Reclaiming Our Food tells the stories of people across the United States who are finding new ways to grow, process, and distribute food for their own communities. Discover how abandoned urban lots have been turned into productive organic farms, how a family-run sustainable fish farm can stay local and be profitable, and how engaged communities are bringing fresh produce into school cafeterias. Through photographic essays and interviews with innovative food leaders, you’ll be inspired to get involved and help cultivate your own local food economy. 

Tanya Denckla Cobb is a writer, a professional environmental mediator at the Institute for Environmental Negotiation, and a teacher of food system planning at the University of Virginia. She is passionate about bringing people together to find common ground and create solutions for mutual gain. She co-founded a community forestry nonprofit organization, served as Executive Director of the Virginia Urban Forest Council, and facilitated the birth of the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute and the Virginia Food System Council. At home, she enjoys the restorative energy of gardening and cooking from her garden. She lives in Virginia and is the author of Reclaiming Our Food and The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food.

"The reason I use Reclaiming Our Food is because it has the same lush, visual appeal as many of the current coffee table books, but unlike so many of those books, it is so much more than a few stories with a bit of text about the ails of our food system.  Instead, this book goes far deeper, profiling both prominent and little-known food activists, farmers, and gardeners, and drawing out key lessons from these profiles.  Readers are drawn in by the photos and the stories told about farms, gardens and more, but they are challenged to think about the broader meaning of these case studies, as well.  I find that students who are unfamiliar with the food movement are amazed to discovery the diversity of people and programs around the country; students who are already on fire about food will be challenged to reflect on the weaknesses and obstacles that are also presented.  No knee-jerk rah-rah polemic, this book would help anyone fall in love with the food renaissance. "