Growing Roots: The New Generation of Sustainable Farmers, Cooks, and Food Activists: Stories and Recipes

by Katherine Leiner, Andrew Lipton (Photographer)

Growing Roots: The New Generation of Sustainable Farmers, Cooks, and Food Activists is about a new revolution in food that involves young people who are living sustainable lives that revolve around healthy, natural food. The book introduces us to farmers and beekeepers, fishermen and chefs, food activists and cheesemongers, and many, many more. We meet these fascinating young people from all across the nation through first-person profiles, along with brilliant photographs and delicious, simple recipes. They talk about raising grass-fed beef, lamb, and pork; growing vegetables and grains; keeping bees and making cheese; and their restaurants and their markets. Included are filmmakers, writers, and artists who change the way we look at what we eat and where our food comes from. In their profiles we learn how these young people got to where they are today, their backgrounds, their education, and their passionate relationship to food.

The author's through-line gives us a glimpse of her own journey with food, through her own childhood, raising children, and becoming an empty-nester. Growing Roots is about relationships and how food figures in those relationships. It is for everyone who is interested in learning about this new iteration of the food movement and the folks involved, whether you'd like to figure out how to do it for yourself, or just love reading about it. The photos are beautiful, the narrative lively, and the recipes simple and delicious. A must-read for all ages and a wonderful addition to the food-lover's bookshelf.

Genres: Food, Gardening, Cookbooks, Nonfiction

307 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2010

About the author

Katherine Leiner has been writing since she was a child. She has published many award-winning books for children and young adults and, more recently, her first novel for adults, Digging Out, published by Penguin. She is working on another novel due out in 2012. "

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and often inspiring book about people living out their ideals. Whether it rises out of culinary preference or ecological conscience I'm a believer in eating what you grow and sustainably growing what you eat. So this book struck a deep cord with me. Each chapter, featuring the story of a different young farmer, in some ways reminded me of the stories on the radio show "This American Life." At the end I felt like these were people I could know, or have over to dinner. We'd eat well, talk long into the night and leave with the same pulse of energy I got from the text.

[Stacy Ho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting profiles of a diverse group of young people in the food field, some more impressive than others. This isn't the best written book, nor does it have a unifying philosophy about sustainable food, but I enjoyed the varied perspectives it offered.

[Jen (bookscoffeedogs) · Rating 5 out of 5]

AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME book. Loved every bit of it!

[Betsy Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

See http://www.betsyrobinson-writer.com/b...