Mark Winne

The young farmer was wearing aviator sunglasses and a black Che Guevara t-shirt. If it wasn’t for the fact that she weighed considerably south of 100 pounds, I might have felt intimidated. But any fear quickly dissipated after she told me with a shy, girlish grin to call her “Lucy” after I had repeatedly mispronounced [...]

When the tomatoes ripen in such numbers I know it’s time to can, and when the delirious scent of basil is so redolent I know it’s time to pesto, I know that school is just around the corner.  Whether these seasonal signals were for me, my children, or the neighbors’ kids, they send an unmistakable message that summer’s [...]

A Review of Weighing In: Obesity, Food Justice and the Limits of Capitalism by Julie Guthman  Food issue books have become as prevalent as Thai restaurants these days. One publishing house lists 32 titles devoted to the category of “Food and Culture” alone while one professor I know has counted well over 200. So the [...]

A recent article questions whether food deserts – areas with minimal access to fresh fruits and vegetables – are as pervasive as some policymakers claimed. We recap a 2009 story about an area of Brooklyn where locals grow their own vegetables due to a lack of supermarkets, then host Bruce Gellerman updates talks with food [...]

USA Today’s spring supplement features a great spread on guerrilla gardening by reporter Matt Villano. Mark Winne…says that after years of reporting, he concluded that guerrilla gardening is a way for people to feel like they’re taking control of their lives and their communities. “It’s simple, but it’s true: Guerrilla gardening is just making the [...]

Imagine living on an island, albeit a big one, but an island nevertheless where almost everything you need has to travel across vast oceans. You can grow food and raise livestock, but most of the country is desert, and the arable land is merely a thin coastal strip. Water is limited and the one percent [...]

Breaking Through Concrete by David Hanson and Edwin Marty was recently released by the University of California Press. We’ve been hearing great stories for some time about the urban agriculture movement across America, and you’ll find many of those stories, gorgeously accessorized with photographs by Michael Hanson, in this lovely and useful book. I had [...]

Film reviews are generally not my strong suit. I either like the characters, actors, and actresses or I don’t. If the narrative doesn’t engage and ultimately take me to a better place – enlightenment, excitement, ecstasy – I’ll just grumble for a while and go find a good book. I have to put documentary food films [...]

For the two weeks before Thanksgiving I was on the road spreading the word about good food. From the San Francisco Bay to the Delmarva Peninsula, from Boston to Bethesda, and Oklahoma to Iowa, I became the itinerant preacher thumping the bible for a just and sustainable food system. I met hundreds of blessed folk [...]

It’s now cheaper, lighter, and more flexible, but one thing that hasn’t changed about Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners, and Smart-Cookin’ Mamas is its content. Just like the heavyweight hardcover version, it takes on the industrial food system, which, since the book’s initial publication, hasn’t grown any cheaper, lighter, or more flexible. And just like its nearly one pound predecessor, [...]