Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
I thought I was going find out how modern supermarket tomatoes came to be so bland; I wasn’t expecting such an emotional roller coaster. It’s a quick read, but it gets very intense, starting out with the issue of taste but moving on to pesticide exposure, slavery, and other abuses of workers. By halfway through the book you will never want to buy a fresh Florida out-of-season tomato again. Then it turns around, telling the story of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and profiling several people trying to make a difference in the lives of the people picking our tomatoes. Finally, it ends on the story of a Pennsylvania organic farmer who sells to a who’s-who list of elite New York chefs and farmer’s markets. The author holds up this sort of operation as the sustainable savior of tomato agriculture (which is a nice story but induced in me a bit of a “foodie-utopia” eyeroll).The book reads a bit like a poor man’s Michael Pollan: a little less witty, more poorly edited, with the journalist cautiously inserting himself into the story but without making it sufficiently personal to justify it. There is a sense of déjà vu as facts (and indeed whole passages) get repeated from chapter to chapter. And this is a nitpick, but there is an instance of the author using “alumni” as a singular noun (where are the editors?). Still, this is a worthwhile read and an eye-opening look into the realities and social costs of industrial tomato farming. For the importance of this book to the thousands of lives that are affected by our country's industrial produce farming practices, it belongs on the top shelf. Every chapter tells a different story - about pesticides, migrant worker slavery conditions, labor movement efforts, sound farming practices, and the history of the tomato itself. I think each chapter could be turned into a book in itself. That said, some of them seemed to go on a bit long for me... I think probably because I was eager to see where things currently stand for the tomato industry and couldn't get to the end fast enough. Really, I don't know what Estabrook could have cut out, all of the material is important and well-researched information pertinent to the topic. And the author continues to be a leader in the movement for a healthier (in all meanings of the term) produce ecosystem, which in itself makes this book an essential start for anyone wanting for a better and more ethical tomato.
What do You think about Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit (2011)?
Informative and eye-opening! I will never look at another tomato the same way.
—Alexandria
If you have ever eaten a tomato you should read this book.
—Jody
this forever changes the way I purchase produce
—kennethos
Makes you think about your buying habits.
—sirdave69
