Mark Winne

“‘Closing the Food Gap’ is a deeply moving account of Mark Winne’s long career as an advocate for policies that will ensure adequate nutrition for the poor. Reading this book should make everyone want to advocate for food systems that will feed the hungry, support local farmers, and promote community democracy-all at the same time. I want all my students to read this beautifully written and important book.”
-Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, and author of Food Politics and What to Eat

“Mark Winne tackles the world of food deserts, hunger relief and the disparities of the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ from both a personal and professional viewpoint that at once educates on and illuminates these very complicated issues. Winne makes these issues and their interrelationships not only understandable but also compelling for all those who care about social justice in our country.”
-Chef Ann Cooper, author of Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children

“An engaging, candid, and sometimes funny look at how ordinary people-and extraordinary ones like the author-have struggled over three plus decades to create a fair food system, in the absence of public sector compassion. Winne has done it all-food coops, emergency feeding, farmers’ markets, community gardening, Community Supported Agriculture, public policy. He tells us why and how, weaving into his own experiences stories from other cities across the country to create an essential picture of how people like him are struggling to reset the country’s table for everyone.”
-Joan Dye Gussow, author of This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader

“‘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. Speaking from his decades of political activism, Mark Winne offers compelling solutions for making local, organic, and highly nutritious food available to everyone. It’s heartening to find a book that successfully blends a passion for sustainable living with compassion for the poor.”
-Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder-the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace

“Winne’s passion for justice and commitment to sustainability make this book essential reading for those who want to help make the vision of healthy abundance for all an American dream come true. I look forward to sharing this book with my students – and giving it as a gift to my friends.”
-Janet Poppendieck, author of Sweet Charity?

“By combining stories of his deep personal experience as an activist with keen insight into strategies for addressing food injustice, Winne himself fills a gap in the growing literature on good food, why it matters, and how to ensure everyone everywhere has access to it. Plus, the book is a fun read. Winne’s stories made me want to meet him down at the local farmer’s market, and then join him afterward for a cold beer.”
-Anna Lappé, co-founder of the Small Planet Institute and author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen

“Having been a part of the movement since the 1970s, serving as (among other positions) the executive director of the Hartford Food System, Winne has an insider’s view on what it’s like to feed our country’s hungry citizens. Through the lens of Hartford, Conn. -a quintessential ‘inner city’ bereft of decent food options apart from bodegas and fast food chains-he explains the successes he witnessed and helped to create: community gardens, inner city farmers’ markets and youth-run urban farms. Winne concludes his tale in our present food-crazed era, giving voice to low-income shoppers and exploring where they fit in with such foodie discussions as local vs. organic. In this articulate and comprehensive book, Winne points out that the greatest successes have been ‘an informal alliance between sustainable agriculture and food security advocates… that shows promise for helping both the poor and small and medium-size farmers.’ For the most part it is a calm, well-reasoned and soft-spoken call to arms to fight for policy reform, rather than fill in, with community-based projects and privately funded programs, the gaps left by our city and state legislators.”
-Publishers Weekly

“Fearless, intelligent, and surprisingly funny.”

-Gwyneth Doland, Santa Fe Reporter