Bitter Harvest : A Chef's Perspective on the Hidden Danger in the Foods We Eat and What You Can Do About It [Hardcover]

Ann Cooper (Author), Lisa M. Holmes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

Offers analyses of recent controversies such as Europe's campaign against Frankenstein food and the genetic engineering of plants and animals in the United States. Throughout the author takes both a macro and micro approach, examining the effect politics, technology, war, international trade and agribusiness have had on the world's food supply, as well as the changing social patterns which have made a family meal at the table almost a relic of the past.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Trained by European chefs who favored exotic dishes, Cooper (A Woman's Place Is in the Kitchen) spent two decades preparing restaurant meals "without accounting for seasonality or a sense of place." After attending the Chefs Collaborative 2000 Conference five years ago, she was inspired to rethink many of her assumptions and food choices. Not only did she begin to seek out locally grown, organic produce, she became increasingly interested in the pernicious role of agribusiness in controlling and altering our food supply. Here she discusses what she has learned about the use of pesticides and hormones in agriculture, the addition of harmful chemicals to processed foods, and the loss of biodiversity through the bioengineering of seeds and plants. To counter these environmentally damaging trends, Cooper shows how farmers, cooks, and concerned-citizen groups are striving to grow and market food that is sustainable, safe, and healthy. An appendix of resources offers the reader ways to learn more about sustainable agriculture and environmentally sound practices. Recommended for public and academic libraries.DIlse Heidmann, San Marcos, TX
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Bitter Harvest is a passionate, engaging text that exhibits years of research and fact-gathering. -- Gastronomica, Fall 2001
Part exposé, part consumer guidebook, this carefully researched and readable work highlights the connections between the food we eat and the conditions of its production. In doing so, it offers practical advice on how the average shopper can contribute toward both a healthier food supply and a more sustainable environment. -- E (Westport), Allentown Call, James E. McWilliams
Recommended for public and academic libraries. -- Library Journal
To counter these environmentally damaging trends, Cooper shows how farmers, cooks, and concerned-citizen groups are striving to grow and market food that is sustainable, safe, and healthy. An appendix of resources offers the reader ways to learn moe about sustainable agriculture and environmentally sound practices. Recomended for public and academic libraries. -- Ilse Heidmann, San Marcos, TX
Bitter Harvest offers some fascinating reading about the history of agriculture and the politics of food and power. -- The Oregonian
Cooper. . . is a passionate advocate of small-scale, sustainable farming (which she defines as a method that returns to the earth as much as it consumes) and a sharp critic of agribusiness (large-scale industrial farming). . . Her vision of the future is one where sustainable farming would adopt the best of emerging technologies and strictly control the introduction of potentially harmful practices. -- --Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2000
A concerned chef puts the food supply under scrutiny and comes up with some bad news about what's wrong with teh way we're growing our food and eating it too...Cooper, formerly executive chef at the Putney Inn in Vermont and currently a consultant for the Culinary Institute of America, is a passionate advocate of small-scale, sustainable farming(which she defines as a method that returns to the earth as much as it consumes) and a sharp critic of agribusiness (large-scale industrial farming)...Her vision of the future is one where sustainable farming would adopt the best of emerging techinologies and strictly control the introduction of potentially harmful practices. -- Kirkus Reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1st edition (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415922275
• ISBN-13: 978-0415922272
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #444,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent, Important Book, February 18, 2003

By 

Rich Allan (Fayetteville, AR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bitter Harvest : A Chef's Perspective on the Hidden Danger in the Foods We Eat and What You Can Do About It (Hardcover)

Bitter Harvest is a wonderful book. It highlights the importance of natural foods vs. the artificial foods we eat. However, this is a distinction NOT between junk food and vegetables, but agribusiness vegetables and local organic vegetables.
It turns out that, in search of the maximum profit, the massive agribusinesses engage in pratices that make vegetables much less healthy, and, in some cases, toxic.
Since allowing land to fallow and regain its nutrients reduces profits that could be generated from using that land, agribusinesses use the same land over and over again, and pump it full of chemicals to try to restore the nutritional content of the soil. This is not some wild claim, it is simply how agribusiness works according to their own information.
As a result, many vegetables are becoming less healthy and less nutritional. For instance, a USDA report comparing American broccoli between 1975 and 1997 shows that it has decreased in many important nutrients: broccoli in 1997 had 53% less calcium, 20% less iron, 38% less Vit A, 17% less Vit C, 35% less thiamin, 48% less riboflavin, and 29% less Niacin than 1975 broccoli. Additionally, food that is transported loses nutrients over time. Our vegetables travel an average of 1500 miles.
Unfortunately, thanks to NAFTA and GATT, our vegetables can be toxic. Mexico currently does not ban at least 6 pesticides that are banned due to health effects in the USA. Why does this matter to us? We get most of our off-season vegetables from Mexico: 97% of tomatoes, 93% of our cucumbers, 95% of our squash, 99% eggplant, and 85% of our strawberries. We are eating the poisons Mexico allows in its food.
The news is not all bad, and this book is largely a celebration of life, food, and nature. Above all, it stresses the need to find food sources that don't use the damaging practices of agribusinesses and are not far away-local organic farms. According to Consumer Reports Jan 1998 issue, "organic foods consistently had the least toxic pesticide residues." Similarly, it is more nutritional. Organic Corn has 20 times the calcium and magnesium of store corn. There are many more nutrients and vegetables listed.
And so, to question an earlier reviewer, who found it "really hard to figure out why any of it matters"--are you concerned about eating poisons and pesticides? Are you concerned about declining nutrient levels in our vegetables? If you are, then this book matters. In fact, it is difficult to imagine anything mattering more than what we eat and the damage it may cause.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes Scary But Necessary Information, January 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bitter Harvest : A Chef's Perspective on the Hidden Danger in the Foods We Eat and What You Can Do About It (Hardcover)

Thank you Ann Cooper and Lisa Holmes! If you really believe "you are what you eat", this book may scare you into ACTION! This book was suggested to me by a parent of one of my son's friends, and I am so glad it was. Though sometimes "text bookish", this compilation of information really makes you stop and think about what you eat and what we feed our families. I found the historical information to be very insightful and the suggestions for how to offer healthier choices were terrific. The resources listed in the back of the book were nuts and bolts suggestions that answered the question, "now what do I do?" With recent "Mad Cow Disease" scares, and ever increasing rates of cancer, heart disease, etc. this is a fabulous resource for helping people to think about small ways to make changes in what we put in our bodies every day. READ IT!!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The truth, July 4, 2000

By 

Carrie Balkcom (denver, co USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bitter Harvest : A Chef's Perspective on the Hidden Danger in the Foods We Eat and What You Can Do About It (Hardcover)

This book should be read by every parent in America who goes to the grocery store and buys food. We have become a nation of "put it in the basket" buyers. This book cuts to the core of what is wrong with American food. KUDOS for a job well done.