Book Club

If you love cookbooks as much as I do, you’re always looking for more to add to your (already abundant) collection. As we enter into winter, I’ve rounded up a few of the most exciting cookbooks from the season, which I’ve been cooking from (and just reading) all fall and all of which I’m super happy to add to my shelves.

If you love cookbooks as much as I do, you’re always looking for more to add to your (already abundant) collection. As we enter into winter, I’ve rounded up a few of the most exciting cookbooks from the season, which I’ve been cooking from (and just reading) all fall and all of which I’m super happy to add to my shelves.

For your cookbook-perusing pleasure, I’ve given each book a likely fan category, but many of the books include a wide variety of recipes. Here are the first four; the next four will be coming in Part II next week. (Even the most ardent cookbook fans can experience cookbook overload, after all.)

If you love cookbooks as much as I do, you’re always looking for more to add to your (already abundant) collection. As summer draws to a close, I’ve rounded up a few of the most exciting cookbooks from the season, which I’ve been cooking from (and just reading) all summer and all of which I’m super happy to add to my shelves.

For your cookbook-perusing pleasure, I’ve given each book a likely fan category, but many of the books include a wide variety of recipes. Here are the first five; check out the second batch in Part II. (Even the most ardent cookbook fans can experience cookbook overload, after all.)

When Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, hit bookshelves in 2006, it immediately ascended to the top of the New York Times Best Seller List. Usually, a designation of this sort would prompt me to read the book as soon as possible, but something was different this time. I can’t exactly put a finger on the reason, but for some reason I wasn’t overly anxious to read the book; I think part of me feared the influence of Pollan’s perspective on food ethics as I continued to ponder my own food strategy and eating principles.

For our May book club, we are reading a book so well-known it almost needs no introduction. Still, even a contemporary classic like The Omnivore's Dilemma deserves to be revisited, especially in light of how much impact it has had in the few years since it was published. It's on the book club agenda, in fact, because Linden Hills received so many requests to read and discuss Pollan's seminal work. We will be meeting at the Linden Hills Co-op on Wednesday, May 29th from 6:30 p.m.

As an increasing number of people are questioning the health of our current US food system, as well as those that consume from within it, more and more eaters are paying attention to the foods they eat. Hungry not only for the, “who, where, and how” of their food, consumers are questioning the integrity and effectiveness of the systems weʼve put in place to regulate, control, and protect our food supply as a whole.

After January's great book club meeting, we at SGT are really looking forward to our next bookish get together this month. We will be meeting at the Linden Hills Co-op on Wednesday, March 27th from 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. to discuss Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World, by the radical farmer and writer Joel Salatin. You might recognize Salatin as the chicken farmer with a mobile chicken coop from Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and also from the documentary Food, Inc. Salatin is the owner of Polyface Farm in Virginia, an innovative operation that focuses on sustainability and seasonality. 

It was a cold night, but a hearty group came out to Linden Hills Co-op last week to discuss Wendell Berry's Bringing it to the Table for the latest meeting of the SGT Book Club. The book, an anthology of some of Berry's best-known and best-loved essays, was a winner, to say the least. The book is divided into three parts -- Farming, Farmers, and Food -- and the discussion ranged over all of these aspects, as we looked at Berry's writing and ideas specifically and also talked more generally about our own experiences with local food and farming and our own ideas and concerns for the future.

The SGT Book Club is back, and we want you to come join us! We will be meeting at the Linden Hills Co-op on Wednesday, January 30th from 6:30 - 8 p.m. to discuss the legendary farmer, writer, and activist Wendell Berry. Berry's writing is not only beautiful, but also incredibly thought-provoking; he does not pull any punches when it comes to his (very strong) beliefs about our society. We would love to see you at what is sure to be an engaging discussion.

For the January book club, we'll be reading Bringing it to the Table: On Farming and Food, an anthology of many of Berry's best-known and best-loved essays. But if reading a whole book is too much for you (and we know it's short notice), we've also found some essays that are available in full online (free) that will give you a good taste of Berry's writing: 

Now that the weather is turning cooler and school is back in session, the SGT Book Club is back, with not one but two books. In Minneapolis, the book club will be discussing Marion Nestle’s Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition & Health; in Bemidji, the book club will be discussing David Agus’s The End of Illness.

Meetings are open to all, whether you finish the whole book or just have fresh ideas about our food or health system that you want to discuss. So come on out and join us for a lively discussion!