The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements [Paperback]

Sandor Ellix Katz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2006

An instant classic for a new generation of monkey-wrenching food activists. Food in America is cheap and abundant, yet the vast majority of it is diminished in terms of flavor and nutrition, anonymous and mysterious after being shipped thousands of miles and passing through inscrutable supply chains, and controlled by multinational corporations. In our system of globalized food commodities, convenience replaces quality and a connection to the source of our food. Most of us know almost nothing about how our food is grown or produced, where it comes from, and what health value it really has. It is food as pure corporate commodity. We all deserve much better than that.

In The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, author Sandor Ellix Katz (Wild Fermentation, Chelsea Green 2003) profiles grassroots activists who are taking on Big Food, creating meaningful alternatives, and challenging the way many Americans think about food. From community-supported local farmers, community gardeners, and seed saving activists, to underground distribution networks of contraband foods and food resources rescued from the waste stream, this book shows how ordinary people can resist the dominant system, revive community-based food production, and take direct responsibility for their own health and nutrition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Katz (Wild Fermentations) strives for total inclusiveness by writing about every challenge to the "chemical-driven agricultural mainstream" he can think of from the protests against genetically modified plants to the fight to legalize unpasteurized milk, with slow food, veganism and supermarket dumpster diving thrown in for good measure. But he addresses the issues in simplistic, agitprop terms, describing a world where the government collaborates with profit-driven corporations to flood the market with unnatural foods that are killing people. Even the criminalization of marijuana is characterized as an act of agricultural hegemony comparable to the Inquisition. Katz wants to challenge this state of affairs with a multicultural agrarian uprising, and writes with moving sincerity about how his own experiences on a queer-friendly commune in Tennessee have shaped his politics. He ends each chapter with a list of organizations to contact for more information, as well as several recipes that exemplify his low-tech, all-natural approach—his pesto, for example, is made from chickweed picked in the wild. At times, the calls to re-embrace mother earth and "cherish the biota in all its glorious diversity" become hyperbolic, but Katz's comprehensive reporting is sure to mobilize any reader on at least one issue. (Dec.)
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Review

"A perfect introduction for the eager eater aiming to blend a dose of conscientiousness into his or her daily soup and bread, this book is thorough, instructional, and encouraging. It’s a friendly manifesto of one man’s commitment to keeping his mind where his mouth is… In his informal narrative Katz manages to convey a vast amount of complex information in an accessible way. By sharing his personal journey (including his own share of contradictions and hypocrisies) Katz allows readers to identify with him as a food lover trying his best to grapple with the responsibility of conscientious eating, while delighting in its pleasures." Slow Food Snail

"This is the story of the consumer revolution against globally industrialized agriculture and corporate domination of food production, processing, and distribution systems. Katz (Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods) asserts that there are alternatives to the dead, unhealthy, homogenized food commodities this system provides. He visited farmers' markets, food cooperatives, and communities in search of local initiatives that restore traditional food production and distribution methods and revive local economies. Katz found a broad movement of people and organizations involved in preserving native varieties, practicing humane and sustainable treatment of land and animals, supporting local producers and marketers, and using food to improve health. Of particular note is the rapidly growing 'slow food' movement, which rejects standardized fare and focuses instead on cuisine that has served ethnic and cultural preferences in the past. Each chapter cites references for further reading and organizations involved in keeping the programs active. This work is sure to enlighten readers and motivate many to join the revolution. Recommended."

- Library Journal, December 2006

"If you wish to reclaim a connection to the food you eat, consider Sandor Katz' (author of Wild Fermentation) newest book. The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved champions various causes against our modern food supply. From seed-saving as a political act to the role of food in healing, it's an invaluable handbook.

A passionate crusader, Katz is also funny, quirky and eminently likable. Each chapter contains one of his low-tech recipes and ends with multiple resources pages including supportive books, films and organizations."

- Mail Tribune review by Rebecca Wood, November 22, 2006

"Sandor Ellix Katz's book The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved introduces us to people who moving the field closer to the table. The people we meet in this book are reclaiming their right to not only eat healthy, wholesome food but are asserting their right to grow and produce what they eat for themselves and offer for sale.

If your friends and family refer to you as a "foodie" then when you read Katz's book you will meet people who are journeying along a similar path.

From road kill gourmets to bread club members, the people you encounter while reading Katz's book have rejected the mass industrial food complex that dominates North American food choices. Katz introduces us to people who know there are choices and who are willing to act upon that knowledge. Taking charge of your food supply, even in a small way, is a liberating and healthy act."

