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jesslroy's review against another edition
4.0
The journey from farm to store to restaurant is one that many of us as consumers never think twice about. This book was written from an interesting perspective attempting to show the true struggles of those living and breathing in America's food world.
Particularly striking to me as a large portion of the store/local items were centered around Detroit. As someone who was born and raised just outside the city, I'm always appreciative of a view that shows the positive and growth aspects of the city, particularly in the realm of food and betterment of the citizens.
Overall, good read for those interested in food chain. Story wove throughout helps paint a picture of the things many of us, as middle-class consumers, take for granted daily.
Particularly striking to me as a large portion of the store/local items were centered around Detroit. As someone who was born and raised just outside the city, I'm always appreciative of a view that shows the positive and growth aspects of the city, particularly in the realm of food and betterment of the citizens.
Overall, good read for those interested in food chain. Story wove throughout helps paint a picture of the things many of us, as middle-class consumers, take for granted daily.
kiwiwonder's review against another edition
5.0
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Tracie says from the start that it's mostly *her* experience, rather than aiming to be the experience of everyone in the (somewhat artificial) situations she's put herself in, so the book isn't trying to be something it's not. Instead, it walks the line very expertly between general factual book, and investigative reporting. Well written in a very conversational style, yet eye opening at the same time.
jennyp0208's review against another edition
3.0
McMillan takes a year to do undercover reporting in the food industry - first as a California agricultural worker, then at the Walmart produce department, and finishing up at an Applebee's in the kitchen. The project is interesting but the author's voice grates on me. At least she acknowledges how privileged she is to just walk away from not one but 4 separate jobs (both field positions and both Walmarts) when it got hard/boring/she got the info she was looking for. Another issue is the book is so clearly from a coastal elite perspective and again, I give her credit for acknowledging this (Q&A, starting p326) but it doesn't fix the gap in the book. She should have at least visited a midwest "Breadbasket" farm even if she didn't work on it, to discuss the Government pressures to grow what isn't for food to make ends meet and the consolidating of land as family farms are priced out of the market, which directly leads into the mass packaged/processed food industry buying the monoculture crops.
Overall, solid idea, decent execution, good effort to understand beyond the coasts, but falls short from fully understanding "The American Way of Eating."
Overall, solid idea, decent execution, good effort to understand beyond the coasts, but falls short from fully understanding "The American Way of Eating."
soccermom's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.25
cdbaker's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book. I learned more about industrial vegetable farming and about how things work 'behind the scenes' at Walmart's produce section. I wasn't particularly surprised by most of the revelations, but I like more information.
I've seen complaints about this book being too much about the author's own experiences doing these jobs. While there is a lot of first person narrative, I always found the author to be very up-front about her privilege that, as hard as it was for her, she always had the option to get out. She clearly tried to get to know the people around her and tell their stories. There are problems with every book, really, but I think that we need more pieces of investigative journalism like this, not less.
I've seen complaints about this book being too much about the author's own experiences doing these jobs. While there is a lot of first person narrative, I always found the author to be very up-front about her privilege that, as hard as it was for her, she always had the option to get out. She clearly tried to get to know the people around her and tell their stories. There are problems with every book, really, but I think that we need more pieces of investigative journalism like this, not less.
laynescherer's review against another edition
4.0
There is a lot happening in this book- social and political commentary, personal insight and struggle, and lots of first hand research. I enjoyed this book and the views into the different aspects of food culture in America, but I wonder what do I do now to help improve these issues?
bhsmith's review against another edition
3.0
Tracie McMillan put herself in the middle of three crucial steps in the American way of eating: growing of food, selling of food, cooking of food. The American Way of Eating chronicles her time as a field-hand in California, a WalMart produce section employee in Detroit and an Applebees expediter in New York. While she was working these jobs, she also immersed herself in the lifestyle of each profession by subsisting on only her earned wages, finding affordable housing and transportation, eating within her income, etc. Her efforts to really get inside each of these three professions is commendable.
The result of her time working in each of these professions was interesting, though, sadly, not shocking or overly insightful. I've never worked as a field-hand or in a produce department, so reading about her experiences was certainly new. (I did a summer-long stint as a waiter in a steakhouse, so a few anecdotes from her time at Applebees rang a bell) However, the insight that I feel was meant to shock and awe was really not that surprising. Are you shocked to find out that the people picking your garlic in a California field are illegal workers, make barely a living wage, are cheated by their employers and live in relative poverty? Are you shocked to learn that produce at WalMart is not terribly fresh, gets "crisped" every so often to make it appear fresher, and is just another product of the manufacturing and logistics infrastructure our country runs on? Or, are you shocked that they don't actually cook any food at Applebees, but rather just warm up and assemble ingredients that have already been processed and shipped to the store? None of these things are shocking or surprising... just moderately interesting.
Despite the lack of shock that I think was intended to be sprinkled throughout this book, McMillan certainly weaves a compelling tale of her time in each of these jobs, and especially of the people she interacts with who live this life day in and day out.
Also, this book was incredibly well researched. Sometimes entire chapters are simply a breakdown of the extensive research McMillian did for this book. (Yeah, those chapters can be a bit dry, but they're also crucial to the story) Sometimes the data is overflowing from her narrative and tucked away into footnotes throughout the entire book. Never did I doubt that McMillian did her research to make sure her experiences were corroborated by actual data.
For some this will probably be a very eye-opening book about the way America feels about food. I felt like it was much less of an expose and just a finely crafted travelogue of how food gets from the field to the plate.
The result of her time working in each of these professions was interesting, though, sadly, not shocking or overly insightful. I've never worked as a field-hand or in a produce department, so reading about her experiences was certainly new. (I did a summer-long stint as a waiter in a steakhouse, so a few anecdotes from her time at Applebees rang a bell) However, the insight that I feel was meant to shock and awe was really not that surprising. Are you shocked to find out that the people picking your garlic in a California field are illegal workers, make barely a living wage, are cheated by their employers and live in relative poverty? Are you shocked to learn that produce at WalMart is not terribly fresh, gets "crisped" every so often to make it appear fresher, and is just another product of the manufacturing and logistics infrastructure our country runs on? Or, are you shocked that they don't actually cook any food at Applebees, but rather just warm up and assemble ingredients that have already been processed and shipped to the store? None of these things are shocking or surprising... just moderately interesting.
Despite the lack of shock that I think was intended to be sprinkled throughout this book, McMillan certainly weaves a compelling tale of her time in each of these jobs, and especially of the people she interacts with who live this life day in and day out.
Also, this book was incredibly well researched. Sometimes entire chapters are simply a breakdown of the extensive research McMillian did for this book. (Yeah, those chapters can be a bit dry, but they're also crucial to the story) Sometimes the data is overflowing from her narrative and tucked away into footnotes throughout the entire book. Never did I doubt that McMillian did her research to make sure her experiences were corroborated by actual data.
For some this will probably be a very eye-opening book about the way America feels about food. I felt like it was much less of an expose and just a finely crafted travelogue of how food gets from the field to the plate.
sav_22's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
devoftheshire's review against another edition
3.0
I agree with a lot of the reviewers. Too much for one book. I imagine an entire book could be written on each of the "food jobs" she had through out the book. I don't feel I really gained anything from this book. Yes migrant farm workers are paid shit, retail workers are paid shit, and restaurant workers are also paid shit. I would like it to be different as I am in the restaurant industry; the question is how. As Americans we like cheap -.wal-mart is the perfect example if this. We are willing to continue to shop at this place that is known to treat employees badly,because they have LOW prices. We are our own worst enemy. This book did nothing to answer the question of making a change, but rather painted a well documented copy if what we already know.