This was a very interesting subject for a book. She spent each chapter talking about a food that would become extinct: Coachella dates, sugarcane, Navajo churro sheep, African runner peanuts and others. She discussed how these foods were brought over with the people that brought them and how they were integrated into the food population. If you are a foodie or are a history buff, you will like this book.

I was initially interested in this book because I have only heard of preserving endangered animals, so when I heard there are people trying to preserve crops that are near extinction or forgotten, I knew I had to learn more. One thing that will never cease to amaze me is the utter disregard and mistreatment of indigenous people by the US government. So at times this was a heavy read and left me frustrated, however, it was an engaging book where I learned about American food traditions and the people trying to prevent the loss of them as they attempt to reestablish these cherished foods.

***** I have received and read an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for giving my honest feedback. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.*****

I grew up growing a lot of my own food. Some of the plants and trees at my home had been there for generations, and it was always sad to lose a plant, whether it was due to old age, disease or disaster.

So when I saw a book about endangered eating, I was immediately drawn to read it!

There are tons of stories about foods that I had never heard of (or thought deeply about), and it definitely made me start planning on how to expand my garden for next year.

While there are some heavy scientific explanations at times, there's nothing that requires a science degree to get through.

Overall, I found the book to be quite enjoyable and full of knowledge.

I learned so much from listening to this! I never imagined the history of food could be so fascinating. The descriptions in the book take you to far away places where date palms and sugar cane grow and to where longhorn cattle roam. The recipes included are absolutely delicious too!

3.5 stars. Although the description emphasizes disappearing U.S. foods, the overwhelming majority of foods profiled in this book are introduced or non-native plants and animals. That is mostly what we eat, but I'm curious about how the author chose this list, these foods, and not any of the hundreds of other candidates from the Americas. An explanation of the choice of this list would have been a nice addition.

This history of these foods includes the history of American topics like appropriation, slavery, and colonialism; the author doesn't shy away from including information on this history as relevant to the foods.

Recommend to readers who liked [book:Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation|15811496] and other food history topics.

The author provides the narration for the eAudio. Her speech is very slow, and she overenunciates throughout the entire book. Better direction from the production company was certainly warranted. Usually hiking the reading speed on audiobooks gives me instant anxiety, but I was able to listen to this above the default speed (I didn't think to do this until nearly the last chapter, sadly-- I could have gotten through this a lot faster if I had thought of it earlier). There are some other small narration errors-- reading a large number in a way that seems nonsensical, mispronouncing at least one place name, and editing pick-ups or splices that are less than seamless-- that may be distracting for some readers.

eAudiobook from NetGalley.

Loved this. I finished it between two days. I just couldn’t get enough. I’m going to give this as Christmas gifts to some friends this year.

I was interested in this because I grow a lot native fruit in my city backyard and as a recipe developer I've done a lot of odd tastings of things like fruits and vegetables and have always been interested in the varieties available and why they are the one available.

This book was a very accessible and fun journey towards so many regional foods and traditions. Highly recommend!

I did fine the audiobook a little slow, I think perhaps I should have just read it.

This is all about endangered foods and the efforts to bring them back. It deep doves into several of them and tells all about their history, their usage, why they are endangered, and the efforts to bring them back into modern usage.

I listened to the audio version of this and I absolutely loved it. You can tell that the author is deeply passionate about the subject matter at hand. The level of research that went into each chapter is impressive. The author went out of their way to seek out each community the food was special to and spent time with them to learn even more. Each topic is fascinating and I really enjoyed my time with the book. I learned a lot that I didn’t know prior to reading this.

The book can be a rough read at points since it dives into why the foods mentioned are so scarce (spoiler alert white people suck) but those sections really add to the overall story and those parts are an essential addition.

Overall I highly recommend this for nonfiction readers and just fans of food in general.

**Thank you to NetGalley, W.W. Norton, and Dreamscape Media for the advanced listening copy of this title!**

While I am not always the biggest nonfiction fan, I love background information on food, especially as it pertains to culture and history.

Endangered Eating definitely delivered all of the above, and did it in a way that was fresh and exciting. I loved following the narrator as she traveled to different regions to learn more about specific food items. Who knew eating dates could be so interesting?!

I went into this expecting it to be similar to Tomatoland which is one of my favorite non fiction food books. This was a lot more fun and upbeat which made for an enjoyable listen.

The narrator was great too and I thoroughly enjoyed this listen!

Endangered Eating" by Sarah Lohman was a truly eye-opening culinary journey through the unique foods of the United States. Lohman takes you on the ultimate road trip to discover these unique foods and eloquently emphasizes the significance of each, from dates to apples. The book was meticulously researched and made for an enjoyable listening experience, with the author's evident passion shining through on every page. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

I really enjoyed this book! I loved all of the interesting stories about endangered food. It is very well written and I recommend this book for anyone who loves interesting facts and stories about food.

