Urban Agriculture? Learn It, Live It, Love It!

April 19, 2012

This week is Earth Week and with that rabble.ca has produced myriad materials on Earth Week-related topics, among one of which is food. rabble.ca has again launched the Vegan Challenge inciting readers to take a look at the food they consume and try a different food consumption method by going vegan and the Babble Book Club is trying to inspire readers to take a look at the industrial food system and how its techniques negatively affect our country, diet and health by reading Food Inc.

With so much discussion surrounding food, I decided to take a closer look at the food revolution of eating locally and producing some of our own foods. Being from a farming family, I don't inherently disagree with eating meat or dairy products, but I do disagree with how most of those products under the industrial food system are created, cultivated and distributed. Unfortunately, I have become part of the problem: my inability to plan ahead and triumph over my gluttonous side has left me a consumer of terrible goods and someone who has, in a larger sense, become disconnected from food.

What this list hopefully inspires to do is not only read (read!), but promote a greater awareness of food, food culture and food production and consumption. How can we feed a metropolis without the industrial food system? Is eating vegan/vegetarian a better alternative to eating locally and ethically? How can we contribute to urban agriculture? These are just some questions each of the following books strives to answer, and they do it with humourous anecdotes, personal divulgements and positive prescriptions.

So let's get reading, and then get eating!

Locavore: From Farmers' Fields to Rooftop Gardens, How Canadians are Changing the Way We Eat - Sarah Elton

Elton takes the reader on a journey of self discovery, focusing on local farmers, local foods, local restaurants and local families and how Canadian eat. Elton's journey is one of positivity and optimism, choosing to focus on how individuals are innovating and creating products that will decrease the impact and spread of the industrial farm culture that currently cripples and pervades our country. Locavore blends the grandiose task of changing our food system and the way Canadians eat with simple information and heartwarming stories to inspire readers as food for thought and thought for food.

- Source: Kaitlin McNabb, rabble.ca

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