A collection of insightful and personal essays on the role of food in our lives In an age of mass factory farming, processed and pre-packaged meals, and unprecedented food waste, how does one eat ethically? Featuring a highly diverse ensemble of award-winning writers, chefs, farmers, activists, educators, and journalists, Good Eats invites readers to think about what it means to eat according to our values. These essays are not lectures about what you should eat, nor an advertisement for the latest diet. Instead, the contributors tell the stories of real people-real bellies, real bodies-including the writers themselves, who seek to understand the experiences, families, cultures, histories, and systems that have shaped their eating and their ethics. From gardening as an alternative to factory farming, to the indigenous cultures surrounding salmon and the corporate cultures surrounding chocolate, the topics featured in this collection expand our understanding of what ethical eating can be. Poets like Ross Gay and Aimee Nezhukumatathil muse lyrically on the role of sustenance in their lives. Other contributors describe efforts to change how our food is sourced. In her compelling piece, farmer and food sovereignty activist Leah Penniman celebrates both ancestral seeds and wisdom when discussing her Afro-Indigenous farming and forestry practices. Across the country in the high desert, Michael P. Branch details his frustrating-yet-humorous attempts to grow a garden with his young daughters. Professional chef Therese Nelson shows how hot sauce represents joy, expression, and magic for many Black people. Each contributor tugs at the imagination with insightful discussions of the role food plays in our lives. Good Eats will inspire you to find more mindfulness and joy in your diet. These essays turn mundane meals into remarkable symbols of how we live, encouraging each of us to find food that is both sustaining and sustainable. Contributors include Ross Gay, DeLyssa Begay, Lynn Z. Bloom, Michael P. Branch, Nikky Finney, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Barbara J. King, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Leah Penniman, Adrienne Su, Ira Sukrungruang, Tina Vasquez, Nicole Walker, Therese Nelson, Lisa Knopp, Jane Brox, Maureen Stanton, Tate Walker, and many others.
Melissa A. Goldthwaite (Editor) Melissa A. Goldthwaite is Professor of English at Saint Joseph's University. She is the author, editor, or co-editor of many books, including Food, Feminisms, Rhetorics, Books That Cook: The Making of a Literary Meal, The Norton Pocket Book of Writing by Students, The St. Martin's Guide to Teaching Writing, and The Norton Reader. Jennifer Cognard-Black (Editor) Jennifer Cognard-Black is Professor of English at St. Mary's College of Maryland. She is the author and co-editor of several books, including Books that Cook: The Making of a Literary Meal. She has published her essays and short fiction in numerous journals, including Story, Versal, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and she has two lecture series with The Great Courses as well as an Audible Original, "Food & Fiction."
It's easy to think about ethical eating as a diminishment, to think that we need to reduce our lives in order to save the planet. As anybody who has ever attempted change on ethical grounds in their lives knows, it can be hard; it can be awkward; it can be frustrating. It can also be singularly gratifying and joyous. While we don't have a definitive solution to "How do we eat ethically?", the voices brought together in Good Eats begin the work of piecing together an answer. * Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Eating Animals *
