Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet
by Anna Lappé, Frances Moore Lappe

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Book Reviews of Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet

Book Review: Hopelessly hopeful, and maybe that's the problem
Summary: 3 Stars

In this updated version of her first and still highly important work, Lappe (and her daughter) have updated much of the alarming information related to politically perpetuated malnutrition coexisting with obesity, wasted grain, and the ecological perils of an food system dominated by large corporations. There are new vegetarian recipes, as well, and that's terrific.

However, there comes a point where some portions of the same old message can become hackneyed and even tiresome. The truth is that despite the contributions of Lappe and others over the past few decades, the world food system actually has moved in the wrong direction. More people than ever want to consume a meat-dominated diet, there are more dangerous chemicals than ever being dumped into our ecosystems, and the massively capitalized, juggernaut-like genetics engineering initiative rolls onward, positively frightening in its Frankenstein-esque implications.

So where is the "hope" in all of this? Lappe and her daughter try to inspire us by describing a small number of positive food-related experiments from around the world. These are interesting, and the authors describe them from a first-person perspective in lucid and entertaining fashion.

However, what I find irksome is the notion that we readers actually are supposed to find a "basis for hope" in these pitifully isolated activities. The truth is there always will be a few visionaries/eccentrics/social rebels who will devote themselves to experimental projects that appear "revolutionary." This has been true for decades, if not centuries. How significant is this really, however, in light of the overwhelming trends that are carrying us in the opposite direction?

One reason for my Scrooge-like attitude here is that I am quite familiar with one of the examples used, the "Edible Schoolyard" at King Middle School in Berkeley, California. One reason this project is so exuberantly ballyhooed is that it is the brainchild of the Infallible Alice Waters, who has delivered Exquisitely Pure and Pricey food for the toney elite at her Chez Panisse restaurant for decades now. The truth is that whereas the Edible Schoolyard is interesting and provides a modicum of educational value for some middle school students, it is largely irrelevant even to life-in-general at King Middle School. Students there are just as addicted to fast food and junk food as kids anywhere else, and the number of students whose lives are "changed" by this project is strikingly small.

I suspect the same is true of the rest of these projects, as well. There inevitably are a few purehearts who are True Believers, plus a few others who take note and make some marginal changes in their own lives. But overall, these "hopeful" experiments are almost pathetic in their overall irrelevance to the mainstream world food system.

My quarrel with the authors, then, is not with anything in particular regarding their research, their overall choice of topics, or their goals (which are laudable, certainly!) No, I take issue with their almost desperately upbeat tone/message with its absurdly naive-seeming dosage of "hope" based on consumer gestures, tiny organic experimental plots, and tasty vegetarian recipes. I can just visualize millions of well-fed Americans feeling sooo good about themselves and the global future based on their new-found allegiance to Chez Panisse cookery and a vow to swear off Big Macs. This simply will not do.

Given the horrors of what's going on politically and economically in this world currently, it might well be time for more exhortation toward basic political activism and hard-nosed resistance to the machinery of corporate domination, and less clinging to the false "hope" provided by tiny edible schoolyard plots in Berkeley.

Summary of Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet

Beyond discussing a wide range of reasons to become a vegetarian (and that means no fish or chicken either, folks), the authors introduce you to a number of individual reasons for hope--Bob, the Wisconsin cheese maker; Jean-Yves, the farmer from Brittany who created the Sustainable Agriculture Network; and Muhammad Yunas, who has changed the lives of countless living in poverty with his remarkable microcredit programs. Along with these stories and the theories they're based on, you'll also find luscious recipes calling for grains, fruits, vegetables, and a handful of dairy products that will delight your taste buds and your conscience.

The Lappes firmly believe that the choices of low-level consumers have the potential to make positive changes, both in the world economy and in our physical health. By eating a vegetarian diet, shopping with care, and cooking with love, we might all brighten our future tremendously. --Jill Lightner

Economics Books

• Subjects > Business & Investing > Economics
• Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Vegetables & Vegetarian
• Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diets & Weight Loss > Diets
• Current Events > Poverty
• Politics