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Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'
Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them by Dan Saladino
3 reviews
theaceofpages's review against another edition
informative
sad
4.0
I kind of suspected that this book would be depressing before starting and yet I still managed to underestimate it. I'm familiar with some of the stories, but others were new to me. Although some of the new to me stories still felt familiar because of similar historical developments where I live.
It's heart-breaking how much diversity we are losing not only in nature but also in agriculture in the name of capitalism. Of course big agriculture is going to come out fine, but the rest of us? We're probably going to struggle as we need to rely more and more on genetically modified crops that bring back the diversity the natural populations had that would have allowed them to survive the changing planet. Just seeing how far things have gone in the name of profit is scary. Understandable given how the world works, but scary.
We see the same story repeated over and over again across countries and food groups. There was once a variety of species and varieties, giving greater security if the conditions were less than ideal. Over time these were replaced with more convenient commercial species that were inferior in most ways. Culture, heritage and independence are lost. As much as learning about the different cultures, foods and ingredients was fascinating, the story felt very familiar by the end. I don't know how much this feeling was impacted by the fact that there were more foods I don't consume towards the end (e.g. I don't like alcohol or coffee). These stories were still interesting (especially the tea portion although I prefer a local tea (one that thankfully hasn't been lost, even if it has become increasingly commercialised). Seeing how everyone involved gets exploited and communities lose everything is just very sad and not fair in any way).
I'd recommend this book if you are interested in learning about how broken the food/farming industry is. I'll warn you that you'll become a whole lot more aware of what you eat and start wanting all the alternatives, even though they aren't really available (at least not where I live).
It's heart-breaking how much diversity we are losing not only in nature but also in agriculture in the name of capitalism. Of course big agriculture is going to come out fine, but the rest of us? We're probably going to struggle as we need to rely more and more on genetically modified crops that bring back the diversity the natural populations had that would have allowed them to survive the changing planet. Just seeing how far things have gone in the name of profit is scary. Understandable given how the world works, but scary.
We see the same story repeated over and over again across countries and food groups. There was once a variety of species and varieties, giving greater security if the conditions were less than ideal. Over time these were replaced with more convenient commercial species that were inferior in most ways. Culture, heritage and independence are lost. As much as learning about the different cultures, foods and ingredients was fascinating, the story felt very familiar by the end. I don't know how much this feeling was impacted by the fact that there were more foods I don't consume towards the end (e.g. I don't like alcohol or coffee). These stories were still interesting (especially the tea portion although I prefer a local tea (one that thankfully hasn't been lost, even if it has become increasingly commercialised). Seeing how everyone involved gets exploited and communities lose everything is just very sad and not fair in any way).
I'd recommend this book if you are interested in learning about how broken the food/farming industry is. I'll warn you that you'll become a whole lot more aware of what you eat and start wanting all the alternatives, even though they aren't really available (at least not where I live).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Animal death, Slavery, and Alcohol
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
greenwillow77's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Blood
Moderate: Alcohol and Fatphobia
amberinpieces's review
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, War, Alcohol, and Slavery
Minor: Animal cruelty, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, and Fatphobia
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