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hannet's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
pammella's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to the audiobook, read by the author whose passion comes through beautifully. There is A LOT of information crammed into the 16 hour audiobook and many foodstuffs are considered, but the importance of crop diversity (locally & globally) is consistent regardless of the food being discussed.
spacewhombus's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
A relatively slow read, but I really enjoyed this. The author takes you on a journey to find many different rare foods, across ten different realms: wild foraged foods, cereal crops, vegetables, meat, seafood, fruit, cheese, alcohol, stimulants, and sweets.
I found myself more interested at the beginning, and by the end I felt it was a little boring and repetitive because he had covered already the dangers of monoculture crops to not only our food system but to a cultural and historical sense of place many times. However, the foods he mentions were all interesting to read about, especially those that were a staple to a certain region in the past but have become almost non-existent.
I think if you actually go into this with more of a mindset that it is interesting travel writing where the author tries local foods you never heard of, then you will like this more than if you are expecting an informative book about our food system. He travels to most of the places where these rare foods are coming from, and I found his discussions with local communities about the foods some of the most interesting parts of the book.
It kind of reminded me of the writing style of Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay, but a little less exciting, so if you liked that then you probably would enjoy this too, and vice versa.
I found myself more interested at the beginning, and by the end I felt it was a little boring and repetitive because he had covered already the dangers of monoculture crops to not only our food system but to a cultural and historical sense of place many times. However, the foods he mentions were all interesting to read about, especially those that were a staple to a certain region in the past but have become almost non-existent.
I think if you actually go into this with more of a mindset that it is interesting travel writing where the author tries local foods you never heard of, then you will like this more than if you are expecting an informative book about our food system. He travels to most of the places where these rare foods are coming from, and I found his discussions with local communities about the foods some of the most interesting parts of the book.
It kind of reminded me of the writing style of Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay, but a little less exciting, so if you liked that then you probably would enjoy this too, and vice versa.
veronicascottnova's review against another edition
5.0
Was the writing the tiniest bit dry/repetitive? Yes. But did it tell a ridiculously compelling story about our food systems, biodiversity, and the magic of what we eat? Also yes. I want to live differently because of what I know from this book.