Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating by Jane Goodall. 

3/5 rating. 286 pages.

Book #41 of 2020. Read June 24, 2020.

This book discusses the importance of what we eat and voting with our dollars to take back “farming” from the companies who factory farm or are unsustainable. Jane has so many great thoughts, ideas, and stories, it just is missing that page-turning spark to increase its rating.

Jane talks about the importance of healthy food from her work in Tanzania and seeing the chimpanzees have better lives when they have good, fresh food. More apt to us, the people she was surrounded with were only able to thrive if they could get enough calories AND the right kind.

Jane discusses many current issues: from factory-farmed animals, to heavy uses of chemicals and rampant GMO’s. As she is vegetarian, she spends the rest of the book discussing the importance of organic, local fruits and vegetables. As she says:

“Aside from eating less meat, buying your food from a local farmer who is a good steward of the earth is one of the most effective contributions you can make to the health of the planet. The more we invest in these farms the more we build the world we want to live in. And the more likely we are to pass on the kind of world our children and grandchildren deserve to inherit.”

“Imagine how much healthier our children might be if we held healthy eating habits to be as important as math skills or history knowledge. Imagine if we taught children how to grow nutritious, organic fruits, vegetables, and herbs, and how to turn these foods into delicious, healthy meals. Imagine if children learned a happier, more wholesome story behind food, how it can be grown in service to the health of the earth, the body, and the human spirit.”

Every bite you take votes for either a healthier, more humane, and sustainable future or for factory-farms, and a dearth to your health. If you eat too much of the latter, what will our future become?

“There has never been a time when it is more crucial for us to carefully consider where our food is coming from and how it was grown, raised, and harvested – so that we can make informed efforts to purchase the right things.”

Quotes:

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The industrial model of factory farming simply doesn’t find it efficient or profitable to consider animals as sentient beings. Instead they are treated as mere machines, turning feed into meat or milk or eggs. As though they have no more feelings or rights than a vending machine.”

“It is important to understand that it is economics that is threatening the well-being of farm animals – and the health of the humans who eat them.”

“An industrial meat factory cannot produce a pound of bacon or a pork chop cheaper than a family farmer without breaking the law.” – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Crimes Against Humanity

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“We must not stand by passively and watch compassion in farming disappear, bury our heads in the sand, and carry on with business as usual.”

“If you’ve ever seen the torn and desecrated land desolate after the clear-cutting of a forest, you have a good idea of what the ocean bed looks like after a shrimp trawling operation.”

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” – Albert Einstein

“As it stands now, few of us realize that a typical ‘fresh’ food item in a North American household typically travels between 1,500 to 2,500 miles.”

“Picture a world where school curriculums taught the value of food traditions and rituals, the art of setting an inviting table, and the importance of mealtime conversation.”

“We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.”

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