How Food Systems Change Is Really About People

Danielle Nierenberg

Danielle Nierenberg

Food Tank is all about storytelling. My CV might say that I am a food and agriculture expert, but what I really am is a story teller. 

But as we learn more about the challenges facing our food and agriculture systems—and as we make the case to public and private sector leaders to embrace solutions—it’s easy to get caught up in numbers. I’m guilty of this too: When I see sobering statistics on the scale of global hunger, for example, it stops me in my tracks.

The antidote, as we’ve talked about many times, is storytelling! Sharing stories helps us build connections and break down silos. And stories help us become invested in one another’s well-being.

This is what I love about the books on Food Tank’s fall reading list. Books like “Life and Death of the American Worker,” “Against the Grain,” and “Transfarmation” dive into the on-the-ground experiences of agricultural and food processing workers in really moving, inspirational ways. Other titles like “Devoured,” “Nuggets of Gold,” and “In Search of the Perfect Peach” use specific foods or crops as a window into broader societal stories. Even cookbooks on our list demonstrate how recipes are more than just a collection of ingredients.

Food system transformation should be joyful—it’s not just about building a better future for food; it’s building a better future for people.

Here are the books we recommend for this season:

• Against the Grain: How Farmers Around the Globe Are Transforming Agriculture to Nourish the World and Heal the Planet by Roger Thurow

• Awaiting Their Feast: Latinx Food Workers and Activism from World War II to COVID-19 by Lori A. Flores (Forthcoming January 2025)

• Censored Landscapes: The Hidden Reality of Farming Animals by Isabella La Rocca González (Forthcoming November 2024)

• Cooking Mindfully: Make Food Your Ally with Sustainable, Low Waste Recipes for Every Season by Kait Welch (Forthcoming December 2024)

• Devoured: The Extraordinary Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Ate the South by Ayurella Horn-Muller

• Food Economics: Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health by William A. Masters and Amelia B. Finaret

• From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture by Stephanie Anderson (Forthcoming November 2024)

• Handcrafted Careers: Working the Artisan Economy of Craft Beer by Eli Revelle Yano Wilson

• In Search of the Perfect Peach: Why Flavour Holds the Answer to Fixing our Food System by Franco Fubini

• Industrial Farm Animal Production, the Environment, and Public Health edited by James Merchant and Robert Martin

• Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family’s Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer by Brian Reisinger

• Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation by Eleanor Barnett

• Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking on America’s Largest Meatpacking Company by Alice Driver

• My Regenerative Kitchen: Plant-Based Recipes and Sustainable Practices to Nourish Ourselves and the Planet by Camilla Marcus (Forthcoming October 2024)

• Nuggets of Gold: Further Processed Chicken and the Making of the American Diet by Patrick Dixon (Forthcoming October 2024)

• Radical Food Geographies: Power, Knowledge and Resistance edited by Colleen Hammelman, Charles Z. Levkoe, and Kristin Reynolds

• Spice: The 16th-Century Contest that Shaped the Modern World by Roger Crowley

• The Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos by Mark Easter

• The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing

• The Heart Healthy Plant-Based Cookbook by Hari Pulapaka and Jenneffer Pulapaka (Forthcoming October 2024)

• The Problem With Solutions: Why Silicon Valley Can’t Hack the Future of Food by Julie Guthman

• Transfarmation: The Movement to Free Us from Factory Farming by Leah Garcés

• Transforming Food Systems: Narratives of Power by Molly D. Anderson

You can check out more details about each of these books by CLICKING HERE.

In this spirit, let’s share stories! Drop me an email at danielle@foodtank.com and tell me about food system stories that have made a difference for you. What was your “aha” moment when you realized the power of stories and meaningful connections in food system solutions? I’m looking forward to hearing about them.

(Danielle Nierenberg is the President of Food Tank and can be reached at danielle@foodtank.com)