I was fully prepared not to like The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food by Ben Hewitt. As I’ve been learning more about local food, I have realized that there are no easy answers, and the title of this book makes it sound as though a town was on the brink of collapse (think Detroit) and suddenly everybody discovered farmer’s markets and learned to grow their own food and buy $20 a pound cheese to put in their canvas reusable bags and lives happily ever after, occasionally boycotting GMOs and picketing Monsanto and the USDA. The End.
Luckily that’s not what this book is about.
From the publisher’s website:
For nearly a century, the blue–collar community of Hardwick, Vermont, has known hard times. The town’s median income runs 25 percent below the state average; its unemployment rate, 40 percent higher. But over the past three years—amid an economic crisis that threatens to cripple small businesses and privately owned farms across the nation—Hardwick has jump–started its economy with a stunning number of food–based businesses built by a group of young, innovative entrepreneurs who support each other by sharing advice, equipment, and capital. The Town That Food Saved is rich with appealing, colorful characters, from the optimistic upstarts creating a new agricultural model to the long–established farmers wary of the rapid change in the region. Ben Hewitt, a journalist and Vermonter, delves deeply into the repercussions of this groundbreaking approach to growing food, both its astounding successes and potential limitations.
Lively, funny, and candid, The Town That Food Saved tells the fascinating story of an unassuming community and its extraordinary determination to build a vibrant local food system unlike anything else in America. Hewitt’s thoughtful examination of the future of our food system is grounded in ideas that will revolutionize the way we eat—and quite possibly the way we live.
What I like best about this book is that it’s an easy read. It includes facts and figures, but it reads like a novel. You are introduced to the town right away, and the quirky people. You can imagine yourself in the town, getting to know the place. You meet the movers and shakers, the slick talkers. You learn all about the organic seed company and how it was founded on agricultural roots and the expensive cheese place that has come into fruition. You read about the evils of 99 cent ground beef. A very rosy picture is painted indeed. But just as you’re about to roll your eyes, Hewitt starts to address the issues that those of us who have thought for any length of time about the scalability and accessibility of local food have considered.
I don’t want to give away the ending or conclusions, but let’s just say that if you’re annoyed with the upper middle class veneer that’s been put on local food, ignoring the regular folk, you’ll love this book. You will get to visit the local butchers, the farmers, the hippies, the agripreneurs. Those who can and can’t afford to eat at the locally-sourced restaurant. You won’t be disappointed.
Disclosure: The publisher provided me with a free review copy of this book. The fact that it was free in no way affected my review of this book.
Kelly was the winner of the giveaway!
I’ve heard such wonderful things about this book and would love to read it.
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Thanks for your great review. I would love to read this book because I’m very interested in local food movements, and this one sounds like it approaches the subject from a new angle.
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I just recently put this book on hold at our local library. I am so happy to have a REAL review! Now I know I want it, so this giveaway is perfect! 😉
.-= Amy´s last blog ..last meeting =-.
I stalk (oops, I mean subscribe to) your blog through my Google Reader.
.-= Amy´s last blog ..last meeting =-.
Sounds like an interesting read!
And I subscribe via google reader
just finished This Organic Life, so amazing and also read like a story. “hungry” for more!
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I love the review! I’d love to read this because it sounds like exactly what I WISH would happen to my town.
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I subscribe via google reader. I would love to win a book.
I am really getting into the local food movement and this would be a great place to start.
I subscribe through google reader
would love to read, have heard great reviews
I would love to win a copy because I am very interested in the local food movement and would want to compare the town’s story to Chicago.
Being somewhat of a food historian I believe that food is the center of all things in life and culture. It is the center of all of our celebrations and events and it is an identifier of who we are. I have been involved with my local-, within 100 miles- food movement here in Nj so this is right up my alley.So this book looks like something I would really enjoy and identify with and would very much like to read it and add it to my collection of food related books.
As i’d like to learn more about how to get the town more involved.
It sounds very interesting, hence I would like to read it
I want to win because I like food…a little too much.
shawna.mcallister@yahoo.com
Me too, Shawna!
From what I’ve read on other sites and this, this should be an interesting book that confronts issues of how our food is grown and raised.
I’m an avid reader and a foodie, this is my cup a tea!
Following with Google reader
What an interesting book. I especially look forward to hearing about bringing equality, if you will, to local food for ALL. Seriously, we’ve been doing this for generations, how are we getting away now, with charging lots more for it and making it unavailable to many? Looking forward to seeing how the book ends.
I’ve never heard of this book before, but LOVE anything to do with real food successes, and true stories with happy endings.
I subscribed to you. I’ve not heard much about the book Simply in Season but you’ve piqued my interest and will enjoy seeing what you’re cooking.
I would like to win this book!
I subscribed using google reader.
I’d love a chance to win this book. Sounds great.
I am now a subscriber through reader.
I just found your blog last week through my aunt. In the past month I have become very passionate about local food and have been gobbling up (pun intended…) any information I can find about the state of food in our nation. There is so much to learn about the choices in front of me – which ones really are the best, which ones can I integrate into my family’s habits, and which ones do we need to embrace even though it means changing our habits to accommodate them? Like you mentioned in your post, some choices appear to be the best but when you really start to dig into the facts, you realize it’s not actually a better choice. Anyway, I look forward to reading more on your blog and I would love to win the book! Thanks for the giveaway!
I subscribed last week using Google reader.
I would like to win this book!
I subscribed using google reader.
I’d love to win this book!
And I’ve just subscribed via Google reader.
I’d like to read this book because the reviews have been favorable.
bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com
How we get our food supply is a largely overlooked issue. It looks like an interesting read.
I shop at farmers markets and co ops. I buy local and would love to read this
This book sounds like it is right up my ally. I think it would be very interesting to read. When I am done with it I will pass it on to inspire others.
I would love to read this book because I work with communities who are in dire need of re-tooling their local economies and have great farmland nearby!
I would love to read this book – I just came across your website this morning, and am very excited! We have a CSA here in our neighborhood that I work with, and a local food co-op nearby opening in a few months. I have a 17 month old daughter whose main food has been from our CSA, and I love it, and want more, want to learn more, and want to do more!
I’d like to win this book becaue I believe local agriculture is the way out of this econmic mess we’re in! My small town doesn’t offer much yet, but I see a growing number of families growing their own food and selling the surplus and I’d love to be part of helping to organize a movement to become more ag!
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I am a local food consumer fanatic!
I read a review of this book on Treehugger and then it popped up again here, obviously the universe want me to read it.
I love to read books about different food topics and this looks interesting!
I would love to win this book because I grew up in NY state in a small town-a lot of agriculture too
I would love to read thanks for the chance to win
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I would love to read this author’s perspective. I shop and eat locally. Thanks.
I love books that can suck you in right away and make you feel like you are a part of it. I like when I can jump right in
jason(at)allworldautomotive(dot)com
I’d like to read this book because I now live in a very rural area, where “local” generally means growing your own. We do have a group that has started a local farmer’s market and I’m curious to see how another town has helped itself in this area.
Sounds like a very interesting book…I’ve never heard of it! Thanks for the giveaway!
sandramasters1@bellsouth.net
I know that there are many communities whose residents struggle with poverty and the ability to obtain nutritious food, even here in the South in our larger cities – the South, y’all, where you’d think everybody could have a garden and the weather is warm enough to grow something most of the year. Would love to read what Mr. Hewitt has to say about this issue…
It looks like an interesting book that I would like to read 🙂
I would love to read this because I try to eat as much local foods as possible.