Product Description: An incident with a tennis ball-like tomato inspired award-winning Canadian journalist and part-time farmer Thomas Pawlick to write The End of Food. Today, we're facing an impending food crisis. Current food production methods used by corporate-run "factory farms" are sucking the nutrients out of the food we eat. Many times, what's replacing the missing nutrients is harmful--even toxic--to our bodies. Though the book, backed by hard-hitting evidence, paints a bleak picture, Pawlick makes it abundantly clear that it's not too late. The latter part of the book is devoted to the many ways that we can take back control of the food supply by becoming active at a local level. This is an essential handbook for informing ourselves about the frightening but real decline in the quality of the food we eat, and what we can do to stop it.
Not much new here, and poorly written to boot Pawlick's "The End of Food" reads more like an opinionated blog than a book. In fact, most of the research for content seems to have been done on the internet. If you already know the subject, it's just so-so for new information. But there are countless passages where the writing is just plain awful.
Two examples: "Comparing [our commercial tomatoes] to what the Romans eat... was like comparing carbonated cat pee to a rich, foaming Guinness stout." And this: "...but in a population of millions upon millions of bacteria, reproducing at a whirlwind speed, there's a 'whole lotta mutate'n goin' on'". Ugh. Michael Pollan he ain't. Were editors even hired?
If you want a terrific book about Big Ag, I highly recommend Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. It's brilliant, insightful, and an absolute pleasure to read. Don't bother with this book. Really.
A difficult read Thomas Pawlick's "The End of Food" is not your beach book for the summer. Disarmingly frightening, Pawlick takes the reader from seed distribution to harvesting. The opening chapter is concerned with hard tomatoes and spirals down from there. I would think twice before eating my next chicken sandwich after reading this book.
While many unknown facts are presented here, the author is determined to provide the reader with scary tidbits. His narrative is somewhat disjointed but because of the supremely negative first parts of the book, it's not hard to put it down from time to time. Indeed, for me, getting through it was not at all easy. Pawlick makes a good case, but by the time he gets to suggestions for improvement, he had nearly lost me.
Must read This book is a must read for any one who is concerned about their own health or their family's. It explains in depth what is happening to our food supply, and the information provided is quite alarming. This book will change the way you look at both "fresh" and packaged food in this country. I was interested in buying natural and organic foods prior to reading this, but I think now I will be a bit more religious with my organic purchases. I urge everyone to read this book, become informed, and then decide if you really want to continue purchasing cheaper, unhealthy foods.
Good primer, but nothing new for those well-versed in the subject The Canadian perspective is interesting, but for those who have already read books like Fast Food Nation, Omnivore's Dilemma, etc., and who keep up on food issues, the book is nothing new. However, the chapter on loss of vitamin content in foods over the years was very interesting and helpful.
COMPELLING READING A must read for anyone concerned about their health and the quality of the food we eat. Industrial food production is changing the COMPOSITION of the food we eat. Real food requires our knoledge and effort.
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