The American Way of Eating : Undercover at Walmart Applebee s Farm Fields and the Dinner Table (Hardcover)

Inspired by the growing interest in food and the conversation about what people should be eating and from where it should come McMillan began to wonder how America s working class could afford let alone have time to eat as well as they should. Here she chronicles her undercover mission to work--and eat--alongside America s working poor. In the tradition of Barbara Ehrenreich s Nickel and Dimed an ambitious and accessible work of undercover journalism that fully investigates our food system to explain what keeps Americans from eating well--and what we can do about it. Getting Americans to eat well is one of today s hottest social issues; it s at the forefront of Michelle Obama s agenda and widely covered in the media--from childhood obesity to store brands trying to make their food healthier. Yet most Americans still eat poorly and award-winning journalist Tracie McMillan wanted to know why. So in 2009 McMillan went to work undercover in our nation s food system alongside America s working poor living and eating off her wages to examine how we eat. McMillan worked on industrial farms in California in a Walmart produce section outside Detroit and at an Applebee s kitchen in New York City. Her vivid narrative brings readers along to grueling work places introduces them to her coworkers and takes them home to her kitchen to see what kind of food she (and her coworkers) can afford to buy and prepare. With striking precision McMillan also weaves in the story of how we got here digging deep into labor economics politics and social science to reveal new and surprising truths about how America s food is grown sold and prepared--and what it would take to change the system. Fascinating and timely this groundbreaking work examines why eating well in America--despite the expansion of farmer s markets and eat local movements--is limited to the privileged minority.