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“If you look, it’s the same company. They just make us want to think we have choices,” said Joe Maxwell, president of Farm Action Fund. This “illusion of choice,” as Maxwell calls it, is a result of consolidation in the food and agriculture space. This consolidation adds to other economic challenges for smaller farmers, and […]

The post ‘We Can Become Stronger Together’ appeared first on Civil Eats.

When Erik Piepenburg’s favorite gay restaurant—known by Chicago locals as “the Melrose”—closed in 2017, he thought it signaled the end of an era not only for himself, but for the entire LGBTQ+ community across the country. In writing Dining Out: First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America’s Gay Restaurants, he discovered something else: gay restaurants are thriving across the U.S., in big cities and small towns.

A few years ago, I was watching Ken Burns’ *The American Buffalo*documentary when a photo of Fred Dupree and Mary Good Elk Woman popped up on the screen, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, where did he get that? That’s our family photo!’ Fred and Mary are my great-great-great-great-grandparents, and they were living on the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation in the late 1800s when Mary Good Elk Woman had a dream about saving the buffalo. The next morning, when she woke up, she told Fred he needed to get their sons and get out there and save the buffalo.

In the fall of 2004, Diane Miller, a tree-fruit specialist, began a two-part expedition on a Fulbright to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, in Central Asia, the birthplace of the apple. Her quest: to bring back seeds from the region’s wild apple trees that could infuse domestic breeding programs with biodiversity.

In the fall of 2004, Diane Miller, a tree-fruit specialist, began a two-part expedition on a Fulbright to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, in Central Asia, the birthplace of the apple. Her quest: to bring back seeds from the region’s wild apple trees that could infuse domestic breeding programs with biodiversity.

In the fall of 2004, Diane Miller, a tree-fruit specialist, began a two-part expedition on a Fulbright to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, in Central Asia, the birthplace of the apple. Her quest: to bring back seeds from the region’s wild apple trees that could infuse domestic breeding programs with biodiversity.

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A federal judge has blocked one of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) actions against Minnesota that could have cut off the state’s food assistance program, as tensions between the state and federal government escalate.

The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans were just released, along with a new food pyramid that heavily promotes meat and dairy—and reflects the authors’ ties to industrial animal agriculture.

The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans were just released, along with a new food pyramid that heavily promotes meat and dairy—and reflects the authors’ ties to industrial animal agriculture.

Despite federal roadblocks, an ambitious agroforestry program is feeding people, cleaning the air, and helping offset climate change.

Despite federal roadblocks, an ambitious agroforestry program is feeding people, cleaning the air, and helping offset climate change.

Much change is underway on the food and agriculture front, to put it mildly. But it’s also summer, a time to step back, relax, and recharge. Toward that end, we at Civil Eats offer our annual summer book guide. These 23 new or forthcoming titles run the gamut, from big-picture examinations of food-system issues and food philosophies to histories, memoirs, and cookbooks. This year, we’ve included two illustrated titles, too: a graphic memoir about the American ginseng industry and an illustrated children’s book about the life of restaurateur Cecilia Chiang.

Environmental activist and author Robin Greenfield is known for his fully committed experiments in ecological living. His most recent book, Food Freedom: A Year of Growing and Foraging 100% of My Food, covers his efforts to live entirely independently from the industrial food system. Greenfield succeeded only by relying on others who guided him in his gardening, fishing, and foraging, and came to understand the profound power of community and how naturally that flows through food.