"Endangered Eating" by Sarah Lohman is a fascinating culinary journey that combines history and personal accounts of her travels across the United States to explore vanishing food traditions. Lohman's engaging storytelling sheds light on the urgency of preserving Indigenous culinary customs, making a compelling case for supporting local food systems and producers. The book's passion and enthusiasm are palpable, and it offers a unique perspective on the past, present, and future of American food. However, I found the book's scientific details in some sections a bit extensive, which might not resonate with all readers. Overall, it's an enjoyable, meaningful, and eye-opening read for those interested in the preservation of endangered foods.

Lohman's exploration of North America's endangered foods is an eye-opening look at the importance of conservation, and it will make you grateful to those doing that critical work. It's a book that will make you really think about where your food comes from and why you eat it instead of other foods. And it made me think a lot about what foods may have already been lost. But ultimately it's a hopeful book, one that envisions a future where historical foodways are respected and preserved for future generations.

I love to read about sustainability and I’m an avid vegetable gardener, so Endangered Eating was just the book for me. It’s a deep dive into some of the lost foods of North America, and the processes by which people have harvested and processed them. It’s like a love letter to slow foods and agricultural arcana, with a naturally occurring dose of sustainability education.

For this book, Lohman spent a year travelling around the US following the seasonal patterns of several almost-lost foods and harvesting techniques. Her exploration has its roots in the organisation Slow Foods International, founded in 1989. One of its founding principles is to prevent the “disappearance of local food traditions and cultures.” A key initiative is the Ark of Taste, a catalogue of foods and food-processes that are endangered, with a goal to increase their production and improve biodiversity. A natural byproduct is the bolstering of small-scale production systems. As the book shows, this is often linked to Indigenous ways of eating and relating to food.

Lohman chose eight foods or processes to document: California’s Coachella valley dates; heirloom sugarcane in Hawaii; Navajo-Churro lamb in the Navajo Nation; the reefnet fishing technique for pink salmon in the Pacific Northwest; manoomin wild rice in the Midwest; rare cider apples in New York; Cajun cuisine’s file powder in Louisiana; and the Carolina African Runner peanut in South Carolina.

What I loved about the book was that Lohman told us not only the current story of each food or technique, but also married it to the history of that region or cultural group: This brought up some tensions! Does it matter who champions an endangered food? Often it’s a settler culture rather than an Indigenous community that revives a technique. Kudos to Lohman: she shows different points of view and generally allows the reader to think deeply about it and come to their own conclusion. As with many things in life, there’s usually not a black and white answer.

While every chapter kept me invested, I was taken with three in particular.

The Navajo-Churro lamb: I found this fascinating, probably because I’m not a meat eater, and I have to expand my comfort level to hear about animal slaughter. That said, I have come to appreciate the more humane and thoughtful use of animals for food that some cultures take.

Reefnet fishing for pink salmon in the Pacific Northwest: I eat fish and try to make choices for more sustainable types of salmon. Pink salmon is often seen as less desirable but may be more sustainable. I love the idea of this less harmful salmon harvesting technique that minimises species loss via bycatch.

Manoomin wild rice in the Midwest: I have a thing for wonderful grains, and hearing the stories of how the Anishinaabe folk “knock” the grains into canoes then gather and sell them during the wild rice season was so cool. It taught me about wetlands, and how our modern world destroys them.

This was an inspiring book that made me ponder our food and how we harvest it in a more longitudinal way. We can glean wisdom moving forward as the climate changes by appreciating local foods, continuing with traditional methods and maintaining respect for the land and the animals that we share our planet with.

I enjoyed the author's narration and would recommend this as a great audiobook choice. Thanks to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for an advanced copy of the audiobook!

Cultural historian Sarah Lohman has written an engaging, multi-layered account of foods that are considered "endangered," like apples, dates, sugar cane, and Navajo-Churro sheep. Lohman takes the time to introduce readers to the food through the ecosystems, history, economics, and human cultures that impact and are impacted by its presence in the world. I appreciated her ability to honor the complexities of nuance involved in these food justice issues without ever resorting to either nihilistic pessimism or naive optimism. Having the audiobook version read by Lohman herself was a bonus!

Many thanks to Dreamscape media and to NetGalley for a free audio copy for review.

In Endangered Eating, culinary historian Sarah Lohman draws inspiration from the Ark of Taste, a list compiled by Slow Food International that catalogues important regional foods. With her, we take a trip across the country as she samples the products, learns about their history, takes part in their reaping/preparation, and then goes into what is being done to preserve them.

Before reading this book, I would not have known that apples were in fact the U.S.'s "most endangered food," or even having lived with longhorn cattle myself, that they were at "critical risk for extinction."

We also learn about the current fate of various wild rices, rams, salmon, California dates, file powder, chickens, and peanuts.

Where this book really shines is not necessarily in detailing specific waning food items, but in describing the history of traditional Indigenous food preparation and herding methods and how those are being threatened by commercial enterprises (in particular for the Dine, Salish, and Kanaka Maoli). More than food profiles, the book is about food justice, looking at how capitalism, climate change, and colonialism both has and is still affecting the Indigenous and Black food diasporas in the U.S. And even most preservation methods that are saving those traditions are done so in a way that makes access to the foods prohibitively expensive for the populations to which they are culturally important.

Thank you, NetGalley, for a copy of this manuscript to review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an Advanced Listener Copy - pub date 10/24/2023. I am not usually an audiobook fan because they just don't sit as well with my brain but I could NOT resist getting my hands on this book any which way I can. To be honest, the fact that Sarah Lohman narrates her own book works in its favor, too, when it comes to my brain processing. :) You immediately trust the Voice talking at you because it's Sarah Lohman and you know she knows this stuff inside and out... And she does. Literally. The book is full of tidbits - both historical and culinary, both personal and anecdotal. It is divided up neatly into specific foods that are deemed at risk and have been stowed onto the Ark of Taste by Slow Food Internation so you feel like you are really and truly getting to know each food before you move onto the next. Total food travel through time and space!

I really enjoyed the reverence Lohman brought to each chapter and food and process. She took the time to explore and explain the factual history, the dry stuff, but also the anecdotal history and the cultural meanings behind the food for the original consumers. She also did not shy away from admitting if she went in blind or with pre-conceived notions and definitely did not avoid the messy parts of history. Many of the foods, after all, originated with and from the lifestyles and cultures of native peoples and we all know how natives fared when colonizers/settlers came flooding in. Systematic food stripping or slaughters proved just another tool in the box to bring the original inhabitants of a land to heel. Just another day at the office. Lohman's voice echoes with the sadness of the tales but also with awe at the determination of the people protecting their own heritage in food. She also went a step further and pointed out that, while the Ark of Taste and Slow Food International were doing amazing work, there was also a certain flaw to their mission - to bring back these heritage items and get them into the hands of chefs and make them desireable (often premium) items. In other words, are these heritage foods going back to their original consumers or are they just being ingested into the culinary capitalism world... and, if they aren't going further, is it still worth pursuing? The answer - yes, but we can still keep doing better.

My only complaint with the book is a pretty obvious one when you think about it. Recipes are a lot harder to follow when they are read to you than when they are on a page you can look at. Whoops. Otherwise, excellent work!

Whew that was fun! I never really thought much about the impacts colonization, prohibition, the slave trade, and sexism would have on agriculture and the continued existence of different foods in the United States (and globally) before this book. I loved the way it talked about indigenous cultures and history, race, and sexism. While I think the narrator of this audiobook was not the best, having it read by the author felt special. I do wish it had had a conclusion, though.

NetGalley provided an advanced reader copy (audio form) in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Quick note: This book contains descriptions of animals raised as livestock. It also details a traditional slaughter of a Navajo-Churro sheep, demonstrated by members of the Diné Native American people.

This book looks at several American continental foods which are in danger of extinction. It was an interesting read about a variety of food from Hawaii to the Deep South. Each chapter highlights one food (sugar cane, apple varieties specific to cider, sheep, salmon, chickens, peanuts, etc). It tells of the history of the plant or animal, the history of the people who depended on it and how we got to this point. The book is also part travel log as we follow the author’s visits and interviews which provided significant content to the book. I found it interesting to read the details of some foods and parts of history that were little known to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC.

As a foodie and someone who has long family ties to agriculture and ranching, I am always interested in the foods of the American past. One summer I was lucky enough to spend a day on Oahu volunteering on a taro farm dedicated to educating the public and rebuilding endangered varieties of taro and the classic Hawaiian methods of raising that crop. It was backbreaking work, but so worth the effort to try some poi when we were done.

Loman taps into my curiosity the curiosity my taro adventure spurred in this engaging and fascinating tour of some North American foods on the verge of extinction, all with passionate producers trying to save ways of life. From small cider apples lost to mass production to traditional Churro sheep, to Longhorn Cattle, to sustainable Salish fishing practices, and fancy dates the history of these foods are fascinating and often heartbreaking. Each tale of an endangered food takes us on an often tragic historical journey, as well as a modern experience with producers fighting to keep the food or food process alive. Loman includes recipes for each food based on the foods historical uses and preparation.

What a delicious tour of foods forgotten or repressed. Now I want to visit each of these locations and find ways to support the people trying to keep each of these foods alive.