I love summer reading lists! As a child I dreaded them at the beginning of the summer. But by the end of the summer I felt as if I had eaten a rich and satisfying meal of new ideas and beautiful images. 

I have two books that I highly recommend for your summer reading. They are perfect for this time of year: entertaining, yet serious in content. We’ll leave the real heady stuff for the middle of winter when we are predisposed to going deeply inward in our thoughts.

Mark Bittman is no stranger to most of us who are into food. I have had some misgivings about some of his earlier books, but his most recent is a home run!

Animal Vegetable Junk is an entertaining but serious history of agriculture and food production in the world… from the beginning of time! And he sets the context perfectly to explain all that is wrong with our current system, which he rightfully calls suicidal agriculture—a system doing a great job killing its host: our families and the planet.

What makes this book a must read is Bittman’s years of experience in the food world and his excellent, entertaining writing.

My second recommendation is Alice Waters’ new book: We Are What We Eat. Alice Waters has been a brilliant chef, restaurant owner, writer, and farm-to-school pioneer. She walks the talk better than anyone I know!

And the best part is her writing—lyrical and such a pleasure to read.

So, here is my underlying agenda in recommending these two books: these two highly credible people are telling us the same thing. It truly matters for the future of humanity how your food is produced… and we have ultimate say over that by choosing wisely, asking questions and only buying what is best for us and the planet.

Enjoy your summer reading on the beach! And please let us know what you think!!!

Happy Summer!

Greg