Book Review: Hungry City

Here is book number one from My list of books I need to read: Hungry City- How Food Shapes Our Lives by Carolyn Steel.

I really wanted to read this book after hearing her speak at the Willow School's Food For Thought event in April 2011. As a speaker, she has an amazing combination of enthusiasm, sarcasm, fact-based-knowledge, vision, and optimism. Her book reflects much the same.

This book began to ring even truer after my very first trip to Whole Foods about a month ago. Needless to say, I was in love with the store. And while I've always actually enjoyed grocery shopping, this was Heaven. However, when I brought the $400 bill home to my mother, I was back to reality. Like Carolyn discusses in her book, modern society is spending less and less of their money on food- when it is the most important thing we need to sustain life, culture and community. The $400 of groceries lasted my family of four almost 3 weeks- which equals out to less than $50 per mouth per week. And this was for good, fresh, organic food. But the number scared my mother and she has banned me from going there more than once a month. Understood it's a large number up front but when you divide it, that is a fantastic deal for healthful foods. And that argument is exacty why I'm going to try to get her to read this Hungry City!

This book is a great read for a foodie, environmentalist, history buff, or city dweller. But it's a vital read for us every day suburban residents.

Steel helps us trace food that we get at the grocery store, something many of us never consider. And we also get a look into how food services used to be- and is our new way sustainable?

Did you know that in today's world, we throw more than half our food away? Particularly in the US, where composting is far from standard, and where most of the foods we eat are so processed and morphed, they barely break down in our bodies, let alone a natural decomposing system.

This book is riddled with knowledge, facts, personal trips, and timelines. It is not an attack on current systems but more like a critical reflection. There are plenty of things that did not work about medieval times, but wouldn't it be fantastic if we could celebrate and cherish food the way we did once?