The Bookworm: revisiting local food books by local authers

I love reading books about food and food systems - books on permaculture, books on food justice, cookbooks, books about gardening - well, you get the idea! The Bookworm is my opportunity to share with you the good books that I read and let you know a little about them so you can decide if you’d like to read them too.

In this edition of Bookworm, I’m sharing three reviews of books from local authors that we’ve featured so far. Buy a great book and support a local author, you can’t beat that.

In her book The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food, Janisse Ray discusses the vital work that seed savers are doing to protect our food sources and biodiversity.

In her conversational approach to storytelling, Ray conveys the dire impact that corporations have had on our collective seed supply, not only through genetic modification and patenting but also through the process of selecting to preserve seeds that work well commercially regardless of other considerations (like a little thing called taste).

But thankfully there are still those among us who are working diligently to save a wide variety of heirloom plants through the process of seed saving - which requires a great deal of seed planting and growing as well!

Ray has traveled the country to meet with a few of this quirky cast of characters and shares their stories and those of their seeds; conveying the message that not only is it important to protect biodiversity through seed saving but

it’s also essential to preserve the cultural heritage that is integrally connected to the seed.

Ray’s book acts as a seed itself, holding within it the spark of life and hope that lies ready to take root within the reader, germinating the desire to protect our plant heritage, and cultivating the need to put hands in soil and take part in the revolutionary act of gardening.

In her book Some Kinda Good: Good Food and Good Company,That’s What It’s All About, Rebekah Faulk Lingenfelser shares herenthusiasm for food, the South and Coastal living.

To quote myself as it says on the back cover, “Rebekah’s delectable writing invites readers to relax in a rocking chair on the front porch and sip on a tall glass of iced tea while she serves up stories of Southern hospitality and food traditions. Her book is the perfect recipe of personal experiences blended with cooking tips and life lessons, seasoned with her own blend of Southern sass.”

This book is part memoir and part cookbook. From unexpected job loss to dream opportunities on the Food Network, learn about the people and places that have inspired Rebekah on her food journey as she unabashedly pursues her dream!

Bress ‘N’ Nyam: Gullah Geechee Recipes from a Sixth Generation Farmer written by Matthew Raiford withAmy Paige Condon takes readers through Raiford’s culinary journey: from a childhood surrounded by goodcooks to his military career and exposure to cuisines and food traditions around the world and back to hisdeep roots on the family farm and Gullah Geechee heritage.

“Bress ‘N’ Nyam” is Gullah for “bless and eat” which gets right to the heart of Raiford’s family food traditions.

Peppered with personal stories with heaps of cultural and historical references, this cookbook provides a deep look into the cuisine of Coastal Georgia - Southern cooking that goes way beyond stereotypical foods like fried chicken (but there’s a 2-day recipe for that too!).

Raiford goes back to his roots with recipes like Blackberry Doobie, a cobbler his Nan would make using fresh-picked blackberries foraged from around the family farm; and weaves in recipes and techniques picked up along the way like Snapper on the Half Shell.

Organized in categories by their elemental source, the book is divided into sections: earth, water, fire, wind, nectar and spirits. Raiford’s recipes range from rustic to sophisticated and simple (3-ingredient biscuits) to complicated (how to host a pig roast).

Bress ‘N’ Nyam welcomes the reader into Raiford’s personal history with food and provides a valuable perspective into the South’s rich and varied ISSUE food culture. ~ 3 ~ 2021