives in US food, but never has to read a label in Europe where many common US additives are banned. So the FDA and EPA an USDA appeals in the book don’t reassure me. Food borne illness in the US is not just you not washing your hands in your kitchen. Chemicals are not necessarily tested, and enforcement of healthy animal checks in processing are underfunded and inadequate.
Less pesticide is used than ten years ago, but has more damaging effects on insects, bees, butterflies, fish etc.
Topsoil is being eroded, whether the farmers quoted in the book claim to love the land or not.
I could go on. This is my top of the head list of issues not addressed to my satisfaction. I don’t think our agricultural policy is sustainable. I enjoy books that tell me of attempts to do otherwise, both small scale, like the small holdings of my British childhood, and high tech, as Israel and the Netherlands seem to be trying. US Corporations aren’t it.
The author encourages us to trust the farmers and the regulatory system. Even though I began to read sympathetically, I still don’t trust them. I realise she has experience and education. She tells us.
She also tells us about the down home nature of family farmers, many with two or more adorable children and a grandparent who started the ranch. But then I find they farm many thousands of acres, though as she says, the average in the country is under five hundred. And they use far less fertiliser and pesticide than they used to... and they love their animals... Such a rosy picture and so many straw men addressed.
I have seen 18 month old layer hens as my daughter adopts them. Pitiful- but capable of laying eggs and enjoying life still.
I have read about people living near pig farms where the amount of excrement makes nearby people suffer from respiratory diseases and drops their house value too.
Today the news reported a fire which killed 55thousand pigs. Disease can sweep through hen barns.
I have driven on I 5 in California past the acres of penned cattle readying for slaughter.
I know of crops ploughed in or sent to landfill because of the lack of (often undocumented) workers on whom the “family farms” rely.
My husband is allergic to additives in US food, but never has to read a label in Europe where many common US additives are banned. So the FDA and EPA an USDA appeals in the book don’t reassure me. Food borne illness in the US is not just you not washing your hands in your kitchen. Chemicals are not necessarily tested, and enforcement of healthy animal checks in processing are underfunded and inadequate.
Less pesticide is used than ten years ago, but has more damaging effects on insects, bees, butterflies, fish etc.
Topsoil is being eroded, whether the farmers quoted in the book claim to love the land or not.
I could go on. This is my top of the head list of issues not addressed to my satisfaction. I don’t think our agricultural policy is sustainable. I enjoy books that tell me of attempts to do otherwise, both small scale, like the small holdings of my British childhood, and high tech, as Israel and the Netherlands seem to be trying. US Corporations aren’t it.
December 30, 2017
Yeesh, this was a slog. And not because of the subject matter--I'm very interested in agriculture, farming, and where my food comes from. But Food Truths From Farm to Table was rough.
It's scattered, disorganized, and repetitive. It contradicts itself (the author reflects at the beginning about food as a source of memory and tradition, then quotes someone saying the exact opposite toward the end). It dismisses valid concerns about ethics and health with arguments like "but we have to do X in order to keep Y bad thing from happening to the crop/livestock!" as if that just settles it.
Add to all that the author's obvious agenda and constant self-promotion (she literally quotes herself in the epigraph), the vague and unhelpful “food truths” that appear over and over, and the bad writing, and it's just a pain to get through.
Don't misunderstand me, there's some good stuff in here--interesting insights into the people and lives behind the products we see at the grocery store. But you'll have to really work to get to them.
(I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)
It's scattered, disorganized, and repetitive. It contradicts itself (the author reflects at the beginning about food as a source of memory and tradition, then quotes someone saying the exact opposite toward the end). It dismisses valid concerns about ethics and health with arguments like "but we have to do X in order to keep Y bad thing from happening to the crop/livestock!" as if that just settles it.
Add to all that the author's obvious agenda and constant self-promotion (she literally quotes herself in the epigraph), the vague and unhelpful “food truths” that appear over and over, and the bad writing, and it's just a pain to get through.
Don't misunderstand me, there's some good stuff in here--interesting insights into the people and lives behind the products we see at the grocery store. But you'll have to really work to get to them.
(I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)
May 21, 2018
As someone with a background in Agriculture I was blown away at how much I learned from this book. The author covers everything that consumers today are worried about when it comes to food. She talks about gmos, organic vs conventional, large farms, hormones, and much more. She cites real farmers, real scientists, and real consumers all while keeping the information relevant and easy to understand. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has questions about where their food comes from or how it’s made.
November 2, 2019
Information based on scientific facts. Great reminder that nutritional advise needs to come from science- based recommendations, not celebrities promoting food fads. Land and animal care perspectives need to come from a farmer or rancher, not organizations with financial incentives. A lot of work, study, and research goes into making food safe and being able to feed the world with less and less land due to urban development. Moderation and balance is always key to being healthy. Great information and facts!!!
December 4, 2020
I found the book to be repetitive and slightly biased. The would address the same topic in multiple sections and included a lot of distracting information. There is a lot of value to the knowledge and experience she shares, I just think it could have been presented in a more concise and interesting manner.
February 28, 2017
This book was written to arm people with truths to know what questions to ask about their food. It's time to return food to being about sustenance, nutrition and celebration - not confusion and guilt.
July 8, 2022
Learned a good deal about regulation and methods and definitely debunked some beliefs. However, it felt repetitive, and I don't feel like I actually walked away with any guidance on how to shop other than ignoring marketing-driven labels
April 10, 2025
I highly recommend this book to anyone! A great read for anyone who felt confused at the grocery store. For people in the agriculture world it gives great perspective of what consumers are questioning. Very easy to read too!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews