A Book Every Food Lover Should Read and a Chance to Meet the Author

An Iowa native tell us about today's "food barons," and how they've brought about the degradation of communities, livelihoods, and even democracy.

Greetings. Two quick tidbits today.

First of all, if you missed the Zoom conversation between me, Julie Gammack, and readers of our Substacks, it’s now available as a podcast. We had a great conversation about my work on this Substack and how it has changed over the past year. Here’s the link:

Secondly, I wanted to tell you tell you about a book I’m reading that I highly recommend—and let you know about some opportunities to meet its author. The book is Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry, by Cedar Rapids native and seventh-generation Iowan, Austin Frerick. Published just this month, the book is a must-read for anyone who cares about our food-ways in general, and, more specifically, anyone who’s steaming mad about how degraded Iowa’s waterways have become. Consider this:

“Most summers, the state closes two-thirds of its state park beaches to swimming for a week or more, citing the health risk of toxins or bacteria.”

That’s just one little tidbit I gleaned…