- Permaculture Kitchen, November 25, 2006

"This work is sure to enlighten readers and motivate many to join the revolution. Recommended."

- Library Journal

"What's for dinner? Zesty politics, delicious democracy, and satisfying grassroots action. Devour this book." -Jim Hightower, radio commentator and author

"The politics and ethics of food production and consumption touch all of our lives, and there are too few books on the subject. The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved is packed with good information and ideas. I already buy my milk fresh from the farm next door, but after reading this, I'm ready to be a card-carrying member of the raw milk underground. Read it before you go shopping again!"

- Eric Robbins, Apple Valley Books, Winthrop, ME

"Don't miss this remarkable manifesto."

- Sally Fallon, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation and author of Nourishing Traditions

"Sandor Katz has given us a refreshing, wholesome, wise book on something that affects all our lives. It points us not only to eating in a new way, but thinking in a new way. I hope it will be widely read."

-Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States

"The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved is a deeply nutritious book."

- Deborah Madison, author of Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets

"Most importantly, in teaching us about these movements, Katz inspires us to take it a step further, whatever our food persuasions may be. You may end up setting up an underground food market, where people can sell bread that they bake in their own ovens and milk that isn't tampered with by government regulations. You'll gather dandelion leaves, chickweed, mushrooms, prickly pear or whatever else grows in your own backyard. You'll school yourself in herbal healing, live in raw food decadence, get involved in a grassroots land-rights movement or finally take more than five minutes to savor a meal with friends."

- Sopaipilla, Earth First! Samhain/Yule 2006

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933392118
• ISBN-13: 978-1933392110
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars textbook for the revolution, January 16, 2007

By 

T. Short "food-a-file" (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements (Paperback)

in a time when spinach could be deadly, and cloned animals might be ground into that next Big Sandwich,
there is an underground revolution happening, and it's happening all over the world. folks are making possibly-unnoticed-but-radical choices about food. they choose not to let corporations and government dictate what and how they must eat, because when food choices are taken out of the hands of the people, the people lose.
in this textbook for the revolution, Sandor Ellix Katz examines the intricately interwoven web that is our food supply. from water and land rights to bake sales, "free trade," and free food, he shows the damage done when big government (big brother) and big business make our food choices for us. the book uncovers a whole lot of the story that they would prefer we not know, and shows how tied together it all is ~ history, ecology, economy, ethics, civil rights, big vs. small, corporate vs. community, seed laws and plant prohibitions, down to even the most basic right of putting in your mouth something you feel like eating, and maybe sharing it with a friend. the picture seems mighty bleak. but that's where the revolution comes in; people everywhere continue to join around the table ~ the very basis of culture itself ~ not to let the powers-that-be separate them from their food supply. for survival, for nutrition, for connection, for charity, for protest ~ for pleasure (!), folks are keeping food traditions alive, or exploring them for the first time. they're holding onto age-old agricultural practices (like seed saving), and creating new solutions to food waste (like dumpster diving and road-kill salvage!). but Katz doesn't stop there; each section (as well as including extensive resources for further study and connection) extends a personable and encouraging, do-it-yourself helping hand to guide the reader to take steps to becoming a revolutionary herself. because choosing to be aware about food at all has become an act of rebellion.
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved is concentrated, intelligent research as well as compelling, passionate storytelling. it is manifesto, cultural catalyst and cookbook, promising a place for each of us at the revolutionary table.
a fan of Katz as soon as i opened Wild Fermentation, i highly recommend this book. if you are interested in food politics at all, or even just love to eat good food, this is a must-read textbook and reference tool for our time.

62 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best book about food I've read in 20 years, even though I don't agree with all of it, June 12, 2007

By 

Mark M. Braunstein "mark mathew braunstein" (quaker hill, CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements (Paperback)

"What is for supper?" is a short question with a long history of many answers. "Why is it for supper?" is more recently and less frequently asked. One long answer is The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, a fresh evaluation of how the other half of America eats, that is, the other half of one-percent.

Sandor Ellix Katz, author also of Wild Fermentations, examines our food choices, challenging us as would a moral philosopher, and inspiring us as might a romantic poet. But unlike poetry and philosophy, his texts are thoroughly researched and extensively footnoted. Scholarly without being stuffy, he ponders the social, political, ethical and environmental consequences of the foods we choose to eat, of the foods we choose not to eat, and of even our very acts of choosing. Food for thought about food.

Each chapter offers a wholesome essay that can be read independently of the others. Though inexpensive for a book of nearly 400 pages, its binding is especially durable. If separated physically from the whole, the leaves of each chapter stay bound together. This reviewer speaks from experience, having extracted entire chapters in this manner to distribute among friends.

Such portability is an appealing feature precisely because the topics are so diverse that few readers could possibly find the entire book relevant to their lives. Chapters such as these: Seed saving as political statement. Seeking and drinking raw cow's milk as acts of civil disobedience. The corporate takeover of natural foods, and the USDA makeover of organic foods. Whole food as healer, and processed food as killer. Medicinal herbs, including marijuana, as not just alternatives to pharmaceuticals, but their very basis. Pure and free water as birthright, now imperiled by pollution and privatization. Gardening as a means of reclaiming Eden. Vegetarianism as an act of compassion in contrast to carnivorous cruelty.

Vegetarians will be especially sensitive to and maybe even appreciative of the author's discussion of vegetarianism. Katz, a lapsed vegetarian, weighs the significance of life as a vegetarian among omnivores. The reasons for his own vegetarian apostasy are especially edifying. The chapter "Vegetarian Ethics and Humane Meat" begins almost with a confession: "I love meat. The smell of it cooking can fill me with desire.... At the same time, everything I see, hear, or read about standard commercial factory farming and slaughtering fills me with disgust." Whether filled with desire or with disgust, the author writes with humility and clarity. And charity. He continues: "I hold great respect for the ideals that people seek to put into practice through vegetarianism."

Katz acknowledges that vegetarians will brand "humane meat" a contradiction of adjective with noun, yet he nobly and duly presents the gist of vegetarian ethics and effectively distills into a few pages what we'd expect from an entire book.

This emerging moral vocabulary is one whose etymologies can be attributed to vegetarian evangelists and animal liberationists. Their shouts of protest and their cries of lamentation have been heard. Many meat eaters grown uneasy with their own complicity now seek the lesser of several evils. Michael Pollan, the eloquent author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, too deserves credit for expanding this lexicon.

Pollan, however, is less forthright about his own omnivorism than is Katz. Instead, Pollan applies his considerable intelligence merely to rationalize and bolster his considerable decadence. For Pollan, meat's taste trumps its waste. Rather than renounce meat as a superfluity, he chooses to denounce its cruelty. So thanks to Pollan and to his readers whom he has rallied to the cause, many herds of open-pasture cows and many flocks of free-range hens are now being spared the horrors of the feedlot and the factory farm. But that is small comfort to the cows and the hens still prodded on their death march to the slaughterhouse.

Pollan hunted a feral pig to write about it. Katz slaughtered a farm-raised pig to eat it. For Katz, writing is an afterthought to eating, as when he describes in necessary detail the physical difficulties of slaughtering a pig or a chicken. And Katz's book, in contrast to Pollan's, is one of few about food in which narrative use of the first person is welcomed and warranted. This is because Katz's life experiences and his resulting perspectives both are so very unique.

For instance, Katz expresses disillusionment with the pharmaceutical industry, yet he admits to his dependence upon their pills and potions for treatment of his AIDS. He even chronicles the long struggle of his unsuccessful attempt to survive and function without those pills and potions. Such candor about being poz is rare, and a testament to the author's integrity. Let's hope that Katz copes well with AIDS, and that he lives a long and healthy life, long enough to complete his third book, and fourth and fifth and sixth.

- Mark Mathew Braunstein [[ the reviewer is the author of Sprout Garden and of Radical Vegetarianism ]]

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring Reading, December 13, 2006

By 

Tanya M. Einhorn "Rawgirl" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements (Paperback)

The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved follows on the heels of Sandy's Wild Fermentation. True to form, Katz writes in a flowing conversational tone that allows the reader to engage with the text in a comforterable way. The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved follows stories from underground food activists world wide, including farmers and food producers. Did you know that it is illegal to sell raw milk across state lines, and in some states it is illegal to sell it at all? Sandy carefully examines the cultural and political ramifications of such regulations. The tone of the book is solution based; rather than simply ranting about everything that is wrong with our food system, he presents examples of what you can do to create change in the system, or ways to go around the system. As a professional chef, I found this book inspiring to read, and feel that it will motivate me to be a more conscious consumer of food and other products. I highly recommend it to any foodie, activist, or citizen of the U.S.