The Deepest Roots
Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island
Published on 17. January 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
360 pages
978-0-295-99970-8 (ISBN)
Description
As friends began "going back to the land" at the same time that a health issue emerged, Kathleen Alcala set out to reexamine her relationship with food at the most local level. Remembering her parents, Mexican immigrants who grew up during the Depression, and the memory of planting, growing, and harvesting fresh food with them as a child, she decided to explore the history of the Pacific Northwest island she calls home.
In The Deepest Roots, Alcala walks, wades, picks, pokes, digs, cooks, and cans, getting to know her neighbors on a much deeper level. Wanting to better understand how we once fed ourselves, and acknowledging that there may be a future in which we could need to do so again, she meets those who experienced the Japanese American internment during World War II, and learns the unique histories of the blended Filipino and Native American community, the fishing practices of the descendants of Croatian immigrants, and the Suquamish elder who shares with her the food legacy of the island itself.
Combining memoir, historical records, and a blueprint for sustainability, The Deepest Roots shows us how an island population can mature into responsible food stewards and reminds us that innovation, adaptation, diversity, and common sense will help us make wise decisions about our future. And along the way, we learn how food is intertwined with our present but offers a path to a better understanding of the future.
Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFG8MpTo_ZU&feature=youtu.be
In The Deepest Roots, Alcala walks, wades, picks, pokes, digs, cooks, and cans, getting to know her neighbors on a much deeper level. Wanting to better understand how we once fed ourselves, and acknowledging that there may be a future in which we could need to do so again, she meets those who experienced the Japanese American internment during World War II, and learns the unique histories of the blended Filipino and Native American community, the fishing practices of the descendants of Croatian immigrants, and the Suquamish elder who shares with her the food legacy of the island itself.
Combining memoir, historical records, and a blueprint for sustainability, The Deepest Roots shows us how an island population can mature into responsible food stewards and reminds us that innovation, adaptation, diversity, and common sense will help us make wise decisions about our future. And along the way, we learn how food is intertwined with our present but offers a path to a better understanding of the future.
Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFG8MpTo_ZU&feature=youtu.be
Reviews / Votes
"The issues Alcala explores are relevant beyond Bainbridge's boundaries, . . . from the meaning of a homeland to the questions of who has power in the modern world and who has responsibility. . . . The stories have the effect of coming to the reader as they came to the writer, raising as many difficult questions as they answer."- Rebekah Denn (Seattle Times) "As important now as when it was first published in 2016, Kathleen Alcala's book The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island recently released in paperback, allows the reader to come along as Alcala explores the food culture of her home, Bainbridge Island, learns more about how to care for her health, and discovers the ways our collective fates are intimately connected."
(1889 Washington's Magazine) "This unique and fascinating memoir blends the history of Washington with the story of her family's migration from Mexico, highlighted by informed insights on ecology, economy and gastronomy."
- Rigoberto Gonzalez (NBC News Latino) "Combining memoir, historical records, and a blueprint for sustainability, The Deepest Roots shows us how an island population can mature into responsible food stewards and reminds us that innovation, adaptation, diversity, and common sense will help us make wise decisions about our future."
(Birdbooker Report) "The Deepest Roots should inspire readers to expend elbow grease in working la tierra and seeking community with like-minded gente for healthier living."
- Michael Sedano (La Bloga) "Alcala takes the local food movement, so long the province of hippy gringos, and brings it home to the immigrant communities for whom it has so long been a fact of life."
- Alejandra Oliva (Remezcla) "A layered experience of discovery, moving organically between personal stories, cultural history, and discussions of environmental policy. . . . Bainbridge Island is a perfect microcosm through which to explore the question of local sustainability. . . . It is a pleasant surprise to hear from some Whatcom County locals among Alcala's interviews."
- Lisa Gresham (Cascadia Weekly)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Seattle
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
7 b&w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 208 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
363 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-295-99970-8 (9780295999708)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Kathleen Alcala is the author of a collection of essays, The Desert Remembers My Name: On Family and Writing; three novels, including Treasures in Heaven; and a collection of short stories. She lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Content
Preface Island Living
Introduction The Clueless Eater
1. What We Have Always Known
2. To Market
3. School Me
4. Growing Our Own
5. Feast or Famine?
6. What We Can Do Together
7. Otaku
Postscript Last Song
Notes
Acknowledgments
Introduction The Clueless Eater
1. What We Have Always Known
2. To Market
3. School Me
4. Growing Our Own
5. Feast or Famine?
6. What We Can Do Together
7. Otaku
Postscript Last Song
Notes
Acknowledgments