Ever wondered what’s really on your plate—beyond the food? The Blue Plate dives into the fascinating stories behind our favorite dinner staples while shining a spotlight on their environmental impact. Ecologist Mark Easter serves up the facts with a side of wit and charm, making this an eye-opening yet surprisingly enjoyable read for food lovers and climate-conscious readers alike.

Organized like a dinner party menu, Easter takes us course by course—seafood, salad, bread, steak, and even pie with ice cream—exploring how each ingredient impacts the planet. From the soil growing your lettuce to the journey of dairy workers bringing ice cream to your bowl, this book connects the dots between the foods we love and their social and environmental footprints.

What I loved most is that Easter doesn’t guilt-trip readers or demand a complete lifestyle overhaul. Instead, he offers practical, low-carbon swaps that make eating sustainably approachable—and even tastier! Who knew saving the planet could still include steak and pie?

Packed with personal stories and thought-provoking insights, The Blue Plate isn’t just a book; it’s the perfect dinner conversation starter. If you’re curious about where your food comes from or how to make smarter choices, this book is a must-read. Bon appétit to sustainability!

This is an informative book that I enjoyed! It's well written and well put together. If you are interested in climate change, I would recommend this. Special Thank You to Mark Easter, Patagonia and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review

I am sad that I have to DNF this. It's just that the ARC epub feels - unfinished? I think that's how I want to phrase it. Photos (and their labels) in the wrong place, draft excerpts injected into paragraphs, I don't even know where the footnotes are - if there are any, missing text and things just generally not where a person thinks they should be? It was difficult enough to parse things out when the assumed knowledge threshold is pretty high on this (I am neither a horticulturist nor emissions expert) so I was hoping to have some kind of understandable introduction into what regenerative agriculture even IS. I will have to look into it through a different avenue, but thank you for introducing me to the topic.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Ideas on how to eat more sustainably and where our most loved foods come from.

"The Blue Plate" takes readers on a journey to understand the complex world of the food we eat - and the sustainability struggles that are only growing in severity and frequency.

Conservation and environmentalism are at the forefront of many people's minds these days. Choosing sustainable and ethical products is a priority. Often the solution for food is touted as being simple: Go vegan. But this sustainability is not as simple as that, especially as you learn more about agriculture methods/impacts, as "The Blue Plate" informs. Mark Easter does a phenomenal job shedding light on the climate crisis link with agriculture. Not only does he touch on the meat and dairy industry but also grains and fruits. He evokes compassion throughout the book, but doesn't hold back with his criticism. While Mark does encourage readers to make personal changes to their plates to help the planet, he holds the most weight against the systemic issues plaguing the industry and changes that can be made to the way we farm to help the environment.

An aspect of the book I was particularly grateful for was the information on dams - the common misconception as the sustainability of dams and how dam removal is restoration and beneficial to the planet and against climate change.

This book is a must read for folks concerned about the climate crisis and better understanding the role agriculture plays. And if this book, or the topic, interests you, I recommend you watch the 2016 documentary, "Sustainable."

I found this to be a very eye-opening read. I knew a little bit about the environmental impact the food we eat has but I didn't understand how much of an impact. This book was very informative and gave me a more in-depth background that actually made me think about the food I eat, where it comes from, and the impact it has. Overall, it is an impactful read that I would recommend.

A wonderfully illustrated, deeply fascinating deep dive into our food and where in comes from in relation to climate change and what we can do about it. There was a lot of really incredible information about where food in the US come from, it's impact on our climate interspersed with the authors own thoughts in a memoir format. I really enjoyed this book and it would be ideal for anyone to read to know more about our food. 4.5/5

Es stimmt nachdenklich. Was kann ich mit gutem Gewissen essen, erst überlegen, dann kaufen. Brauch ich im Winter Erdbeeren? ISS regional und saisonal. Denk an das Wasser…
Es ist nicht so schwer gut zu essen und trotzdem mitzuhelfen „ die Welt zu retten“

A fascinating book committing time to the comparison of ideals to better manage food resources in a warming climate.

I highly recommend this to scientists studying the planet and our food system for analysis and consideration for the future. Also recommended to people interested in learning about promoting a better world and for those seeking to understand.

Great book, I will order a physical copy for my library.

***Thank you to Netgalley, Patagonia and to Mark Easter for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Blue Plate.

I requested this book for the wrong reasons; I misinterpreted the premise, thinking the author was going to discuss how modern farming methods has negatively and harshly impacted our planet and our environment.

Then, I thought the author would offer sustainable and healthy recipes on how to live and eat a more healthy lifestyle.

Instead, The Blue Plate was far more science-y than I liked.

There's no doubt the author, who is an ecologist, did his research. Each chapter is organized by ingredients, like milk and corn, seafood and bread, vital foodstuffs you would find on anyone's dinner table.

Each chapter discusses the heinous causes and effects of greenhouse gas emissions, and how the planet and the humans are suffering because of it.

He does offers lifestyle tips to reduce our carbon footprint and life a healthier lifestyle, eat local, reduce meat consumption, buy less, produce less waste.

Part memoir and part textbook, the author takes us on an amazing, and yes, frightful journey to show us how our food gets to our table. And the destruction that comes with it.

This was too science-y and read too much like a textbook for me to enjoy.

Some readers might like it, but not me.

Nearly a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions is created by growing, processing, and transporting food and disposing the waste. Ecologist Mark Easter asked the question “Can we cultivate from the Earth meals that nourish us, a Blue Plate of sorts, rather than the Earth being the meal itself?” Can we “eat our way out of the climate crisis”?

Easter’s book takes us across the country as he shows how modern farming methods negatively impacts the environment and how returning to pre-industrial farming methods maintains the soil and reduces carbon emissions. His broad study includes all aspects of food: vegetable farming, raising cattle and dairy farms, fishing, and animal and food waste management.

He offers suggestions of what we should have on our plate at meals. Eat local. Eat vegetables. Enjoy shellfish. Don’t throw food waste into the trash but compost it. But the book’s emphasis is not on the consumer end, but on the practises that can be changed to reduce carbon output and store it in the soil.

The book has aspects of memoir and travelogue as well as science facts while reporting his findings as Easter delved into how we get our food and the environmental costs of what we put on our plates.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.