Food Tank’s spring’s reading list invites readers to think more about the stories behind what we eat. Across memoir, history, policy, and science, these books explore how food reflects power, resilience, and the possibility for change. From farms to school cafeterias to global supply chains, each title sheds light on the systems—and people—reshaping our food future.
1. A Feather and a Fork: 125 Intertribal Dishes from an Indigenous Food Warrior by Crystal Wahpepah with Amy Paige Condon
For years, Chef and advocate Crystal Wahpepah has used her platform to uplift the foodways of Indigenous communities. In A Feather and a Fork, Wahpepah brings together 125 recipes developed in collaboration with ethnobotanist and food sovereignty advocate Linda Black Elk, including Three Sisters Veggie Bowls, a Bison Roast with Chokeberry Rub, Acorn Muffins, and more. These dishes celebrate Indigenous food producers committed to preserving heirloom foods and traditions while exploring the many benefits of preparing these foods.
2. A School Lunch Revolution: A Cookbook by Alice Waters
“Education and food are two universal rights. All children deserve to go to school. And everyone deserves to eat nourishing food.” This is the opening to the new book from chef and restaurateur Alice Waters, a champion of procurement practices that support eaters, farmers, and the land. In her new multigenerational cookbook, Waters brings together a collection of versatile recipes that are diverse, simple, and delicious, while asking us to reimagine how we nourish the next generation.
3. Africulture: How the Principles, Practices, Plants, and People of African Descent Have Shaped American Agriculture by Michael Carter, Jr.
Michael Carter, an 11th generation farmer in the U.S. and the 5th generation to steward his century-old family farm in Orange County, Virginia known as Carter Farms. In Africulture, Carter faces the decline in Black-owned farmland over the last century. As he does so, he braids together his family’s history, snapshots of his farm, and anecdotes and profiles of some of today’s leading farmers and activists. And through this work, he offers the possibility of a better future.
4. Against Heritage: The Reinvention of Traditional Foods by Lily Kelting (forthcoming May 2026)
In Against Heritage, author Lily Kelting asks readers to think more deeply about the rise of heritage foods. In her new book, she proposes the idea that their celebration is rooted in a response to the climate crisis and the rise of right-wing populism. Drawing from movements in the American South, Denmark, and India, Kelting argues that the chefs at the forefront of this work are both grounded in nostalgia and pushing forward new inventions.
5. Between Feast and Famine: Food, Health, and the History of Ghana’s Long Twentieth Century by John Nott
Between Feast and Famine traces how colonialism, economic change, and shifting agricultural systems reshaped diets and health outcomes in Ghana. Author John Nott follows the nutritional landscape as the country moves from colonial-era hunger crises to those of obesity and diabetes. Bridging the worlds of African history and medical humanities, the book questions assumptions about hunger and public health while complicating ideas about food systems and human well-being.
6. Crayfish, Crawfish, Crawdad: The Biology and Conservation of North America’s Favorite Crustaceans by Zackary A. Graham
Known by different names, crawfish play an important role in ecosystem health, particularly in the American Southeast and Appalachia. In Crayfish, Crawfish, Crawdad, biologist Zacharey Graham explains the benefits these crustaceans bring to their habitats and why they deserve protection from the threats of development, pollution, and other human-made factors.
7. Feed the People! Why Industrial Food Is Good and How to Make It Even Better by Jan Dutkiewicz and Gabriel N. Rosenberg
Feed the People! aims to complicate notions of industrialized food. Authors Jan Dutkiewicz and Gabriel N. Rosenberg acknowledge the harm that today’s food systems have caused to humans, animals, and the planet. But they also speak to the abundance, variety, and affordability that have never before been enjoyed by eaters. The industrialized food system may actually be good, Dutkiewicz and Rosenberg argue — and policies and technology could make it better.
8. Free-Range Religion: Alternative Food Movements and Religious Life in the United States by Adrienne Krone
Free-Range Religion explores how contemporary food movements intersect with spiritual beliefs and practices across the U.S. Drawing on ethnographic research of two Jewish and two Christian organizations, Adrienne Krone reveals that those engaged in alternative food movements are developing new ways to view food preparation and production as religious acts.
9. Gather: Black Food, Nourishment, and the Art of Togetherness by Ashanté M. Reese (forthcoming April 2026)
In her latest book, Gather, anthropologist Ashanté M Reese presents a vision of food justice that centers Black communities and the power of gathering. “What can we glean from those who may not ever go to a movement meeting, may not ever go to a protest?” Reese said at Food Tank’s SXSW Summit. “They have valuable things to offer too. So, this book is a gathering, if you will, of all those folks and their practices.” She makes it clear there are no silver bullets to the most pressing challenges today, but there is much to be learned from the strategies of Black communities pushing for systemic change. And Reese argues that these lessons can help us harness the power of food justice already available and help us build brighter food systems.
