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Foodprints
An indispensable guide for savvy teens to sort food myths from reality.
The everyday choices we make when it comes to food don’t just have an effect on us—they also affect other people and the planet. Today’s teens are more attuned to what they eat and where it comes from, but there’s still more to know. Foodprints enables readers to sort through the numerous messages they hear and read about food while getting the big picture about food production, marketing, and its role in society. Readers will discover:
• How our food system evolved from hunter gatherers to online ordering
• How mega farms and factories came to produce the bulk of our current food supply
• How to work through confusing nutrition advice like good and bad carbs
• … and much more.
Select photographs and amusing artwork complement this lively exploration, which decodes the surprisingly complex subject of one of our most basic needs—the food we eat.
The everyday choices we make when it comes to food don’t just have an effect on us—they also affect other people and the planet. Today’s teens are more attuned to what they eat and where it comes from, but there’s still more to know. Foodprints enables readers to sort through the numerous messages they hear and read about food while getting the big picture about food production, marketing, and its role in society. Readers will discover:
• How our food system evolved from hunter gatherers to online ordering
• How mega farms and factories came to produce the bulk of our current food supply
• How to work through confusing nutrition advice like good and bad carbs
• … and much more.
Select photographs and amusing artwork complement this lively exploration, which decodes the surprisingly complex subject of one of our most basic needs—the food we eat.
209 pages, Paperback
First published February 19, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 28, 2015
Through a historical frame, seven chapters focus on various aspects of food and food politics including the evolution of the human diet, the industrial food complex, the nutrition debate, food science, marketing, regulations, and waste. Chatty but informative and appealing.
February 15, 2020
Colourful snappily written with learning points for all on how to make more conscious food choices (not necessarily vegetarian ones!)
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Before 1919 grocery stores had clerks to help you measure out your purchases from bulk containers. After 1919 self-service grocery stores opened.
In the old days the colour of cheese depended on whether the cows ate fresh grass (beta carotene made the milk and cheese yellow) or hay (i.e. in winter). The yellower cheese was seen as better, so farmers started adding colour to their cheese for marketing efforts. A dyeing competition resulted.
The burgers in fast food ads aren't actually very edible, as the meat patties are nearly raw so they stay plump, the buns are cardboard so they don't get soggy, have pins and glue to keep things in place, and the whole thing is dyed for colour.
The health claim "natural" is so broad as to be meaningless. In the US it has no assigned definition.
Grocery bus - delivering inexpensive nutritious food to poorer neighbourhoods.
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Before 1919 grocery stores had clerks to help you measure out your purchases from bulk containers. After 1919 self-service grocery stores opened.
In the old days the colour of cheese depended on whether the cows ate fresh grass (beta carotene made the milk and cheese yellow) or hay (i.e. in winter). The yellower cheese was seen as better, so farmers started adding colour to their cheese for marketing efforts. A dyeing competition resulted.
The burgers in fast food ads aren't actually very edible, as the meat patties are nearly raw so they stay plump, the buns are cardboard so they don't get soggy, have pins and glue to keep things in place, and the whole thing is dyed for colour.
The health claim "natural" is so broad as to be meaningless. In the US it has no assigned definition.
Grocery bus - delivering inexpensive nutritious food to poorer neighbourhoods.
March 6, 2017
Again, this wasn't a book that I fully read, but more so skimmed and flipped through.
I found that I thought this could be a interesting way to incorporate heath standards into everyday curriculum. It's kind of historical because it also mentions trade and the caveman diet. I think this is a more interesting way to learn about foods.
I don't imagine assigning this WHOLE book to be read; but maybe sections that are particularly interesting or related.
The chapter titles included are from grazing to global, food inc, good for you, frankenfood, the secrets of selling, food rules! and what's on your plate.
I can imagine being able to find sections that relate to health standards easily.
I found that I thought this could be a interesting way to incorporate heath standards into everyday curriculum. It's kind of historical because it also mentions trade and the caveman diet. I think this is a more interesting way to learn about foods.
I don't imagine assigning this WHOLE book to be read; but maybe sections that are particularly interesting or related.
The chapter titles included are from grazing to global, food inc, good for you, frankenfood, the secrets of selling, food rules! and what's on your plate.
I can imagine being able to find sections that relate to health standards easily.
October 18, 2019
Great book! Readers can learn a great deal about food through this book.. Not only does the author give a historical account of how the foods we eat have changed over time, but also explains why this has happened.
Want to read
April 16, 2021Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
November 30, 2015
Middle grade and teen readers will learn a great deal about food in this accessible title. Not only does the author give a historical account of how the foods we eat have changed over time, but she also explains why that has happened. There are several graphics sprinkled throughout the text to support the information contained in the text, enabling readers to make note of the decreasing number of farms and the increase in fast food meal consumption, for instance. She also discusses factory farms and explores how advertisers make certain food products more appealing. Additionally, she provides sound nutritional advice and explains some of the science behind what makes certain foods taste so good. Perhaps most importantly, the book offers suggestions for teens who want to make changes in the foods they eat and what they contain. For a slim volume such as this one, the book packs in a lot of information, delivered in a friendly fashion and accompanied by several graphics and colorful illustrations. I especially liked the title, which pays tribute to the idea of our carbon footprint but links the importance of food to that concept. It's fascinating to consider the huge changes in eating habits that have occurred just over the past two decades much less the past century.
April 21, 2016
FOODPRINTS is a non-fiction book dealing with one of our basic necessities: the food we eat. The book presents serious information in a fun, colourful format with bright, shiny pages filled with bold, easy-to-read headings, and utilizes comical illustrations which are interspersed amongst the more serious photographs. Readers will not be able to flip through this book’s pages without finding something that catches their eye or curiosity.
FOOTPRINTS is a book which is jam-packed with interesting and informative facts and ideas. Ms. Ayers’ presents an entertaining way for adolescents to learn the truths and myths about food and nutrition.
Reviewed by Ms. Nagao.
FOOTPRINTS is a book which is jam-packed with interesting and informative facts and ideas. Ms. Ayers’ presents an entertaining way for adolescents to learn the truths and myths about food and nutrition.
Reviewed by Ms. Nagao.
April 13, 2015
I like this book. There were some interesting facts about the whole animal slaughter industry that should make people stop and think about what they are supporting and stuffing in their bodies. The food safety sections also had some interesting points. Finally I like that at the end of each chapter, there were assignments that encouraged kids to take notice of different things about their food.
May 13, 2015
I enjoyed the infographics and the material was interesting. But even though this seems like the kind of book good for reluctant readers, it's just too text heavy. Also, the illustrations looked unprofessional.
July 9, 2015
You could nag a kid about his or her food habits but, seriously, where would that get you? Instead, you can share this terrific and fun book that is engaging, interesting, funny, fact-filled (without being boring), and loaded with great ideas about taking charge of your food life.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews