Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods by Sarah Lohman

Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods Reviews

• 
  Rachael

  I did not expect to thoroughly enjoy this book as much as I did. Such a fun and unique non-fiction book.
  
  Each section takes you on a journey exploring a different endangered food; you'll learn the history, meaning, uses, and culture surrounding each one. Well written, heartwarming individuals peppered throughout; I finished this book feeling inspired and encouraged to seek out many of these foods and research Ark of Taste to find others near me.
  
  Highly recommend! Before I'd finished my library copy I purchased my own copy; this is a book that earned a coveted spot on my small bookcase.
• 
  Geoffrey

  (Note: I received an advanced reader copy courtesy of NetGalley)
  
  A wonderfully interesting read! In each section, Lohman focuses on a specific harvested crop, raised animal breed, fish (ing method) in danger of dying out, and covers them through a combination of detailed history, her own personal encounters with the people reviving and sustaining these food traditions, and relevant recipes. Not only did I enjoy learning about these selected endangered food ingredients, nearly all of which were new to me, but I particularly appreciated how Lohman doesn’t hold back on the reality that the majority of them come from indigenous communities. Far from it, she goes full tilt with and provides as much information as possible on the various colonization factors that have pushed these foods to the brink of extinction in the very first place. Every single chapter proved to be a whole new unique and jam-packed miniature education, and I was quite happy to devour each and every one of them (pun fully and shamelessly intended).
  
  Overall, it's a simply excellent spotlight on heirloom foods - not only a great lesson on the array of diverse ingredients out there across America, but also does excellent work raising awareness of what's in danger of potentially being lost. This is a book I'd be happy to recommend to those who enjoy great micro-histories or food writing, and also those who just enjoy a unique nonfiction read.
• 
  Michael Caveney

  In her second book, Sarah Lohman travels the U.S., this time concentrating on foods that are at risk of disappearing (and one that already almost has vanished), giving us a close look at the communities that cultivate them, and why they are at risk. She doesn't shy away from delving into the factors that opposed indigenous growers/crops (virtually the case with every chapter), and if you liked Lohman's Eight Flavors, you're going to like this as well.
• 
  Beth Cato

  I received an advance copy via NetGalley.
  
  Slow Foods International has complied a catalog of important regional foods and food-production procedures that are endangered around the world. Culinary historian Sarah Lohman explores select items from that list, traveling around America to find out the real history of the food and how it's being kept alive today.
  
  The trip is absolutely fascinating. Her tone is personable, the subject matter immersive. She's frank about how things such as climate change, colonialism, and capitalism have impacted which foods are popular and which ones die off.
  
  In California's Coachella Valley, she examines how dates came to the state, how it was advertised using Arabic fantasy and biblical motifs, and how the industry gets by today. In Hawaii, she visited modern farms that continue to grow sugar cane, and discusses how canes came to Hawaii and how the sugar industry has changed through white settlement to only recently cease, and how people are trying to perpetuate older varieties of sugar cane.
  
  She roams Navajo lands to butcher Navajo-Churro sheep and meets the Dine who raise and respect the animals who mean much to their people. Among the Lummi in Puget Sound, she sees what traditional reef net fishing is like and how Indigenous people are continuing the fight, legally and culturally, to catch salmon. In the Upper Midwest, she joins tribal members as they harvest manoomin, often branded as wild rice, and shines a light on environmental shifts in the region.
  
  Apple cider has waned in popularity and prevalence over the centuries as religious and cultural norms have shifted, and today people are making a concerted effort to rediscover "lost apples" across America. The Choctaw people introduced sassafras powder to the Creoles of Louisiana, and today very few people continue the old ways of creating file powder for use in dishes such as gumbo. Free Black women sold groundnut cakes on the streets of Charleston, South Carolina, in the 19th century and into the 20th, and now people are trying to bring back heirloom peanuts such as Carolina Runner.
  
  This is a book that will make you think. Past and perpetuated injustices will make you angry--but the way that people are trying to preserve foods, preserve their history and culture, will also make you grateful. Also: this is a book that will make you HUNGRY. Ultimately, the tale is one that encourages conservation so that these foods and their methods can continue to be eaten, enjoyed, and respected.
• 
  Rai

  Very interesting food history of many things I hadn't heard of before, and plants I never thought would have heirloom varieties. I really loved the attention given to the ways that colonization both contributes to the development of new foods and cultures, and how it directly causes the near or total eradication of traditional foods. I liked meeting the people working to preserve these rare foods, while the author also acknowledged that many of the indigenous and enslaved people who contributed to the food's cultivation don't have access to these preservation efforts. This is an inherent flaw in preserving rare foods by turning them into a commodity. The author's narration was upbeat and really captured her passion for the topic.
• 
  Chris Brook

  Hard not to be fascinated by the stories around rare and quickly disappearing foods. Picked up a similar sounding book, Eating to Extinction, a few years ago but only made it a few chapters in. Found this pretty engaging. Great collection of essays involving foods that are slowly fading in popularity, including Coachella dates, Carolina runner peanuts, sustainably caught reefnet caught salmon. Lohman goes to all these locations and meets the people keeping these traditions alive. Some occasionally veer into the historical record but there are some great stories here.
• 
  TrishTalksBooks

  I love to read about sustainability and I’m an avid vegetable gardener, so Endangered Eating was just the book for me. It’s a deep dive into some of the lost foods of North America, and the processes by which people have harvested and processed them. It’s like a love letter to slow foods and agricultural arcana, with a naturally occurring dose of sustainability education.
  
  For this book, Lohman spent a year travelling around the US following the seasonal patterns of several almost-lost foods and harvesting techniques. Her exploration has its roots in the organisation Slow Foods International, founded in 1989. One of its founding principles is to prevent the “disappearance of local food traditions and cultures.” A key initiative is the Ark of Taste, a catalogue of foods and food-processes that are endangered, with a goal to increase their production and improve biodiversity. A natural byproduct is the bolstering of small-scale production systems. As the book shows, this is often linked to Indigenous ways of eating and relating to food.
  
  Lohman chose eight foods or processes to document: California’s Coachella valley dates; heirloom sugarcane in Hawaii; Navajo-Churro lamb in the Navajo Nation; the reefnet fishing technique for pink salmon in the Pacific Northwest; manoomin wild rice in the Midwest; rare cider apples in New York; Cajun cuisine’s file powder in Louisiana; and the Carolina African Runner peanut in South Carolina.
  
  What I loved about the book was that Lohman told us not only the current story of each food or technique, but also married it to the history of that region or cultural group: This brought up some tensions! Does it matter who champions an endangered food? Often it’s a settler culture rather than an Indigenous community that revives a technique. Kudos to Lohman: she shows different points of view and generally allows the reader to think deeply about it and come to their own conclusion. As with many things in life, there’s usually not a black and white answer.
  
  While every chapter kept me invested, I was taken with three in particular.
  
  The Navajo-Churro lamb: I found this fascinating, probably because I’m not a meat eater, and I have to expand my comfort level to hear about animal slaughter. That said, I have come to appreciate the more humane and thoughtful use of animals for food that some cultures take.
  
  Reefnet fishing for pink salmon in the Pacific Northwest: I eat fish and try to make choices for more sustainable types of salmon. Pink salmon is often seen as less desirable but may be more sustainable. I love the idea of this less harmful salmon harvesting technique that minimises species loss via bycatch.
  
  Manoomin wild rice in the Midwest: I have a thing for wonderful grains, and hearing the stories of how the Anishinaabe folk “knock” the grains into canoes then gather and sell them during the wild rice season was so cool. It taught me about wetlands, and how our modern world destroys them.
  
  This was an inspiring book that made me ponder our food and how we harvest it in a more longitudinal way. We can glean wisdom moving forward as the climate changes by appreciating local foods, continuing with traditional methods and maintaining respect for the land and the animals that we share our planet with.
  
  I enjoyed the author's narration and would recommend this as a great audiobook choice. Thanks to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for an advanced copy of the audiobook!
• 
  Chira

  3.5 that I'll round up because there's a lot good here and the issues I have with it are mostly structural and organization (I think it could've benefited a lot from a more thorough flow edit)
  
  This one grew on me; each section focuses on a specific food and how it got its start, how it fell out of common use, and what is being done to use it and conserve it now, so depending on your interests each will hold a different appeal. The sections are organized roughly by timing as Lohman travels the nation to be a part of either harvesting or food-specific festivals as they are taking place, which I'm not sure is the best method - certainly, some stories are much more impactful and tie more strongly to what seems to be the overall message of food and food-related processes tied to peoples and cultures and cuisine, particularly of preserving food for its flavor and taste, rather than capitalistic reasons like yield or transportability.
  
  In a lot of aspects, it's fascinating to learn about so many different varieties of food that might be familiar on a larger scale, but we really have no idea the depth and breath of varieties that truly exist and that we're missing out on. That it is worth embracing regional differences and varietals rather than expecting a supermarket standard. A lot of the stories have similar notes, a constant refrain in different keys - people living off of the land, tying the foods they could grow and access to their cultures and their cuisine, until the US government decided they wanted the land or areas for their own purposes, thinking they could do it "better". Instead of celebrating ingredients for their differences, it became a profit game and a "correct" way of meeting demand until the ingredient became endangered, or thought extinct.
  
  On that point, the book brushes up against the issue that while a lot of these ingredients on the Ark of Taste, heirloom ingredients deemed worth saving, have a long history with indigenous cultures, the ways they are being preserved and the peoples doing the preserving and the ways of creating awareness and demand are often outside of those cultures, aimed at people of means (read: not affordable for people from the communities connected to the ingredients culturally), and put into the hands of chefs at "farm-to-table", "slow food" type restaurants, which are again, not typically chefs with a connection to the cuisine the ingredients are typically used in. But capitalistic systems don't want to invest in heirloom ingredients with low yield, certainly not in ways that make them widely available. How do we remedy that? It's food for thought.
• 
  Angie

  Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an Advanced Listener Copy - pub date 10/24/2023. I am not usually an audiobook fan because they just don't sit as well with my brain but I could NOT resist getting my hands on this book any which way I can. To be honest, the fact that Sarah Lohman narrates her own book works in its favor, too, when it comes to my brain processing. :) You immediately trust the Voice talking at you because it's Sarah Lohman and you know she knows this stuff inside and out... And she does. Literally. The book is full of tidbits - both historical and culinary, both personal and anecdotal. It is divided up neatly into specific foods that are deemed at risk and have been stowed onto the Ark of Taste by Slow Food Internation so you feel like you are really and truly getting to know each food before you move onto the next. Total food travel through time and space!
  
  I really enjoyed the reverence Lohman brought to each chapter and food and process. She took the time to explore and explain the factual history, the dry stuff, but also the anecdotal history and the cultural meanings behind the food for the original consumers. She also did not shy away from admitting if she went in blind or with pre-conceived notions and definitely did not avoid the messy parts of history. Many of the foods, after all, originated with and from the lifestyles and cultures of native peoples and we all know how natives fared when colonizers/settlers came flooding in. Systematic food stripping or slaughters proved just another tool in the box to bring the original inhabitants of a land to heel. Just another day at the office. Lohman's voice echoes with the sadness of the tales but also with awe at the determination of the people protecting their own heritage in food. She also went a step further and pointed out that, while the Ark of Taste and Slow Food International were doing amazing work, there was also a certain flaw to their mission - to bring back these heritage items and get them into the hands of chefs and make them desireable (often premium) items. In other words, are these heritage foods going back to their original consumers or are they just being ingested into the culinary capitalism world... and, if they aren't going further, is it still worth pursuing? The answer - yes, but we can still keep doing better.
  
  My only complaint with the book is a pretty obvious one when you think about it. Recipes are a lot harder to follow when they are read to you than when they are on a page you can look at. Whoops. Otherwise, excellent work!
• 
  Angie

  Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an Advanced Listener Copy - pub date 10/24/2023. I am not usually an audiobook fan because they just don't sit as well with my brain but I could NOT resist getting my hands on this book any which way I can. To be honest, the fact that Sarah Lohman narrates her own book works in its favor, too, when it comes to my brain processing. :) You immediately trust the Voice talking at you because it's Sarah Lohman and you know she knows this stuff inside and out... And she does. Literally. The book is full of tidbits - both historical and culinary, both personal and anecdotal. It is divided up neatly into specific foods that are deemed at risk and have been stowed onto the Ark of Taste by Slow Food Internation so you feel like you are really and truly getting to know each food before you move onto the next. Total food travel through time and space!
  
  I really enjoyed the reverence Lohman brought to each chapter and food and process. She took the time to explore and explain the factual history, the dry stuff, but also the anecdotal history and the cultural meanings behind the food for the original consumers. She also did not shy away from admitting if she went in blind or with pre-conceived notions and definitely did not avoid the messy parts of history. Many of the foods, after all, originated with and from the lifestyles and cultures of native peoples and we all know how natives fared when colonizers/settlers came flooding in. Systematic food stripping or slaughters proved just another tool in the box to bring the original inhabitants of a land to heel. Just another day at the office. Lohman's voice echoes with the sadness of the tales but also with awe at the determination of the people protecting their own heritage in food. She also went a step further and pointed out that, while the Ark of Taste and Slow Food International were doing amazing work, there was also a certain flaw to their mission - to bring back these heritage items and get them into the hands of chefs and make them desireable (often premium) items. In other words, are these heritage foods going back to their original consumers or are they just being ingested into the culinary capitalism world... and, if they aren't going further, is it still worth pursuing? The answer - yes, but we can still keep doing better.
  
  My only complaint with the book is a pretty obvious one when you think about it. Recipes are a lot harder to follow when they are read to you than when they are on a page you can look at. Whoops. Otherwise, excellent work!
• 
  Book Club of One

  A journey through a sampling of America's Ark of Taste, Sarah Lohman's Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods presents a travelogue of tasting and micro histories of eight foods at the brink of extinction. To eat them is to help save them, and Lohman learns many a skill taking part or observing the catching, butchering, harvesting or preparations of the featured foods.
  
  The book begins with an explanation of the title, "What is endangered eating?"defining terms as well as Lohman's journey with the Slow Food Movement and the Ark of Taste ("a living catalog of delicious and distinctive foods facing extinction"). Lohman began this project prior to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic as is made clear in the text. For each of the eight foods detailed here, Lohman shares both her first hand experiences with preparing the food, eating it and the origins and development of the food along with how its existence became precarious. Lohman relied upon both traditional research methods in archives and libraries, but also interviewed many of the present day practitioners. Each chapter also includes at least two recipes. Foods covered are Coachella Valley Dates, Hawaiian Legacy Sugarcane, Dibé Navajo-Churro Sheep, Sxwo'le Straits Salish Reefnet Fishing, Manoomin Anishinaabe Wild Rice, Heirloom Cider Apples, Kombo Hakshish Choctaw Filé Powder and Carolina African Runner Peanuts.
  
  It is in the food history's that Lohman becomes truly expansive. The foodways represent cultural change, commercialization and the racial or genocidal history of America. Each of the foods has a common path or narrative. All of them were stable and relied upon, some with specific peaks in popularity or wide acceptance before something occurred to place barriers in their usage and they fell to the fringes or were practically disappeared. In their resurgence or less well known continued usage, was fueled by food movements or the interest of the curious or food historians and scientists. It is the barriers that are most telling in this history,especially those tied into the history of American expansion, almost always to the detriment of the indigenous peoples through land loss, forced relocation or broken treaties. This history comes up for most of the foods. All of it to show, as is demonstrated in many other books, what and how we eat matters.
  
