Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Foods We Love and Need

Purchased this as a part of a secret book gift exchange. The only prompt I was given for my giftee was that they liked cooking, sustainability, & anthropology (actual anthropology, not the store LOL). After searching and searching I stumbled across this book! Based off the preview & author I thought this would be perfect!My giftee LOVED this book! So highly recommend!

I loved making climate change a gastronomic focus. Amazing book and it should make you a climate and conservation activist if you are not already.

Important to know what is happening to my favorite foods and how to help preserve them for my future eating pleasure. Well written and very informative.

Excellent book. I will purchase another to add to an earth day gift basket raffle. Reads quickly. Nice flow. Very informative.

Creative approach to an important conversation. Definitely recommended! Love it and will assign in my course!

Easy read. Today's world on one level, is not simple. On another level, it is very simple. Change has been going on since Earth was created, it's just that the pace of change today is the slowest you will see for the rest of your lives. In the Top 10 industries experiencing change is Food & Agriculture. Just like we are growing food and eating differently than even a generation ago. Much more than two or four generations ago. By 2030 and 2040 we will be farming with drone tractors and growing food in vertical farms in abandoned parking garages (because of all the mobility subscriptions) and re-purposed colleges (because fewer US males are going, fewer Chinese are coming, and the business models from the 1960s no longer work). This will bring fresh vegetables to inner city families to compete with Dollar General offerings.Food is changing. We are beginning to eat plant-based, lab-grown, and 3D made food. Thank heavens!Good book. Shows why food change is good. Makes the future attractive.

Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Food We Love and Need By Michael P. Hoffman, Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, and Danielle Eiseman. Cornell University Press, 2021.252 pp. Maps and diagrams.Review by Kathryn MapesMany Americans have become concerned about the increasingly negative effects of global climate change. This book discusses the global food supply and its growing vulnerabilities. It focuses on the experiences and research of three main groups: farmers, businessmen, and scientists. This is not a preachy book written merely for vegans and vegetarians. Those of us who still eat meat and drink cows milk have a place at the table, too. The problem with changing temperatures and the successful growing of good food is examined in detail, as are some of the more mundane details like the fact that dairy and beef cattle produce methane and that clearly is a danger to the ozone layer. Interviews with growers who make daily decisions on how, what, and where to plant in light of our rapidly evolving climate lend a practical guide for how to remain successful in the future.I come from a family with a dairy farming background, and was drawn to the section on dairy, which is one of the largest in the book. It is included in a chapter enticingly called “Desert and Coffee.” The point of view in the book is not anti-dairy, although the authors do point out the other kinds of milk available, such as goats and soy milk. One of the most intriguing suggestions for reducing the methane produced by cows is through the use of an anaerobic digester, which digests solids while producing energy (Kloplinka-Loehr in Nathan Hurst, “Why Anaerobic Digestion is Becoming the Next Big Renewable Energy Source”). Cheese is an alternative dairy product to milk and is often served now as a dessert. Cows are now being bred that can survive warmer climates. Taken all together, the commentary in this chapter indicates that the dairy industry will survive.Another food item that Americans can’t seem to do without is coffee, but the writers state that it has become progressively difficult to grow because of the changing temperatures. Coffee is grown in the equatorial belt, but hotter temperatures mean that the coffee plants are more susceptible to coffee leaf rust and an insect called the coffee bean borer. Some planters are switching to cacao. Businesses are training growers to plant shade trees and there is experimentation with different types of coffee beans. Arabica coffee grows best at between 64 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit and there is likely to be more reliance on it in the future. In Brooktondale, New York, a man named Jesse Harriot buys Arabica beans to roast for his business. He keeps careful watch on the weather in Central and South America. The long term prognosis for coffee is not good--prices are likely to go up because there will be less of it.Wine, one of the more important products produced in New York, is another commodity that requires very specific temperatures. Here though there is perhaps more reason for hope. Much of Europe and California have been experiencing droughts and are forced to irrigate. New York is experiencing higher temperatures, and is currently experiencing droughts in parts of the state, but does not experience droughts on the level of California’s. Often there is too much rain. With the coming of even higher temperatures, the northwestern United States and New York may continue to prosper, especially with the cultivation of the grapes used for red wine that can withstand warmer temperatures. The authors include an enlightening interview with Shannon Brock and her husband, who chose what they refer to as a “protected spot” in Lodi, New York. The shifting back and forth of temperatures that we have experienced in the last few years can cause vines to freeze and dry. They also use a technique called cover cropping under the vines and grow grass in between the rows so they can avoid the use of herbicides. I have focussed on the sections of the book that deal with New York growers but there are other sections of the books that deal with topics such as the changes occurring in Maine lobster fishing, the lack of water in Wyoming and its effect on the raising of sheep and beef cattle, and and water scarcity and its effect on rice farming in Asia and in the United States. This would be an excellent book for teachers who are focussing on climate change and the changing methods everyone in the world will have to use to adjust.