Food justice / Robert Gottlieb and Anupama Joshi

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-279) and index.

Introduction: Taking root : Rethinking school food in New Orleans ; Defining food justice ; Why a book on food justice? -- 1. An unjust food system : Growing and producing food : Slavery in the fields ; Farmworkers at tech margins ; The canary's song: chemicals in the factories and on the land ; Turning farms into factories ; Cows: "a great place to live?" ; Swine: stench and sludge ; Chickens: the Tyson way -- Accessing food : Grocery caps ; Supersizing supermarkets ; Cars to carts ; The Tesco invasion ; Convenient calorie culture ; Eating out, fast, cheap, and more -- Consuming food : Dismantling Malbouffe ; Downsizing cooking ; Health not on the label ; Overfed but poorly nourished ; Manipulating food choices -- Food politics : The people's department ; Farm bill debates ; School food politics ; Taming hunger ; Cultivating change -- The food system goes global : Chinese garlic in the United States, potato chips in China ; Black rice and banana republic ; Going global ; Wal-Mex takes over ; Globesity ; Food sovereignty: global struggles -- Food justice: action and strategies : Growing justice : The little farm in paper city ; The battles in the fields ; Immigrants breaking ground ; Reinventing farming ; Urban farmers -- Forging new food routes : A Philadelphia story ; At face value ; Farmers' markets for all? ; A share in the harvest: the CSA model ; Scaling up: the farm to school program -- Transforming the food experience : A slow food epiphany ; Going local ; Connecting with food ; A place-based culture -- A new food politics : Sowing the seeds of CFP ; Filling a vacuum: food policy councils ; State campaign ; School food revolution ; Empowering the hungry -- An emerging movement : Eat the view ; The multiple layers of food justice ; The change agenda ; Finding a voice.

In today's food system, farm workers face difficult and hazardous conditions, low-income neighborhoods lack supermarkets but abound in fast-food restaurants and liquor stores, food products emphasize convenience rather than wholesomeness, and the international reach of American fast-food franchises has been a major contributor to an epidemic of "globesity." To combat these inequities and excesses, a movement for food justice has emerged in recent years seeking to transform the food system from seed to table. In Food Justice, Robert Gottlieb and Anupama Joshi tell the story of this emerging movement.
A food justice framework ensures that the benefits and risks of how food is grown and processed, transported, distributed, and consumed are shared equitably. Gottlieb and Joshi recount the history of food injustices and describe current efforts to change the system, including community gardens and farmer training in Holyoke, Massachusetts; youth empowerment through the Rethinkers in New Orleans; farm-to-school programs across the country; and the Los Angeles school system's elimination of sugary soft drinks from its cafeterias. And they tell how food activism has succeeded at the highest level: advocates waged a grassroots campaign that convinced the Obama White House to plant a vegetable garden. The first comprehensive inquiry into this-emerging movement, Food Justice addresses the increasing disconnect between food and culture that has resulted from our highly industrialized food system.