Foodie Book Club: Kitchen Literacy

  Kitchen Literacy: How we Lost knowledge of where food comes from and why we need to get it back by Ann Vileisis is this week's book. I enjoyed the very detailed American food history that the author presents. It was very interested to see that modern food problems are not recent, but instead emerged with the rise in modernity and the industrial system. The picture presented here does not allow for an picturesque and ideal utopia of farming to which we can return. Rather, the author presents an American food history rife with problems and food anxiety.
  Given the subtitle of this book, one would think that a substantial portion of the book may be dedicated to how we can return to a state of kitchen literacy. However, the author does not present a clear picture on how we can return to this type of food interaction. She specifies only that we need to understand how food is linked to people and places, be able to read food labels, and understand how culture and politics affect people and the land. While the history of the food system was very detailed the solution of kitchen literacy is not sketched with much detail.
  Overall, this book is a decent read.

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