Slow Books
Slow Books is a curated list of books and resources that speak to Slow Food values. We hope to connect readers with food writing that inspires thought and discussion about the food you love, diverse food cultures, historical foodways, food justice and the joy of eating.
SLOW Books recommendATIONs
We use bookshop.org to host our booklists; their sales support independent bookstores and give back to Slow Food USA.
THIS MONTH’S RECOMMENDATIONS
March 2024 books selected by Slow Books team member Tammy
The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo Garcia
by Laura Tillman
“In The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo Garcia, journalist Laura Tillman took a 5-year-long deep dive into not only the life of the famous Mexico City chef Lalo Garcia, but into Mexican food history, migrant farmworkers & US-Mexico food policy, fine dining, and more. Lalo started out life in a Mexican village, became a US migrant farmworker with his family around age 10, began working in restaurants, was deported, returned when his father developed cancer (very likely as a result of work-related pesticides), started making a name for himself on the US restaurant scene, and eventually was again deported and permanently banned from returning to the US. He settled in Mexico City where he has become an uber-successful chef. This 200-page book packs in a lot of information from politics to sourcing local food to a holistic view of an immigrant persevering to achieve a better life.“
Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild
by Jacqueline Briggs Martin & June Jo Lee
“Journey along with Sandor as he discovers the joy of fermented food, health, farming and community! This makes me want to move to Tennessee, live on a communal farm in the mountains, and consume large amounts of ‘kraut-chi.’ There’s a nice science component for young science lovers.”
Discussion Guides
For the 2022 Network-Wide Read-Along, the Slow Books team chose Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds, and Legumes by Abra Berens. Here are some additional reading materials to enhance your enjoyment of this epic ode to some of our favorite foods.
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AUTHOR’S WEBSITE
PURCHASE THE BOOK FROMÂ BOOKSHOP!
In 2021, Slow Books selected Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass as its network-wide read-along for the year. They created a Discussion Guide and revised their Virtual Book Club Toolkit. Watch a video recording of a session where the Slow Books team offered tips on how to host a chapter-wide book club focused on the book.
Suggest a Book
The Slow Food Book Curators
Tammy Maitland
Katie Johnson
Cedar Schimke
Cedar is a chef, community gardener, farmer, writer, singer, artist. They devour books both fiction and nonfiction that help them imagine emergent worlds. Their favorite ingredients to cook with are chilies, and they love exploring recipes as a way to apprentice themselves to culture, tradition, and place. Cedar’s favorite genre of book is magical realism, especially when written by folks who use storytelling to offer alternatives to the current systems of hierarchy and dominance.