Food For Thought

Books to stimulate your brain by way of your palate.

Edited by Darren Elms

The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food

By Dan Barber
Paperback (496 pages)
Penguin Group USA

In his visionary New York Times best-selling book, Chef Dan Barber offers a radical new way of thinking about food that will heal the land and taste good too. Looking to the detrimental cooking of our past and the misguided dining of our present, Barber points to a future “third plate”: a new form of American eating where good farming and good food intersect.

Local: The New Face of Food and Farming in America

By Douglas Gayeton
Hardcover (272 pages)
HarperCollins Publishers

A cofounder of the Lexicon of Sustainability and Project Localize, Gayeton has traveled the country interviewing and photographing farmers, fishermen, dairy producers and educators to better understand American food and farming today. The stories of their groundbreaking work, along with Gayeton’s stunning collage-like photography, are inspirational in their advocacy for change.

The Tastemakers: Why We’re Crazy for Cupcakes but Fed Up with Fondue

By David Sax
Hardcover (336 pages)
PublicAffairs

In this eye-opening, witty work of reportage, David Sax uncovers the world of food trends: where they come from, how they grow and where they end up. Traveling from the South Carolina rice plot of America’s premier grain guru to Chicago’s gluttonous Baconfest, Sax reveals a world of influence, money and activism that helps decide what goes on your plate. 