The Good Food Revolution

Previously published as a Gotham Books hardcover edition.

A pioneering urban farmer and MacArthur “Genius Award” winner points the way to building a new food system that can feed—and heal—broken communities. The son of a sharecropper, Will Allen had no intention of ever becoming a farmer himself. But after years in professional basketball and as an executive for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Procter & Gamble, Allen cashed in his retirement fund for a two-acre plot a half mile away from Milwaukee’s largest public housing project. The area was a food desert with only convenience stores and fast-food restaurants to serve the needs of local residents. In the face of financial challenges and daunting odds, Allen built the country’s preeminent urban farm—a food and educational center that now produces enough vegetables and fish year-round to feed thousands of people. Employing young people from the neighboring housing project and community, Growing Power has sought to prove that local food systems can help troubled youths, dismantle racism, create jobs, bring urban and rural communities closer together, and improve public health. Today, Allen’s organization helps develop community food systems across the country. An eco-classic in the making, The Good Food Revolution is the story of Will’s personal journey, the lives he has touched, and a grassroots movement that is changing the way our nation eats.

The inspiring and sometimes hilarious story of a family that quit the rat race and left the city to live out their ideals on an organic farm, and ended up building a model for a new kind of agriculture. You know those books where the city folks move to the country and have all kinds of crazy misadventures? Where the barnyard is a place of bucolic harmony and each passing season brings the author closer to understanding his proper place in the natural order? You know those books where the primary objective is not so much farming, but writing about farming? This isn’t that kind of book. It’s true that Brent Preston and Gillian Flies did leave the city and move to the country, and they did make a lot of stupid mistakes, some of which are pretty funny in hindsight. But their goal from the beginning was to build a real farm, one that would sustain their family, heal their environment, and nourish their community. It was a goal that was achieved not through bucolic self-reflection, but through a decade of grinding toil and perseverance. Told with humour and heart in Preston’s unflinchingly honest voice, The New Farm is the story of one family’s transition from die-hard urbanites to bona fide farmers and passionate advocates for a more just and sustainable food system. It’s the story of how a couple of young professionals learned not just how to grow food, but how to succeed at the business of farming. And it’s the story of how a small, sustainable, organic farm ended up providing not just a livelihood, but a happy, meaningful and fulfilling way of life.

Our reliance on industrial agriculture has resulted in a food supply riddled with hidden environmental, economic and health care costs and beset by rising food prices. With only a handful of corporations responsible for the lion's share of the food on our supermarket shelves, we are incredibly vulnerable to supply chain disruption. The Urban Food Revolution provides a recipe for community food security based on leading innovations across North America. The author draws on his political and business experience to show that we have all the necessary ingredients to ensure that local, fresh sustainable food is affordable and widely available. He describes how cities are bringing food production home by: Growing community through neighborhood gardening, cooking and composting programs Rebuilding local food processing, storage and distribution systems Investing in farmers markets and community supported agriculture Reducing obesity through local fresh food initiatives in schools, colleges and universities. Ending inner-city food deserts Producing food locally makes people healthier, alleviates poverty, creates jobs, and makes cities safer and more beautiful. The Urban Food Revolution is an essential resource for anyone who has lost confidence in the global industrial food system and wants practical advice on how to join the local food revolution.

A global movement to take back our food is growing. The future of farming is in our hands—and in our cities. This book examines alternative food systems in cities around the globe that are shortening their food chains, growing food within their city limits, and taking their "food security" into their own hands. The author, an award-winning food journalist, sought out leaders in the urban-agriculture movement and visited cities successfully dealing with "food deserts." What she found was not just a niche concern of activists but a global movement that cuts across the private and public spheres, economic classes, and cultures. She describes a global movement happening from London and Paris to Vancouver and New York to establish alternatives to the monolithic globally integrated supermarket model. A cadre of forward-looking, innovative people has created growing spaces in cities: on rooftops, backyards, vacant lots, along roadways, and even in "vertical farms." Whether it’s a community public orchard supplying the needs of local residents or an urban farm that has reclaimed a derelict inner city lot to grow and sell premium market veggies to restaurant chefs, the urban food revolution is clearly underway and working. This book is an exciting, fascinating chronicle of a game-changing movement, a rebellion against the industrial food behemoth, and a reclaiming of communities to grow, distribute, and eat locally.

