Customer Reviews

The Real Food Revival

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I thought I was a well informed consumer, but this book filled me with even more knowledge and understanding of all of the decieving food lingo out there. It busted some major foody myths as well. Such as, "free range" and "antibiotic and hormone free chicken"! What GMO's truly are and what their future ramifications might be. Fascinating and shocking revelations on Food additives, surplus crops, and a breakdown of confusing FDA babble on prepackage/prepared items. Do have a pen and paper beside you as well. The author provides you with internet locations of all the wonderful sustainable products she details. Products like grass fed beef, cheeses, heritage breeds, and organic produce can all be sourced from this book. The Real Food Revival explains how the food industry conglomerates took a wrong turn about 50 years ago and what some farmers are doing, and really what we as the consumers need to be aware of to reclaim what we deserve! Truly delicious and sustainable real food. As someone who believes that "You are what you eat" I am so grateful for the information I found in this book. I feel empowered when I shop now. I am much more well versed on the tricky jargon of food labels. I highly recommend this book!

This book opened my eyes -- I love great food and I want to be a good citizen, but I always thought "eating right" meant eating "wholesome" but tasteless food. The authors have researched the (sorry) state of our food chain, what we as consumers can do about it, and in the end, offer a hopeful and practical approach to eating well and doing right by our planet. I can't help but think that they love luscious eating as much as I do. What really surprised and inspired me was the idea that by changing my behavior just a little bit, I could have a significant impact on the environment, farmers, and animals, while significantly increasing my access and enjoyment of great food. Whereas books about "good" food tend to be impractical paeans to an idealized world that no one can live up to, The Real Food Revival seems like a sensible road map to great eating and responsible living. Good choice for both foodies and crunchy granola types.

This is the finest book I have ever read about nutritious food and where to find it. If you wish to learn how bad the food you buy at the super market is and how it has been treated without regard to your health please read this book. If you are concered about your health and the health of your family please read this book. Finally, someone tells us what and how to eat healthy. I feel so much better after reading this book.

Whether you're like me and you were outraged by "Fast Food Nation" and "The Future of Food," or like the author of this book, you simply miss the taste of your grandmother's home-grown peaches, this book is an excellent resource on how to eat Real Food. By Real Food, the writers mean food that is not genetically modified, grown with harmful chemicals, or overly processed. The writers take you through the grocery store, aisle by aisle, explaining exactly what terms such as "free-range," "antibiotic-free," "USDA inspected," and "natural" really mean. It is eye-opening as well as interesting. One thing I particularly like about this book is that the writers do not insist that you must be vegetarian or vegan. They include plenty of information on buying meat, dairy, and eggs that are healthy and sustainable.

Speaking of eating... I INHALED this book this past week. I LOVED it. I wholey appreciated the accessibility of the tone - not preachy or judgemental - but simply spelling out the truths in a down-to-earth manner. It is an engrossing and informative book! I have a new outlook on the way food is manufactured and processed in our country. I particularly liked the meat section. I've been telling everyone in my family about the dime under the so-called free range chickens. I've always heard about all the steroid and antibiotics in our meats, but I never really understood how they got in the animals. Now I know CORN is the culprit! And now I'll never look at HFCS the same way again! After reading this book, I've committed myself to going to the farmers market more, drinking less soda, and I'm even considering joining a co-op. I hope this book affects many people.

I was so impressed that I bought 6 additional copies to give to close friends. It's not preachy or radical, just wholesome information. Like the other reviewers, I was appalled of what I learned about food and livestock production, it's impact on the environment thus our economy. I particularly laud the German, French, and Japanese governments for the food production actions they are taking to protect their people. The EU is also instituting humane legislation for chickens that has a deadline of 2012. I consider the current pertinent laws a blatant selling out of the American peoples' health by the USDA and FDA (not from content from this book, but other books and web searches) through lobbying antics by mega international food and chemical producers (most started here and then went international). I also quit Splenda (as a RN I had been one of its strongest proponents to diabetics and overweight persons) and went back to sugar (now organic) and will soon try stevia. I think each of us has a responsibility to make our consumer demands for healthy products well known by no longer purchasing unhealthy food products and notifying our local, state and federal government officials of the same, including the USDA and FDA. Unfortunately money or political votes seem to be the only way to get a message through nowadays. As an aside, Monsanto and the US government own a shared patent on technology that renders a plant's seeds sterile so they cannot be saved for future plantings. Sounds like a bad science fiction movie or a take off from Logan's Run (1976) or a more accurate Soylent Green (1973), but it's really true. In the latter movie, when Charlton Heston says the freeze dried company developed its technolgy for soylent green in Norfolk,VA, I about flipped out that 1973 Hollywood even knew my hometown existed.

This is a book that will definitely change the way you think about food and the food industry. Vinton and Clark-Espuelas have done an amazingly thorough job researching and explaining the way food is produced and brought to the table. I know I will be making changes in my shopping and eating habits. The recipe I tried for Wild Mushroom Risotto was great!

This book is juicy read on a topic that will have us all salivating as we learn of the revolution in food in America. It is so good that you may find yourself like me buying extra copies to give to your friends. We all need to know about what we eat and how to find the good stuff.

I wanted to know about real food that has not been adulterated with pestecides and hormones. I wanted to learn how to eat properly for me and my familet's health. This book provided all that information in detail and also made me aware that to get this good food we have to support our local farmers. I now purchase most of our foods from local farmers markets and I am now considering learning how to preserve good food to get us through the winter. This is the best book on this subject I have read out of at least 30 books.

While the book doesn't cover aisle by aisle in detail, it does cover a lot of ground and can save you an enormous amount of time researching the food chain. It took me years to learn all that is contained in this book.

The authors harken back to better days of grandma's home-grown food: sweet peaches bursting with flavor, homemade pies, succulent pork chops from the family's pig, saffron-colored egg yokes, fresh foods preserved and canned that still taste like the garden.

They contrast these flavorful foods with MegaMart offerings of odorless, uniform tomatoes, tasteless strawberries, and waxed fruits laced with pesticides. The book is written not by nutritionists, but by eaters who missed the taste of real food.

Real Food refers to food that is:

* Delicious
* Produced as locally as possible
* Sustainable
* Affordable
* Accessible

Each section has an Industrial Agriculture Snapshot that explains current practices and pitfalls of industrial farming; organic and sustainable options; how to find sources; a few recipes; and profiles of farmers who are making a difference and trying to bring food back to where it should be: healthy, flavorful, and environmentally sound.

The authors contrast industrial with sustainable agriculture and provide information on how foods are grown, raised, harvested, processed, and labeled. They cover produce, meat, fish, grains, dairy, water, sweeteners, oils, juices, the list goes on. Common terms in labeling, issues regarding GMOs, and foods to avoid are also addressed as is the environmental and societal impact of the consumer's choice in food. Book includes a section of notes, a list of resources, books for further reading and an index.

This is an excellent introduction for those who don't know much about where their food comes from and the different options available to them. It's written in an easy, conversational style and it doesn't get bogged down in details. These two women did an excellent job. Five stars!