  A thoughtful expansive food history tied to both the present, past and future. Beyond just the materials referenced, the book also includes sections for further reading. Recommended for anyone interested in food, recipes or history.
  
  I received a free digital version of this EBook via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
• 
  Shari Burke

  Slow Food International has created the Ark of Taste--a list of foods that are in danger of becoming extinct and should be preserved. There are more than 5000 foods on the list worldwide, 350 of them from the US. In this book, Sarah Lohman sets out to learn more about a few of these foods, travelling to different parts of the country to talk to the people trying to keep them alive. She goes to southern California for a deep dive into dates, Hawai'i for lessons in all things sugarcane, the Navajo Nation, northern Washington, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and the Gulf Coast to learn about the cultural significance of churro sheep, reefnet salmon fishing, mannomin (real wild rice), and file powder (made from dried and pounded sassafras leaves) respectively; to New York and New Jersey to sample cider apples, and finally to the South Carolina low country to discover Carolina African runner peanuts.
  
  This is a wonderful book--each food has a fascinating story that Lohman tells in an engaging and highly readable way. She includes so much information not only about the food, but also about the history of the food in each place, the people for whom it is important, how it fits into the culture, how it is grown, harvested, used and how it tastes. She includes her own experiences harvesting and eating different foods and talks to people who are immersed in each food culture. She does this without getting bogged down in dry prose. It is clear that she has a keen sense of curiosity and interest in this topic and that shines through on every page. Her enthusiasm and respect for the people she is working with are evident and make the book that much stronger.
  
  I loved this book and if the author ever decided to write another book about more of the foods on the Ark of Taste list, I would certainly read that, too! I cannot recommend this book highly enough. 5 stars.
  
  I received a digital copy of this book in exzchange for a review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author.
• 
  Poppy Marlowe

  Synopsis (from Netgalley, the provider of the book for me to review.)
  *********************************************************
  A culinary historian’s investigation of the American food traditions in danger of being lost, and how to save them.
  
  We may think of American cuisine as ever-expanding, but Slow Food USA curates a growing online catalogue of ingredients in danger of extinction. Featuring heirloom cider apples, wild rice, and more, this list provides the impetus for food historian Sarah Lohman to travel across America seeking these rare foods. With vibrant prose and a hands-on approach, Lohman illuminates why we need to preserve these largely Indigenous culinary customs that were nearly eradicated due to colonization.
  
  She travels into the heart the Navajo Nation, where butchering a Navajo-Churro lamb is the first step in the creation of flavorful blood sausages; and to Lummi Island in northwest Washington, where we meet those who are working hard to keep up a traditional, sustainable method of salmon fishing.
  
  Those drawn into this world of highly localized foods will learn how to support the farmers, shepherds, fishers, and other producers by seeking out their products, supporting community organizations, and sharing the stories of these cherished foods.
  
  Decidedly not a cookbook, it will be filed amongst them on our shelves thanks to Mr. Dewey, but it is still a great read. I love reading about old-time foods when life was simpler and how we can bring them back sustainably and preserve our heritage. I loved her previous book Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine and this one did not disappoint. Highly recommended to foodies who are into more than cooking and eating, if you get my drift: this is a treatise on how to keep traditions and their food alive. #shortbutsweetreviews
  
• 
  Jennifer

  The Ark of Taste, established by the Slow Food organization to highlight foods and ingredients of cultural importance that are in danger of disappearing, contains a number of unique varieties found across America. In this fascinating book, Lohman explores several of those culinary treasures and traditions, from true wild rice (manoomin) to Carolina Runner peanuts to the dwindling variety of dates in California. Her research gives strong historical context for each item, particularly in their connections to Indigenous communities and traditions, and she reveals what is happening now to ensure that these foods will continue to be grown and appreciated. (Recipes are included, too.)
  
  What I really liked about this book was how Lohman grappled with some of the philosophical questions surrounding preserving these foods and traditions. Where foods such as the Navajo-Churro lamb nearly went extinct thanks to the deliberate acts of the U.S. government (as part of the attempted erasure of the Dine), is it ethical now to make this specialized breed more widely available to those outside the Navajo community? Now that the Carolina Runner peanut, once a vital part of Black culinary traditions in the South, is becoming available to growers, is it fair that their price means they are more likely to end up in the hands of white chefs and farmers instead of the Black community members who see these peanuts as a lost part of their heritage? Lohman doesn't reach for easy answers: instead, she raises awareness of the cultural implications of why these foods were nearly lost and why they are finding new life.
  
  A worthwhile read for foodies. 4 stars.
  
  Thank you, W. W. Norton and Company and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.
• 
  Sarah

  3.5 stars. Although the description emphasizes disappearing U.S. foods, the overwhelming majority of foods profiled in this book are introduced or non-native plants and animals. That is mostly what we eat, but I'm curious about how the author chose this list, these foods, and not any of the hundreds of other candidates from the Americas. An explanation of the choice of this list would have been a nice addition.
  
  This history of these foods includes the history of American topics like appropriation, slavery, and colonialism; the author doesn't shy away from including information on this history as relevant to the foods.
  
  Recommend to readers who liked
  Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation and other food history topics.
  
  The author provides the narration for the eAudio. Her speech is very slow, and she overenunciates throughout the entire book. Better direction from the production company was certainly warranted. Usually hiking the reading speed on audiobooks gives me instant anxiety, but I was able to listen to this above the default speed (I didn't think to do this until nearly the last chapter, sadly-- I could have gotten through this a lot faster if I had thought of it earlier). There are some other small narration errors-- reading a large number in a way that seems nonsensical, mispronouncing at least one place name, and editing pick-ups or splices that are less than seamless-- that may be distracting for some readers.
  
  eAudiobook from NetGalley.
• 
  Liv

  In Endangered Eating, culinary historian Sarah Lohman draws inspiration from the Ark of Taste, a list compiled by Slow Food International that catalogues important regional foods. With her, we take a trip across the country as she samples the products, learns about their history, takes part in their reaping/preparation, and then goes into what is being done to preserve them.
  
  Before reading this book, I would not have known that apples were in fact the U.S.'s "most endangered food," or even having lived with longhorn cattle myself, that they were at "critical risk for extinction."
  
  We also learn about the current fate of various wild rices, rams, salmon, California dates, file powder, chickens, and peanuts.
  
  Where this book really shines is not necessarily in detailing specific waning food items, but in describing the history of traditional Indigenous food preparation and herding methods and how those are being threatened by commercial enterprises (in particular for the Dine, Salish, and Kanaka Maoli). More than food profiles, the book is about food justice, looking at how capitalism, climate change, and colonialism both has and is still affecting the Indigenous and Black food diasporas in the U.S. And even most preservation methods that are saving those traditions are done so in a way that makes access to the foods prohibitively expensive for the populations to which they are culturally important.
  
  Thank you, NetGalley, for a copy of this manuscript to review.
• 
  Dezirah Remington

  Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC.
  
  As a foodie and someone who has long family ties to agriculture and ranching, I am always interested in the foods of the American past. One summer I was lucky enough to spend a day on Oahu volunteering on a taro farm dedicated to educating the public and rebuilding endangered varieties of taro and the classic Hawaiian methods of raising that crop. It was backbreaking work, but so worth the effort to try some poi when we were done.
  
