A Matter of Taste
CBC Books | | Posted: November 29, 2018 4:41 PM | Last Updated: December 4, 2018
Rebecca Tucker
How farmer's markets and organic produce became synonymous with 'good food' and why they shouldn't be. How did farmer's markets, nose-to-tail, locavorism, organic eating, CSAs, whole foods and Whole Foods become synonymous with 'good food'? And are these practices really producing food that is morally, environmentally or economically sustainable? Rebecca Tucker's compelling, reported argument shows that we must work to undo the moral coding that we use to interpret how we come by what we put on our plates. She investigates not only the danger of the accepted rhetoric, but the innovative work happening on farms and university campuses to create a future where nutritious food is climate-change resilient, hardy enough to grow season after season, and, most importantly, available to all — not just those willing or able to fork over the small fortune required for a perfect heirloom tomato. Tucker argues that arriving at that future will require a broad cognitive shift away from the idea that farmer's markets, community gardens and organic food production is the only sustainable way forward; more than that, it will require the commitment of research firms, governments, corporations and postsecondary institutions to develop and implement agriscience innovations that do more than improve the bottom line. A Matter of Taste asks us to rethink what good food really is. (From Coach House Books)
From the book
Despite years of proselytizing from luminaries like Mark Bittman and Michael Pollan, farm-to-table cooking and farmers' market shopping remain rarefied practices, possible on a recurring (never mind constant) basis to those with not only the surplus money it takes to buy into these supposedly sustainable systems, but the surplus time to spend learning why they ought to. Farms and markets, despite their salt-of-the-earth origins, have become the arenas of the elite. And as the global population skyrockets while the average household income for younger generations continues to stagnate, it is increasingly impractical to imagine that food-system salvation will be delivered in a Williams-Sonoma farmers' market tote. The belief in one's moral goodness should have nothing to do with how much locally grown kale is in one's diet. And besides, the unflappable attachment to farmers' markets and organic produce can be damaging in its own right; obstinate partisanism, in food as in politics, doesn't seem to be moving the needle much these days.
From A Matter of Taste by Rebecca Tucker ©2018. Published by Coach House Books.