I have a habit of reading about five different books at a time.  This winter I managed to finish a few.  Two on local foods that I highly recommend:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
This book by Barbara Kingsolver "is the story of how her family made every attempt to feed themselves animals and vegetables…from the same place where they worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank the water and breathed the air." It’s a very enjoyable and enlightening book, it discusses the impact industrial agriculture is having on our world, the joys and challenges of growing your own food, and includes tasty recipes. Quite a combination.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Michael Pollan, explores the origins and ramifications of four meals: Fast Food, Grass Fed, Big Organic, and Perfect. I love this book, it’s an enjoyable read and a very thorough look at the economics, ecology, culture and taste of food. This is a book that I both started and finished this winter. 😉

I’m just getting started on Wendell Berry’s The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture You can’t read about local food systems without hearing about Wendell Berry and I thought I’d better go back to one of the sources.  Four chapters into it and this book is densely crammed with insights that are still relevant today. Like a rich meal this one is best enjoyed by taking one’s time to savor.