  Loman taps into my curiosity the curiosity my taro adventure spurred in this engaging and fascinating tour of some North American foods on the verge of extinction, all with passionate producers trying to save ways of life. From small cider apples lost to mass production to traditional Churro sheep, to Longhorn Cattle, to sustainable Salish fishing practices, and fancy dates the history of these foods are fascinating and often heartbreaking. Each tale of an endangered food takes us on an often tragic historical journey, as well as a modern experience with producers fighting to keep the food or food process alive. Loman includes recipes for each food based on the foods historical uses and preparation.
  
  What a delicious tour of foods forgotten or repressed. Now I want to visit each of these locations and find ways to support the people trying to keep each of these foods alive.
  
• 
  Amy

  4.5*
  Thoughtfully researched and completely fascinating, this book is both a cultural and gastronomical deep dive into the history of eight foods that were until quite recently in danger of vanishing from American tables.
  
  All of these foods were at one time well-known regionally and sometimes nationally appreciated, but with the introduction of agribusiness farming requirements and other obstacles, many of these once well-loved foods all but disappeared.
  
  In what is also a bit of a travelog, author Sarah Lohman crisscrosses the country exploring foods as diverse as cider apples, sassafras, Churro sheep, wild rice and Buckeye hens. She not only interviews farmers, historians, old-timers, and scientists, but she also helps out with harvesting and cooking and includes recipes (some easy, some not) to boot.
  
  She does an exceptional job of sussing out all the details, oftentimes obscure, of a food's history. This includes the history of the people who developed the foods, as well as those who have helped or are helping to save it. And, as often happens, the food's history is frequently entwined with American political history, especially in the case of Indigenous and African Americans.
  
  I would welcome (many) more books from this author, especially those in a similar vein.
• 
  Steen

  I was browsing on NetGalley and found this collection of stories about traditions surrounding American food. Interest piqued! Thank you for my early audiobook copy!
  
  Wild rice, dates, and cider apples (which sold me!) are some of the topics Lohman set out to learn more on throughout this book. I think this collection would be a good match for foodies and history buffs, and the audiobook is exceptional.
  
  This book is broken into sections, each about a particular food. Allowing the reader to hop around and come back if a particular food interests them first. The author travels to the source of each and speaks with experts and locals to learn the lore and why they’re each endangered.
  
  The section on dates and how they’re transported, reproduced by farmers, and the length of time involved was fascinating. Not at all what I expected!
  
  I personally love when audiobooks are narrated by the author. Lohman’s passion for the work shines through, and makes the listening experience that much more engaging. This book is a great, accessible way for people to learn more about the local food systems of other communities.
• 
  Mechelle

  One of my favorite books this year. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
  
  I conceptually know that because the climate is changing, foods are going to become more scarce as they attempt to shift to cooler zones, but never really thought about those plants that can’t move — they must be grown exactly where they are.
  
  Lohman’s book explores what these foods are and what they mean to the people who grow and rely on them. But it’s also an indictment on American agriculture. As we’ve shifted to more convenience foods as a society, we’ve lost traditional ways of cooking, or farmers shifted to more profitable crops rather than heirloom varieties and animals. And that’s nothing to say about pushing indigenous peoples from their lands such that they cannot as easily eat traditional foods and the preparation of such is being lost for later generations. How do we save them and even do we attempt to are two important concepts that are missing from the food landscape.
  
  I will likely never try some of the foods she discussed, but we’re at least trying to plant runner beans this year in an attempt to do our small part.
• 
  Sarah M

  NetGalley provided an advanced reader copy (audio form) in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.
  
  Quick note: This book contains descriptions of animals raised as livestock. It also details a traditional slaughter of a Navajo-Churro sheep, demonstrated by members of the Diné Native American people.
  
  This book looks at several American continental foods which are in danger of extinction. It was an interesting read about a variety of food from Hawaii to the Deep South. Each chapter highlights one food (sugar cane, apple varieties specific to cider, sheep, salmon, chickens, peanuts, etc). It tells of the history of the plant or animal, the history of the people who depended on it and how we got to this point. The book is also part travel log as we follow the author’s visits and interviews which provided significant content to the book. I found it interesting to read the details of some foods and parts of history that were little known to me.
  
