The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2012

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Foreword and Chapters 1-4

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Plants and Trees

Allen’s work is with plants, yet they have a symbolic value to his story as well as a literal one. The growth of his plants in unconventional conditions, for example, parallels the growth of Allen’s own personal relationship with farming and with his family’s agricultural history. Similarly, the trees that Allen plants with his employees and volunteers have practical value, but they also represent the time and patience agriculture asks of its workers. Trees take a long time to grow and to bear fruit, and Allen himself learns a lot from watching nature take its course, at its own pace. Even Hope Finkelstein, Allen’s original partner at Growing Power, sees symbolic and literal value in plants, in sunflowers in particular; she saw the sunflower as both an inspiring source of beauty, but also as a pragmatic source of food.

Greenhouses

Allen petitions the Milwaukee council to preserve the greenhouses, arguing that they hold more value than an additional church would. In a sense, Allen is proposing that the community needs practicality over faith to sustain themselves. He is also placing value on old, traditional models of community, i.e., farm life. Allen then takes those three decrepit greenhouses—which remain on the last vestiges of agricultural land in the area—and turns them into a successful operation as well as a stable haven for Parker and her children. The greenhouses allow Allen to fulfill his vision of sustainable urban agricultural while providing the impetus for a thriving, cooperative community. The greenhouses, like seeds of change, later pave the way for Allen to develop the non-profit Farm City. While a greenhouse is literally a building that protects plants and aids in their growth, Allen’s three buildings become a bastion for his community. The structures, in conjunction with the success of his farm stand, allow him to offer youth outreach programs as well as food and farming education opportunities.

Food

Throughout the course of the text, Allen draws comparisons between the positive effects of fresh food and the negative effects of fast food on health. As a former manager of six Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants, Allen quite literally abandons the fast food industry to pursue a life as a farmer. Allen also illustrates food as a reflection of social class. In poor areas where grocery stores shut down, locals obtain sustenance predominantly through fast food eateries such as McDonald’s and Popeyes. This motives Allen to create the Rainbow Farmers Co-op and later market baskets, which make fresh produce accessible to those on food stamps. Allen upends the notion that fresh food should only be available to those with more wealth. Likewise, he uses food to upend the idea that farming should be restricted to rural areas. Allen views food as integral to good health, but also as an integral part of a healthy community.