food production book recs

[lightheart]

I'm wanting a book to read, something about food, food production, what's happening with our food....

Don't want anything too far either way in views. Not geared totally to what the small organic farmer is doing but more how food gets to the regular grocery market shelves. (don't want something graphically horrible about slaughterhouses either.) Just want a better understanding of where/what is going on with the bag of flour, the can of veggies or the gal of milk I buy at the store.....

Recommendations please ????? :

[Amaranth]

Really, I can't think of anything better than Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan.

Most of the stuff that's out there (including Pollan) is historical in scope, because food production has changed so much in the last hundred years (and continues to change). So you might also want to check out books by Raymond Sokolov, Harvey Levenstein, and Reay Tannahill. And Marion Nestle.

[aliall]

I second Omnivore's Dilemma.

[Traci mom23boys]

All of Michael Pollan's books are good. Joel Salatin & Wendall Berry are wonderful too.

Barbara Kingsolver's *Animal, Vegetable, Miracle* has a bunch of really good info too.

[lightheart]

Thanks!!! I have a list of titles and aurthors and will be heading to the library on Thursay, will see if they have any of or can interlibrary loan them for me

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

Eating Between the Lines: The Supermarket Shopper's Guide to the Truth Behind Food Labels
by Kimberly Lord Stewart
(New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007)
Trade Paperback, 325 Pages, Nonfiction
ISBN: 031234774X, US$14.95

If you – like millions of other Americans – still don’t know how to read food labels and are frustrated by the hundreds of nutrition and health claims as well as statements like free-range and grass-fed, it’s time to learn what you’re really putting into your body … find out how to select the most healthy foods at the supermarket and still get dinner on the table by 6:00 p.m. with Eating Between the Lines. Shopping is no longer as simple as deciding what’s for dinner. Food labels like “organic,” “natural,” “low carb,” and “fat free!” scream out at you from every aisle at the supermarket. Some claims are certified by authoritative groups such as the FDA and USDA, but much of our country’s nutrition information is simply a marketing ploy. If you want to know what food labels really mean – and what they could mean to your health – Eating Between the Lines will explain why:

• Chickens labeled “free range” may never actually see daylight
• Organic seafood may be a misnomer
• The words “hormone-free” on pork, eggs and poultry is meaningless
• “Low fat” cookies and “heart-healthy” cereals may contain heart damaging trans-fatty acids

… and more. Organized by supermarket section, from the vegetable aisle to the dairy case, Eating Between the Lines also features more than seventy actual food labels and detachable shopping lists for your convenience – and to help bring the best food to the table for you and your family.

This book changed the way DW and I shop and eat.

[Cajunmomma]

Michael Pollan's new book, "In Defense of Food", is absolutely wonderful.