  #netgalley #endangeredeating
• 
  Pauline Stout

  This is all about endangered foods and the efforts to bring them back. It deep doves into several of them and tells all about their history, their usage, why they are endangered, and the efforts to bring them back into modern usage.
  
  I listened to the audio version of this and I absolutely loved it. You can tell that the author is deeply passionate about the subject matter at hand. The level of research that went into each chapter is impressive. The author went out of their way to seek out each community the food was special to and spent time with them to learn even more. Each topic is fascinating and I really enjoyed my time with the book. I learned a lot that I didn’t know prior to reading this.
  
  The book can be a rough read at points since it dives into why the foods mentioned are so scarce (spoiler alert white people suck) but those sections really add to the overall story and those parts are an essential addition.
  
  Overall I highly recommend this for nonfiction readers and just fans of food in general.
• 
  booksbydorothea

  4.0 stars
  DEFINITE recommend
  
  Wow, this was a fascinating listen. The author narrated and she had a lovely voice and put so much feeling and personality into her narration.
  
  The subject matter was something that I never thought about. The endangered, heirloom, and extinct plant foods of our country. Since we, as consumers, want pretty and year-round produce, we have lost the amazing-tasting foods that our parents and grandparents ate regularly. My earliest memory of GOOD produce was in my great-aunt's garden in Texas as a kid. The tomatoes were TOMATOES and tasted good.
  
  This is not a book for someone who just wants to learn about food a little bit. It is more for the passionate foodie, home gardener, and restaurant person.
  
  It was a fun read!
  
  For a more detailed review, check out my blog - booksbydorothea:
  
  https://draft.blogger.com/blog/posts/...
• 
  Lexi Denee

  **Thank you to NetGalley, W.W. Norton, and Dreamscape Media for the advanced listening copy of this title!**
  
  While I am not always the biggest nonfiction fan, I love background information on food, especially as it pertains to culture and history.
  
  Endangered Eating definitely delivered all of the above, and did it in a way that was fresh and exciting. I loved following the narrator as she traveled to different regions to learn more about specific food items. Who knew eating dates could be so interesting?!
  
  I went into this expecting it to be similar to Tomatoland which is one of my favorite non fiction food books. This was a lot more fun and upbeat which made for an enjoyable listen.
  
  The narrator was great too and I thoroughly enjoyed this listen!
• 
  Erin

  3.5 rounded up. I really enjoyed most of it. I would have liked less on certain foods and more on others. If there are thousands of foods on the Ark of Taste, why were these 8 chosen?
  
  I loved that there were recipes, but most were a bit incomplete. And how am I suppose to make them if the foods are endangered and not accessible?
  
  I would have loved more about what I can do to support the growing and supply. How can I purchase the apples or be sure I’m drinking cider with the good apples? Are the peanuts really hard to grow, or how do I know I’m getting the right seeds? I also would have loved some photos!
  
  Overall, it was good and definitely one I will share with and recommend to my students. And one I will reference again and again.
• 
  Dayna

  I wasn't super familiar with Slow Food or the Ark of Taste when I started this book, but I do like food, travel, and history! Lohman uses the Ark of Taste to help focus this book on several endangered ingredients and then explores their history and significance. She travels to the home of each ingredient, meets with the people trying to save it, and then pulls in the historical context of why the ingredient matters and what happened to make it endangered now. I learned a lot and it made me think!
  
  Also - before reading, I think I had eaten a date once in my life? While reading, I tried one of the recipes (there are a couple sprinkled throughout each chapter) and am now a convert.
• 
  Stevie Harrington

  Whew that was fun! I never really thought much about the impacts colonization, prohibition, the slave trade, and sexism would have on agriculture and the continued existence of different foods in the United States (and globally) before this book. I loved the way it talked about indigenous cultures and history, race, and sexism. While I think the narrator of this audiobook was not the best, having it read by the author felt special. I do wish it had had a conclusion, though.