Making Food Choices That Are Good for You, Others, and the Planet
by Sophie Egan
4 stars
A helpful resource guide to tackle common food-related questions.
Egan dives into various aspects of trying to be a more conscious eater. She focuses on three considerations when making food decisions: Is it good for me? Is it good for others? Is it good for the planet? The content is broken down into four sections of plant based foods, animal products, processed foods, and food from restaurants and other establishments. It focuses on individual choices and how they impact health, food industry workers, animals, and the planet.
This works well as a reference guide. When heading to the grocery store, there are plenty of details I know are important but never remember. This usually means I’m frantically digging through answers online while making my grocery list. It’s great to have one resource that breaks down all the jargon. Information I found especially helpful was the Dirty Dozen of pesticide residue, whole-grains labels, types of fats, milk alternative considerations, differences in cooking oils, sustainable seafood, and egg labels. Egan also breaks down a lot of the food certifications, terms, and labels such as organic, Fairtrade, cage-free, Animal Welfare Approved, natural, and free-range, noting which are regulated and which are essentially meaningless.
The reader can easily pick and choose what works for them, what they value most, and what they are most interested in to incorporate into some or all of their food decisions. The backmatter contains a list of trusted sources and a glossary as well as an index for easy reference.
There is a certain level of privilege in the book’s viewpoint. As noted in the introduction, Egan does not attempt to tackle the inequalities of access and affordability that impact these topics. The text stems from a basic assumption of having the time and resources to significantly reduce premade and processed food for a more plant heavy diet.
It also toes the border of diet culture at times. There are quite a few references to the “obesity epidemic” without much clarity that weight does not equal health.
Overall, I did find this to be very helpful. It was nice having a one-stop shop for a lot of the questions I had but didn’t know where to start answering. A great place to start and a handy reference to come back to.