Sustainable food resources

Online resources
Online resources to keep you informed and help you take action on important food issues.

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition A Washington DC based organization devoted to researching and advocating sustainable agricultural policies. I found this organization particularly useful during the last Farm Bill when I was looking for legislative information. They also have an interesting weekly email update.

Local Harvest A great resource that I find particularly useful for locating nearby farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) providers, wherever you are in the U.S..

Civil Eats In their own words, “Civil Eats promotes critical thought about sustainable agriculture and food systems as part of building economically and socially just communities.” One of my favorite food blogs out there, the blog draws from 40 contributors and addresses a number of interesting issues relevant to sustainable food.

Print resources
A few favorites from my food reading list.

The Omnivores Dilemma, Michael Pollan
A bible of sustainable food that introduced “local” and “grass-fed” to so many thousands. A great read for anyone looking to gain a new perspective on food.







In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
A continuation on the subject of Pollan’s previous book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. While Omnivore brings to light many of the problems surrounding our current industrialized agriculture system, In Defense of Food illustrates some guidelines to eating, shopping and cooking for how to embrace a more sustainable food system.





Food Fight: The Citizen’s Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, Daniel Imhoff
The Farm Bill is an important piece of legislation that comes out once every seven years. Imhoff’s book, which came out just before the latest farm bill, tries to simplify an incredibly complex piece of legislation and outlines some of the many sectors of our life the bill impacts.





Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
A modern day The Jungle, Fast Food Nation exposes the reality of what goes in to the making of our fast food, from animal rights issues behind livestock rearing to the fascinating science that goes into creating each flavor in today’s Big Mac.





Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Food and Health, Marion Nestle
In this book Marion Nestle, a ubiquitous name in the field of food and public health, discusses how the food industry uses lobbyists and other means to gain the ear of policy makers and federal agencies, and the impact that has had on our own health.





Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture, Edited by Andrew Kimbrell
There is also a reader version of this coffee table book, which is slightly less pricey and more portable. The larger version, however, comes with hundreds of poignant photographs documenting the state of agriculture in the U.S.. Both books are full of essays from top thinkers in the field of sustainable agriculture like Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson.



Slow Food Nation: Why our food should be Good, Clean, Fair, Carlo Petrini
The founder of the slow food movement discusses the global food system and how we need to address production and consumption so that what we eat is good, clean, and fair.