Pesticide Action Network Updates Service (PANUPS)

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Resource Pointer #277
March 29, 2002

For copies of the following resources, please contact the appropriate publishers or organizations directly.

*Bananas: An American History* 2000. Virginia Scott Jenkins. Describes political and historical developments that led to the introduction and popularization of banana imports from the Caribbean. Covers early promotional public health and marketing campaigns. Explores the culture, diet and etiquette that incorporated bananas into U.S. folklore. 210 pages. US$17.95. Contact Smithsonian Institution Press, 750 Ninth Street NW, Suite 4300, Washington, DC 20560-0950; phone (202) 275-2300; fax (202) 275-2274; email info@sipress.si.edu; Web site http://www.sipress.si.edu/.

*Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasure and Politics of Local Foods* 2002. Gary Paul Nabhan. Essay reflections of a one-year experience of eating only food grown, fished or gathered from within 200 miles of the author’s home in the U.S. Southwest. Describes culture surrounding and details of food production and preparation. Chapters cover four seasons. 288 pages. US$24.95. Contact WW Norton and Co, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110; phone (800) 233-4830; fax (800) 458-6515; Web site http://www.wwnorton.com/.

*Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health* 2002. Marion Neslte. Explores the U.S. food industry’s behind-the-scenes political maneuvering. Chapters cover public relations campaigns, government lobbying, co-opting food experts, undermining dietary advice, more. Describes how the food industry works to influence dietary supplement regulations, exploit “under-age” consumers, market “techno-foods,” and implement legal and non-legal public relations tactics. 469 pages. US$29.95. Contact University of California Press, 1445 Lower Ferry Road, Ewing, NJ 08618; phone (800) 777-4726; fax (800) 999-1958; email orders@cpfs.pupress.princeton.edu; Web site http://www.ucpress.edu/.

*Food in Society: Economy, Culture, Geography* 2001. Peter Atkins and Ian Bowler. Provides a multi-disciplinary social science perspective on food systems. Addresses various global understandings of food culture, politics and economics. Chapters cover global issues of supply and demand, political economy of the food chain from production to sale, geopolitics of food surpluses and food security, disputes of environmental and health aspects of food (including genetically engineered food), and the role of habits, taboos, age and gender in food consumption. 344 pages. US$29.95. Contact Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016; phone (212) 726-6000; fax (919) 677-1303; email orders@oup-usa.org; Web site http://www.oup-usa.org/.

*Fruits of Natural Advantage: Making the Industrial Countryside of California* 1998. Steven Stoll. Describes history of industrial farming in California. Follows development of grower commitment to specialization and single-crop farming and the resulting increased political and corporate influence and increased dependence on chemical inputs. Examines impacts, rewards, vulnerabilities and challenges of this new agriculture for growers and the environment. Notes decrease in crop genetic diversity and resultant pest and disease problems. Chapters cover “orchard capitalism,” single crop ecology, politics of imported labor and national food economics. 302 pages. US$40.00. Contact University of California Press, 1445 Lower Ferry Road, Ewing, NJ 08618; phone (800) 777-4726; fax (800) 999-1958; email orders@cpfs.pupress.princeton.edu; Web site http://www.ucpress.edu/.

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