Where Am I Eating?: An Adventure Through the Global Food Economy with Discussion Questions and a Guide to Going "Glocal" - Softcover

Timmerman, Kelsey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 111896652X ISBN 13: 9781118966525

Publisher: Wiley, 2014

Synopsis

A deeply human-centered perspective on the origins of America's food

Where Am I Eating? bridges the gap between global food producers and the American consumer, providing an insightful look at how our eating habits affect farmers and fishermen around the world. Follow the author on his global quest to meet the workers that nurture, harvest, and hunt our food, as he works alongside them—loading lobster diving boats in Nicaragua, harvesting bananas in Costa Rica, lugging cocoa beans in Ivory Coast with a modern-day slave, picking coffee beans in Colombia and hauling tomatoes in Indiana. This new edition includes a study guide, a deeper explanation of the "glocal" concept, and advice for students looking to become engaged as both local and global citizens. Arguing neither for nor against globalization, this book simply explores the lives of those who feed us.

Imports account for eighty-six percent of America's seafood, fifty percent of its fresh fruit, and eighteen percent of its fresh vegetables. Where Am I Eating? examines the effects of this reliance on those who supply the global food economy.

• Learn more about the global producers that feed our nation, and learn from their worldviews intensely connected to people and planet
• Discover how food preferences and trends affect the lives of farmers and fishermen
• Catch a boots-on-the-ground glimpse of the daily lives of food producers on four continents
• Meet a modern-day slave and explore the blurred line between exploitation and opportunity
• Observe how the poorest producers fare in the global food economy

This book takes a human-centered approach to food, investigating the lives of the people at the other end of the global food economy, observing the hope and opportunity—or lack thereof—that results from our reliance on imports. Where Am I Eating? is a touching, insightful, informative look at the origins of our food.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

The local food movement is growing, but not as fast as the global food movement. The United States now imports twice as much food as it did a decade ago. What does this reliance on imported food mean for us, and for the people around the globe who produce our food?

Kelsey Timmerman, author of the acclaimed Where Am I Wearing?, decided to find out. He traveled around the world on a quest to meet and work alongside the farmers and fishermen who feed us.

He followed his Starbucks coffee to Colombia where he met farmers Starbucks didn't want him to meet, loaded lobster boats in Nicaragua for divers who have the world's deadliest job, discovered that slavery is alive and well in the cocoa industry of the Ivory Coast, shouldered loads of bananas with Costa Rican workers who longed for the good ol' days of banana farming, met apple farmers in Michigan fighting against a changing climate and the global economy, and apple farmers in China who were thrilled to have cornered the apple juice market.

In Where Am I Eating?, Timmerman explores the global food economy and the issues surrounding it—including workers' and human rights, rural poverty, the loss of cultural and bio-diversity, climate change, and fair trade—through the lives of the workers he met along the way. Timmerman argues neither for nor against the globalization of food, but personalizes the issue by observing the hope and opportunity, and the lack of both, which the global food economy gives to the world's poorest producers. Before you scoop your next batch of coffee into your French press, indulge in a mid-afternoon chocolate bar, or slice a banana, discover how each of your small choices has shaped the lives of a worker thousands of miles away.

From the Back Cover:

DISCOVER WHERE THE FOOD WE EAT COMES FROM. . . AND WHY IT MATTERS

America now imports twice as much food as it did a decade ago. Imports account for 86 percent of America’s seafood, 50 percent of its fresh fruit, and 18 percent of its fresh vegetables. But what does this increased reliance on imported food mean for the people around the globe who produce our food? Kelsey Timmerman, author of the acclaimed Where Am I Wearing?, traveled around the world to find out, meeting the farmers and fishermen who grow and catch our food. Timmerman worked alongside them: diving for lobster in Nicaragua, harvesting bananas during a monsoon in Costa Rica, splitting cocoa beans with a machete in Ivory Coast, picking coffee beans on a dangerous mountainside in Colombia, and hauling tomatoes in Indiana. Where Am I Eating? explores the global food economy and the issues surrounding it–globalization, workers and human rights, modern-day slavery, the global food crisis, fair trade, and immigration.

Before your next sip of coffee or bite of chocolate discover how each of your small choices have shaped the lives of a worker thousands of miles away.

“Kelsey’s reporting is not designed to steer you away from purchasing these items but to help you appreciate the human lives behind them.” —Christian Science Monitor

“[Kelsey] immediately engages his readers and challenges us to be informed and educated global citizens.” —Eli Capilouto, President, University of Kentucky

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 111896652X
• ISBN 13: 9781118966525
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 320