The Growing Ester’s Biodiversity discussion group discusses books and movies on food issues: domestication, industrial agriculture, alternative agriculture, biotechnology, diet, nutrition, Slow Food, traditional and cultural foodways, climate change, agrobiodiversity, food justice, food sovereignty, food democracy, Alaska’s food system, and much more. The group sponsors an annual food film festival in conjunction with UAF. If you are interested in food, agriculture, and the issues affecting our food system today, please join us!
Below are lists of books and movies suitable for a discussion group. Some titles have associated websites. Most of the books and some films are available at the John Trigg Ester Library or Calypso Farm & Ecology Center’s resource library. To see if we have these titles, check our online catalog. For a quick look, search on the tag “GEB” to find topic-related titles in the JTEL collection (“Your library”).
For more food-related works, see also Philip H. Howard’s extensive database on food and agriculture books & films.
BOOKS
How to save seed (see also our Resources page):
- Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener’s and Farmer’s Guide to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving, by Carol Deppe
- A Guide to Seed Saving, Seed Stewardship, and Seed Sovereignty, 4th edition, by The Seed Ambassadors Project (available for download)
- Handbook of Seed Technology for Genebanks, v. II: Compendium of Specific Germination Information and Test Recommendations, by R.H. Ellis, T.D. Hong, and E.H. Roberts
- A Handful of Seed: Seed Saving and Seed Study for Educators, by Tina Poles (available for dowload)
- The New Seed-Starter’s Handbook, by Nancy Bubel (Calypso)
- Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners, 2nd edition, by Suzanne Ashworth and Kent Whealy
Food, farming, & biodiversity issues:
- Animal, Vegtable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver (JTEL)
- The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World, by Michael Pollan
- Chasing Chiles: Hot Spots Along the Pepper Trail, by Kurt Friese, Kraig Kraft, and Gary Nabhan (JTEL)
- Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It, by Anna Lappé (JTEL)
- Empty Harvest: Understanding the Link Between Our Food, Our Immunity, and Our Planet, by Mark Anderson, Bernard Jensen
- The End of Food, by Paul Roberts (JTEL)
- Enduring Seeds: Native American Agriculture and Wild Plant Conservation, by Gary Paul Nabhan, Wendell Berry
- Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All, by Oran Hesterman (JTEL)
- Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture, edited by Andrew Kimbrell (Calypso)
- The Fatal Harvest Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture, edited by Norman Uphoff (JTEL)
- First the Seed: The Political Economy of Plant Biotechnology, by Jack Ralph Kloppenburg Jr. (JTEL)
- Food Justice, by Robert Gottlieb and Anupama Joshi (JTEL)
- Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, by J.E. Lovelock (JTEL)
- Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, by Toby Hemenway
- Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind, by Gene Logsdon (JTEL)
- The Humanure Handbook: a guide to composting human manure, 3rd edition, by Joseph Jenkins
- In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, by Michael Pollan (JTEL)
- The Mad Farmer Poems, by Wendell Berry
- The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan
- Seeds of Change: The Living Treasure: The Passionate Story of the Growing Movement to Restore Biodiversity and Revolutionize the Way We Think About Food , by Kenny Ausubel (Calypso)
- Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation, by F. William Engdahl
- Shattering: Food, Politics, and the Loss of Genetic Diversity, Cary Fowler, Pat Mooney
- A Short History of the American Stomach, by Frederick Kaufman
- Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson (JTEL)
- Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, by Raj Patel
- The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, by Wendell Berry (JTEL)
- Where Our Food Comes From, by Gary Paul Nabhan (JTEL)
- The Work of Nature: How the Diversity of Life Sustains Us, by Yvonne Baskin
- The World According to Monsanto: Pollution, Corruption, and the Control of Our Food Supply, by Marie-Monique Robin
MOVIES
Documentaries:
- Alaska Far Away
- The Apple Pushers
- As We Sow
- Banana Split
- Beer Wars
- Big River
- Black Gold
- Blue Gold: World Water Wars
- Broken Limbs: Apples, Agriculture, and the New American Farmer
- David vs. Monsanto
- Dirt! The Movie
- Dive! Living Off America’s Waste
- Eating Alaska (JTEL)
- El Bulli: Cooking in Progress
- Farmaggedon
- Farmboy
- A Farm for the Future
- Fast Food Nation
- Flow
- Food Inc.
- Food Fight
- Food Matters
- Food Stamped
- Forks Over Knives
- Fresh
- The Future of Food
- The Garden
- Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers
- Gefilte Fish
- The Gleaners and I (also the sequel, The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later)
- Good Food
- Heart & Soil
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- Ingredients
- King Corn
- The Kitchen
- The Last Crop
- Losing Ground
- Lunch Line
- My Father’s Garden
- Nourish (JTEL)
- Our Daily Bread
- PLANEAT
- The Plow That Broke the Plains
- Polycultures: Food Where We Live
- The Real Dirt on Farmer John
- Smokin’ Fish
- Super Size Me
- Sustainable Table
- THRIVE: What On Earth Will It Take?
- Troublesome Creek
- Truck Farm
- Urban Roots
- The Weight of the Nation
- What’s On Your Plate?
- The World According to Monsanto
Fiction, animated, and children’s films:
- Babette’s Feast (JTEL)
- Big Night
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s (JTEL)
- Chocolat
- Delicatessen
- Diner
- Eat Drink Man Woman
- Eating Raoul
- Julie & Julia
- Like Water for Chocolate
- The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, And Her Lover
- Ratatouille
- Sleeper
- Soul Food
- Tampopo
- Tortilla Soup
- Waitress
- Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?