My Approach to Book Reviews: A Focus on Food
Exploring Food, Culture, and the Human Experience
I’ve been thinking a lot about how the books we read shape the way we understand the world — not just intellectually, but emotionally, culturally, and even spiritually. As I continue exploring the big questions that connect food, people, history, and the future, I’ve found myself wanting a single place to gather the themes and reflections that come from my reading journey. My hope is to link the books I’ve read with my own evolving thoughts about them, and to build this into an ongoing series — a growing archive of insights and questions. I’ll be expanding these categories over time, with guidance from my mentors, advisors, and of course, from you. If you have recommendations, or if a particular book has shaped your thinking in any of these areas, I would be so grateful to hear about it. As, above all, I’d love for this to be a space to engage in conversation with these books, and with you. Below are the themes I’m most interested in exploring:
- Travel
- Memoir
- Culture/Anthropology
- Food
- Food policy: global trade, regulation, subsidies, farm bills
- Food education
- Food history: ice age, discovery of farming, civilizations, trade, silk road, Columbian expansion, sugar, Europe boom industrial revolution, population growth, war, globalization
- Food equity: hunger and food insecurity
- Human health: nutrition, noncommunicable disease, longevity, child health, school meals, youth
- Planetary health: seed preservation, sustainability, climate change, biodiversity, environment (pollution), water sustainability
- The influence of war and peace: on agriculture and food systems
- Gastrodiplomacy: – Artic to Antarctica – places that have “no place”
- Children: as our present and our future
- Space: growing food in space
- Urban agriculture
- Controlled environment agriculture: hydroponics, aquaponics
- Food science and recipe development
I’m excited to see where this path leads — and to share the books, thoughts, and discoveries along the way. Thank you for being part of this journey with me.
With gratitude,
Earlene