10. Ghosts of the Farm: Two Women’s Journeys Through Time, Land and Community by Nicola Chester
Ghosts of the Farm slips between the stories of two women of different generations who dreamed of becoming farmers. The book centers on Miss White, who realized her ambition during World War II, and the author, Nicola Chester, who wanted to produce food but found that her only option was to work with horses. Exploring the shared desires, Chester asks: Was it easier for women to become farmers in the 1940s that it is today?
11. Living Roots: The Promise of Perennial Foods edited by Liz Carlisle, and Aubrey Streit Krug
Corn, wheat, rice, and soybeans make up as much as 75 percent of all calories consumed globally. But Living Roots asks readers to envision a different reality—one that is built on perennial crops and all they have to offer. Bringing together contributions from Indigenous scientists, community leaders, urban visionaries, and more, this collection argues that perennial plants can be used to build a more flavorful and sustainable food future.
12. Nurturing Food Justice: Expansive and Intersectional Visions by Alison Hope Alkon and Julian Agyeman
In this open access e-book Nurturing Food Justice Alison Hope Alkon and Julian Agyeman bring together a collection of contributions exploring what food justice is, what it’s for, and what it can become. Chapters touch on topics including Indigenous food sovereignty and the land back movement, radical Black ecology, justice in food assistance, and the community-powered tech tools that can help rethink food justice.
13. On Eating: The Making and Unmaking of My Appetites by Alicia Kennedy (forthcoming April 2026)
Alicia Kennedy’s second book On Eating examines her personal relationship with food as a girl who loved to eat but worried about the connotations between cooking and a life of domesticity. Kennedy reflects on her experiences eating lamb made by her grandmother, picking apples with her mother, and, later in adulthood, opening a vegan microbakery. It is a personal work, but it also offers lessons to help eaters realize that deliciousness and joy don’t have to come at the expense of sustainability and the health of people and the planet.
14. Restoring the Soil (Second Edition) by Roland Bunch
Soil health globally is suffering, threatening the yields and livelihoods of farmers. But Roland Bunch, a leader in regenerative land management, has spent his career demonstrating that the damage can be reversed using green manure/cover crops (gm/ccs). “The potential impact land restoration could have on future food systems is huge,” Bunch tells Food Tank. In this updated edition of Restoring the Soil, he brings in new and updated information on the benefits of gm/ccs and how this approach can be implemented.
15. Salt, Sweat & Steam: The Fiery Education of an Accidental Chef by Brigid Washington (forthcoming April 2026)
Called “exceptional” and “fascinating” by culinary historian Jessica B. Harris, this new memoir from Trinidadian food writer Brigid Washington tells the story of a young woman’s journey to become a chef. Washington’s narrative recounts how it felt navigating her hardest days in unpaid internships, interviews with some of the world’s most famous chefs, and learning what is required to navigate the country’s most elite cooking school.
16. School Food Programs in Canada: Models for Success edited by Amberley T. Ruetz and Rachel Engler-Stringer
As Canada prepares to roll out its first national food program, the collection is the first of its kind to analyze school meals with a focus on the nation. The book opens with an overview of policy and advocacy efforts around this issue before turning to case studies and analyses of school feeding programs and policies in Canada and around the world. The contributions serve to connect stakeholders from across sectors while providing a framework to identify the best models for the communities these programs are meant to benefit.
17. The Jackfruit Chronicles: Memories and Recipes from a British-Bangladeshi Kitchen by Shahnaz Ahsan
In The Jackfruit Chronicles, award-winning food writer Shahnaz Ahsan writes of her family’s journey to establish a new life in Britain. And through this narrative, Ahsan explores the place that Bengali food has found in the country. Also woven throughout the book are recipes for dishes including Sour Tomato Broth, Jackfruit Kofta Curry, and Lentil Fritters.
18. The Secret History of French Cooking: The Outlaw Chefs Who Made Food Modern by Luke Barr
The Secret History of French Cooking tells a lively, behind-the-scenes account of the rebellious chefs who transformed French cuisine in the 1960s and 1970s. Author Luke Barr introduces readers to some of the most influential chefs of the era, the cooking techniques that they brought to kitchens for the first time, and the often-overlooked women chefs who fought for their place in an industry dominated by men.
19. The Sovereign Poison: Glyphosate, Poisoncraft, and Regulatory Politics by Tom Widger
Glyphosate is one of the most widely used weedkillers in the world. Yet a growing body of research links it to serious health risks, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma. As concern mounts and calls for stricter regulation intensify, governments continue to fall short of fully protecting communities. In The Sovereign Poison, Tom Widger takes a deeper look at this controversial herbicide, exploring the complex political, economic, and social forces that shape how agrichemicals are governed. By examining glyphosate from multiple angles, Widger reveals what’s at stake for public health, environmental safety, and the future of our food systems.
20. Unrefined: How Capitalism Reinvented Sugar by David Singerman
Under the influence of modern capitalism, sugar has gone from a natural food to a scientific commodity, says David Singerman in Unrefined. Over the past 500 years, it has led to both wealth and suffering. But through manipulation that converted sugar into a pure chemical object, Singerman argues that new forms of fraud, corruption, and monopoly have emerged.
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