Taras Grescoe Three Book Bundle

Award-winning journalist Taras Grescoe has written books that have changed how we look at illicit food and other substances (The Devil’s Picnic), how we think about the world’s seafood (Bottomfeeder), and how we as commuters hit the road (Straphanger). The Devil’s Picnic is a feast like no other: start with an aperitif of powerful Norwegian moonshine; nibble on a French raw-milk cheese that can carry brain-swelling bacteria; sip some Bolivian cocaine tea and Swiss absinthe; finish off with a puff of a Cuban cigar in a Californian bar. Grescoe travels the world sampling these and other substances that have been legally banned and publicly demonized. Bottomfeeder is a seafood lover’s round-the-world quest for a truly decent meal. From strip-mall Red Lobsters to the rotary sushi bars of Tokyo, Grescoe travels to the end of the seafood supply chain and back to discover how out-of-control pollution, unregulated fishing practices, and global warming are affecting the fish that end up on our plates. In Straphanger, Grescoe hits the commuter road in a global quest to understand and illuminate the challenges of the post-automobile age. Straphanger is not just another attack on automobiles and suburban sprawl but one of the most entertaining and thorough examinations of global car culture yet written, and an empowering tool kit for anybody looking for alternatives to a car-based lifestyle.

Taras Grescoe has written books that have changed the way we look at illicit substances, in The Devil’s Picnic, and how we think about the world’s seafood, in Bottomfeeder. In Straphanger, Grescoe hits the commuter road in a global quest to understand and illuminate the challenges of the post-automobile age. Straphanger is not just another attack on automobiles and suburban sprawl but the most entertaining and most thorough examination of global car culture yet written, and an empowering tool kit for anybody looking for alternatives to a car-based lifestyle. Ultimately, its subject is the city, and it offers a global tour of alternatives to car-based living told through encounters with bicycle commuters, subway engineers, professional boulevardiers, idealistic mayors and disillusioned trolley campaigners. Along the way, Grescoe meets libertarian apologists for the automobile, urban planners who defend sprawl, champions of hydrogen and biofuels, and traffic engineers fighting to reduce congestion. In a world of skyrocketing gas prices and political unrest in the oil-rich corners of the world, Straphanger is an essential book that addresses one of the most critical discussions of the near future.

Just when opting for omega-three-rich seafood is recognized as one of the healthiest dietary choices a person can make, the news seems to be full of stories about mercury-laden tuna, shrimp contaminated with antibiotics and collapsing fish stocks. In a world of endangered cod, pirate-caught Chilean sea bass and sealice-infested salmon, can we really continue to order the catch of the day in good conscience? Bottomfeeder is a seafood lover’s round-the-world quest for a truly decent meal. From strip mall Red Lobsters to the rotary sushi bars of Tokyo, Taras Grescoe travels to the end of the seafood supply chain and back. He pulls up lobster traps in Nova Scotia, grills three-star Michelin chefs in Manhattan and visits British Columbia’s salmon farms with a guerrilla ecologist. Sampling poisonous pufferfish in Japan and live, drunken shrimp in China, Grescoe discovers how out-of-control pollution, unregulated fishing practices and global warming are affecting the fish that end up on our plates. Bottomfeeder is a balanced and practical guide to eating—the first book, in fact, to provide readers with a clear explanation of how to choose the best fish for our environment and our bodies.

“True-crime writing at its finest.” —Dean Jobb, author of Empire of Deception A rich and fascinating history of Canada’s first celebrity mobster, Rocco Perri—King of the Bootleggers—and the man who pursued him, Canada’s first undercover Mountie, for readers of Erik Larson, Dean Jobb and Charlotte Gray At the dawn of the 20th century, two Italian men arrived in Canada amid waves of immigration. One, Rocco Perri, from southern Italy, rose from the life of a petty criminal on the streets of Toronto to running the most prominent bootlegging operation of the Prohibition era, taking over Hamilton and leading one of the country’s most influential crime syndicates. Perri was feared by his enemies and loved by the press, who featured him regularly in splashy front-page headlines. So great was his celebrity that, following the murder of his wife and business partner, Bessie Starkman, a crowd of 30,000 thronged the streets of Hamilton for her funeral. Perri’s businesses—which included alcohol, drugs, gambling and prostitution—kept him under constant police surveillance. He caught the interest of one man in particular, the other arrival from Italy, Frank Zaneth. Zaneth, originally from the Italian north, joined the RCMP and became its first undercover investigator—Operative No. 1. Zaneth’s work took him across the country, but he was dogged in his pursuit of Rocco Perri and worked for his arrest until the day Perri was last seen, in 1944, when he disappeared without a trace. With original research and masterful storytelling, Cole details the fascinating rise to power of a notorious Prohibition-era Canadian crime figure twinned with the life of the man who pursued him.

After spending a week at a slaughterhouse, tormented by the squeals of pigs being herded to their death, author Susan Bourette decided to go vegetarian. She lasted five weeks and 37 hours. Dissatisfied with chickpeas and lentils, Bourette wondered, Isn't there a way to have my meat and a clear conscience too? On a quest for superior meat, Bourette takes readers behind the bucolic facade of the cattle farm, along on an Inuit whale hunt, behind the butcher-shop counter, and into the kitchens of five-star restaurants. Humorous yet authoritative, Carnivore Chic celebrates meat and explores what it means to be a compassionate carnivore.

This book focuses on the rhetoric of food and the power dimensions that intersect this most fundamental but increasingly popular area of ideology and practice, including politics, culture, lifestyle, identity, advertising, environment, and economy. The essays visit a rich variety of dominant discourses and material practices through a range of media, channels, and settings including the White House, social movement rhetoric, televisual programming, urban gardens, farmers markets, domestic and international agriculture institutions, and popular culture. Rhetoricians address the cultural, political, and ecological motives and consequences of humans’ strategic symbolizing and attendant choice-making, visiting discourses and practices that have impact on our species in their producing, distributing, regulating, marketing, packaging, consuming, and talking about food. The essays in this book are representative of dominant and marginal discourses as well as perennial issues surrounding the rhetoric of food and include macro-, meso-, and micro-level analyses and case studies, from international neoliberal trade policies to media and social movement discourse to small group and interactional dynamics. This volume provides an excellent range and critical illumination of rhetoric’s role as both instrumental and constitutive force in food representations, and its symbolic and material effects.

In Food Artisans of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, well-known and loved food writer Don Genova compiles a guide of the best food and producers of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Using his first-hand experience as host of CBC Radio Victoria’s weekly column "Food Matters," and based on interviews he conducted as a food writer for various publications, Genova introduces readers to the many talented and passionate people and companies throughout the region—all of whom are working to promote a growing food culture. Meet the local food artisans and learn about their history, discover favourite offerings by the producers, and get a sense of how well you can eat if you buy local. The book also includes suggested daytrips and readings, sustainability definitions, and an index. Open the door to the islands’ food network, and discover high-quality food products made with love and care in this region. Food Artisans of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands is your guide to the best of the islands’ food and produce.