Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty

I've had the privilege of attending a food policy workshop at which Mr. Winne was the guest speaker. The man has a lot of experience in a wide range of food policy issues. As another "overeducated white guy" (his words), he's dedicated much of his life to improving the food security of those who need help most. Through much of the book, he reiterates time and again how meaningful change must come from within - it can't be forced on a community from an outside source. He honestly shares his successes and failures in a variety of efforts - bringing grocery stores back into underserved neighborhoods, establishing farmer's markets and community gardens, growing CSAs, working with food pantries, even changing bus routes so people from underserved areas can reach the serves they need (food and other services as well). I found his narrative informative and engaging. Best of all, it was real - "We did this, it worked. We did that, it didn't." This was not a "in theory only" book.What really bothered me, and why I am only giving this book three stars, is how at the end of the book he turned his back on every lesson he's learned and called for top-down, big money, legislative efforts to enforce change. The blew me out of the water. I know Mr. Winne has a very socialist viewpoint, but, dang, from his own experience he should know that simple handouts never solve anything except for in the short term, and federal bureaucracy is very slow to respond to the needs of the people and inevitably does do at higher costs than local programs. He says this himself earlier in the book. I was really disappointed.Read the book, learn from his successes and failures - there is a lot of good material here - just be aware that it ends in contradictions.

Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of the Plenty, challenges readers to think about the issue of hunger from a systemic lens. The food systems currently in place are flawed, which has resulted in an increase in the number of food-insecure Americans, despite an increase in charity and non-profit efforts. While there are many ways citizens can be locally involved in addressing hunger, such as participating in community gardens, farmers markets, and handing out meals to the hungry, Winne continually points back to root cause of hunger: poverty. It is our job to empower those who are most affected by poverty to speak up, because "as with these movements [rights for blacks and women], the struggle for inequality, access, affordability, healthy food, and food security will ultimately be won by those with the most at stake" (Winne, 2008, p. 191). This book captures the complexity of the food gap in America, while giving readers hope that there is a solution. We have to speak up and advocate for policies that end poverty and allow all Americans a place at the table in the land of plenty.

This book gives an excellent picture of the food and hunger crisis in this country. It's easy to forget with one third of our population being obese that there are also many who go hungry. It's interesting that similar political and environmental forces lead to both problems. Winne is very liberal, which may turn off some more moderate readers, however his science is sound and he has the facts down right.

Awesome book that really helps one understand our food system and how to address issues of inequality and food access. Highly recommended!

Read as a group for our Library book of the month. Very lively discussion after reading it.

This book is probably the best descriptor of how our food systems end up leaving out those in poverty. Extremely well written. If you liked Michael Pollan's books, you will love this.

This book is practically new!

I'm an academic, and read this book in part for possible use in a class that I teach on philosophy and the food system. Criticisms of the food system are very popular these days, and my current (and very incomplete) list of food books is pushing a couple hundred. Winne's book stands out from this crowd in two respects: his perspective as an activist rather than an academic, and his attention to aspects of the food system and the "food movement" that are often overlooked.As Winne notes near the beginning, he's a college-educated white man, but his working life has been spent as professional activist and organizer for food access in impoverished urban communities around the US. Much of the book is stories from either his own experience -- especially in Hartford, Connecticut -- or from other activists and organizers. His tone is generally thoughtful, and he stops occasionally to reflect on what succeeded and what failed in these efforts. In a few places -- though only a few -- he steps back even more, giving his take on the fundamental problems with our food system. But he's not an academic, and he's not offering an academic analysis. In my class, I can see using his book (or a few of the best chapters of it; more below) in tandem with more theoretical readings: How well does this theory fit with Winne's experiences? How useful would it be for what he's trying to accomplish? In this respect, Winne's book is similar to Barry Estabrook's  Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit . However, where Estabrook is a journalist writing about activists, Winne is an activist writing about himself.Winne offers us an especially keen view of the class dynamics of the food system and the movement that aims to change it. The food movement, especially in the wake of Michael Pollan's three books on food ( The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World , The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals , In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto ) and the documentary  Food Inc. , has emphasized artisan and home production, organic/natural practices, and the aesthetics of food. However, over the past thirty-five years, supermarkets have followed their white, middle-class customers from cities to suburbs and politicians have dismantled the economic supports that helped impoverished households maintain food security. Urban farmer's markets and community gardens may be well intentioned, but aren't an adequate replacement for a familiar grocery store and food stamps.Finally, I found four chapters to be especially thought-provoking -- and I've been thinking about food a lot over the past two years, so that's saying something! Chapters three and four deal with urban farmer's markets and food banks. Winne is skeptical about farmer's markets to address food security, since food insecure households can't afford to pay the premiums small farmers need to stay in business. Food banks do a much better job providing "emergency" food, but are dependent on wealthy and powerful benefactors and consequently are hesitant to pose deep criticisms of the food system. Chapter five discusses the economics and geography of urban grocery stores, including the best discussion of public transit systems and food deserts that I've come across. And the first half of chapter seven looks at the obesity epidemic, portraying the food industry as a predator of vulnerable consumers in the urban jungle.