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 recommends
We use bookshop.org to host our booklist because their sales support independent bookstores. Plus, Slow Food USA will receive 10% of the sale of every book sold via our booklist, which will support our efforts to achieve good, clean and fair food for all.
THIS MONTH’S RECOMMENDATIONS
MARCH 2023 BOOK OF THE MONTH
MARCH 2023 YOUTH BOOK OF THE MONTH
“Though its prose leans academic, the premise of Eating Beside Ourselves: Thresholds of Foods and Bodies is worth the effort for enlightenment. Heather Paxson and a collective of researchers ask us to consider an ontological shift that blurs the lines between our concept of self and what we have categorized as our food. The contributors deftly tease apart ideological constructs we use to map out the world, enlightening us on the mechanics by which we separate ourselves from our non-human kin. The implications are profound and fascinating.”
“The illustrations in this book are alive—it is impossible to sufficiently describe their beauty with words. ‘The berries sing to us, glowing like little jewels.’ I gasped as I turned each page. The story itself is sweet, speaking to reciprocity and how relationship to the land is passed along through generations. You’ll meet so many new berries, and even what recipes to cook up with them! The final pages include descriptive details about each berry. Berry song is a quick read that’s gorgeous, fun, and informative. A Caldecott Honor Book.“
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.
PUBLISHER’S WEBSITE
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE
PURCHASE THE BOOK FROM 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.