Today a buck gets you a quick burger (or two), but what’s the real cost of that meal? The rates of chronic disease—specifically diseases like diabetes, caused by our lifestyles—have grown exponentially in recent years, edging medical expenses ever higher while threatening to give America its first generation to actually live shorter lives than their parents. Unfortunately finding good nutrition is no walk in the park, with more and more Americans living in cities, far from a farmer’s field. To overcome distance and undercut price, we rely on industry to put dinner on the table— yet this system has valued efficiency and short-term profits over our own health and the health of our environment. So how do we keep America thriving? Congressman Tim Ryan may have a soft spot for chicken wings and ice cream, but he also knows the joy of farm-fresh produce and the feel of soil between his fingers. Here he presents easy, actionable steps that anyone can take, from starting an herb garden on your windowsill to helping implement food education in your child’s school to petitioning your elected officials. Ryan also introduces some of the current food revolutionaries, who are shining examples of people who saw a problem with how we think about food today, rolled up their sleeves, and raised a crop of positive change. The commonsense ideas in these pages come big (replacing dilapidated neighborhoods with farms) and small (sitting down for a fresh, healthy meal with your family), and each will help you improve the quality of life for you and future generations.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Plant-based whole food recipes to help you feel energized, refreshed and ready to greet each day From the founders of Greenhouse Juice Co., this stunning collection of 100 easy-to-make recipes—50 to eat with a fork, spoon or your fingers, and 50 to serve in a glass—makes eating and drinking more plants effortless. From breakfasts both quick and leisurely to satisfying lunches and weekday-friendly dinners, the recipes in this collection prove how simple it can be to create delicious and even decadent plant-based meals to delight omnivores and vegetarians alike. Canada’s leading cold-pressed juice start-up company reveals their “secret sauce” by sharing their private recipes for juices, smoothies, nut milks, tonics and cleanses. Delving into the nutritional properties of their favourite plants, and offering easy instructions for homemade plant-based drinks, The Greenhouse Cookbook is a great gateway into the sometimes alienating world of brightly coloured liquids. The Greenhouse Cookbook offers simple ways to savour the here and now while looking out for a healthy future.

Did you know that: More than 80% of the foods you eat in restaurants and buy at supermarkets contain genetically engineered ingredients, and that these ingredients have been linked to toxic and allergic reactions in people; sickness, sterility, and fatalities in livestock; and damage to virtually every organ studied in lab animals?If you don't count French fries, ketchup or pizza as vegetables, more than half of Americans eat no vegetables at all?Cows raised for meat are impacting our climate more than cars?It’s possible to be a positive food revolutionary without sounding like a self-righteous nag? Join John and Ocean Robbins for 21 intimate, game-changing conversations with some of the world’s leading “food revolutionaries”: scientists, doctors, teachers, farmers, economists, activists, and nutritionists working on food issues today. Introduced and with commentary by John Robbins and his son Ocean, the book features luminaries such as: Dean Ornish, MD, on his years-in-the-making breakthrough with Medicare (his program for healing heart disease is now covered)Kathy Freston on making incremental, manageable changes to how we eatT. Colin Campbell, PhD, (author of the famed China Study) with the latest research on animal protein and human healthJoel Fuhrman, MD (author of the bestselling Eat to Live), on achieving excellent health through dietCaldwell Esselstyn, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic on wiping out heart disease by changing what we eatVandana Shiva, PhD, on GMOs and Big AgRory Freedman on how to stop eating misery and start looking fabulousRaj Patel on building a saner global food policy Each contributor discusses his or her work in depth, but together they make one rallying cry: for a healthy, sustainable, humane, and delicious revolution in how we and the world are fed. Over twenty-five years ago John Robbins started a revolution. This book is proof of how far we’ve come, a fascinating look behind the scenes of the multi-faceted food movement, and a call to join in the work of ensuring our health and food future.