A Yummy Gift Idea: Foodies Pick Most Appetizing Books

Despite the controversial November 6 defeat of California's Proposition 37 that would have required labeling for genetically engineered food, many food-conscious consumers across the nation continue their interest in self-education on food and farming issues, reports The Cornucopia Institute.

A question posted on Cornucopia's Facebook page asked visitors what books they'd recently read and would recommend on food-related topics. "The response was overwhelming," said Mark A. Kastel, Codirector of The Cornucopia Institute, adding, "our members and supporters intimately understand the challenges our nation is facing when it comes to food, and its relationship to health and the environment, and they are educating themselves on how to take action on these serious issues."

The most popular book came from Virginia farmer and lecturer, Joel Salatin: Folks, This Ain't Normal. Several other Salatin books made the list as well: Holy Cows and Hog Heaven and You Can Farm. Salatin, an outspoken advocate for grass-based livestock production and farming was featured in the 2008 Oscar-nominated documentary Food Inc., as was University of California, Berkeley professor Michael Pollan, who also made the top 10 list with his 2006 best-selling book, The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit by journalist Barry Estabrook received several mentions as well. "I'll never look at a tomato the same way again," said Cornucopia Facebook fan, Autumn T.

Novelists Barbara Kingsolver and Jonathan Safran Foer also made the list with their forays into food. Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle received numerous mentions, as did Foer's Eating Animals, which explores his emotional and contemplative journey into vegetarianism.

Consumers are also showing a serious interest in DIY (do-it-yourself) food preparation and preservation with several mentions of Sandor Katz's The Art of Fermentation and Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon, who is the founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a leading advocate for "nutrient-dense" food including raw milk from cows that graze on fresh pasture.

Activist Vandana Shiva's book Stolen Harvest also made the list as a book "everyone should read," according to Facebook fan Kimberly S. who added, "and then loan it to everyone you know to read, then plant a garden!"

"Our community members are not just passionate about food issues, they come to that position from a highly-educated perspective," said Kastel. "If corporations and regulating agencies aren't willing to step up and protect our food system, it's clear that the people are ready to do it themselves."