Photo by Norah Levine

With the advent of industrialism and its widespread application to our food supply – factory farms, genetic engineering, and agricultural chemicals – the struggle between human freedom and authority has reached a critical juncture. In spite of the rapid growth of an alternative food system – local and sustainable food production, farmers’ markets, the public’s rising food consciousness – we become more dependent everyday on industrial agriculture whose representatives insist that it is the only way to feed a hungry world. In the face of such assertions, we must ask if our dependence on such a system threatens to supplant individual self-reliance. Will personal freedom succumb finally and forever to the dominant voice of authority? Are we at risk of sacrificing our democratic voice to self-appointed governing elites? These are no longer speculative questions suitable only for philosophers, but real-life concerns set squarely on the plate of every eater.

Mark Winne’s second book, Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart Cookin’ Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture takes on the universal struggle between human freedom and authority in its relationship to food. While drawing from great thinkers like Emerson and Dostoevsky to frame his arguments, Winne moves quickly from philosophy to action with numerous stories about “local doers.” From urban gardening heroes in Cleveland, to feisty farmers in New England, to lower income mothers in Texas, Winne shows how people are reclaiming their connection to their food, health, land, and governments. Along the way he finds people of every stripe whose refusal to accept their fate harkens back to a classic form of American individualism, one that has proven itself able to fight back against systems that not only want to conquer our wallets, but also hope to control our minds.

Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin’ Mamas challenges us to go beyond eating local food to become part of a larger solution that demands a system that sustains not just our bodies, but also our souls.

Mark Winne has worked for 40 years as a community food activist, writer, and trainer. From organizing breakfast programs for low-income children in Maine to developing innovative national food policies in Washington, DC, Winne has dedicated his professional life and writing to enabling people to find solutions to their own food problems as well as those that face their communities and the world. Of his first book, Closing the Food Gap, Dr. Jane Goodall said, “It is heartening to find a book that successfully blends a passion for sustainable living with compassion for the poor.”

In addition to his writing, Winne maintains an active speaking and training schedule. For more information see the “Speaking and Training” section of this website. Winne lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty

American society has never been as fair as we might think. Though a land of opportunity and great fortune for some, we have never been a nation able to fully confront, let alone resolve, our social and economic inequalities and disparities. Food, like air and water, is a basic necessity, but stands as a glaring example of how the gap between this country’s “haves” and “have-nots” remains deep and wide. No matter what aspect of the subject we consider — hunger, obesity, or the latest food trends like local and organic — food is emblematic of a promise fulfilled for some but falling ever so short for many.

Closing the Food Gap tells the story of how we get our food: from poor people at food pantries or bodegas and convenience stores to the more comfortable classes, who increasingly seek out organic and local products. Winne’s exploration starts in the 1960s, when domestic poverty was “rediscovered,” and shows how communities since that time have responded to malnutrition with a slew of strategies and methods. But the story is also about doing that work against a backdrop of ever-growing American food affluence and gastronomical expectations.

“Closing the Food Gap reveals the chasm between the two food systems of America-the one for the poor and the one for everyone else. Mark Winne offers compelling solutions for making local, organic, and highly nutritious food available to everyone.”
- Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace

How to Order “Food Rebels” or Closing the Food Gap”

Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cooking Mamas will be available in October 2010. Pre-ordering and ordering may be done through Beacon Press at beacon.org or through your local bookseller and amazon.com.  For special sales and bulk order discounts, please contact Dani Perea at (617) 948-6573 or dperea@beacon.org.

To find an independent bookstore near you visit http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder, or browse to:

Media Contacts:

To schedule interviews or to request promotional materials, please contact Caitlin Meyer at (617) 948-6584 or cmeyer@beacon.org.