Feeding Each Other: Shaping Change in Food Systems Through Relationships

Feeding Each Other: Shaping Change In Food Systems Through Relationship
by Vermont author / VT Farm to Plate member Nicole Civita & Michelle Auerbach 

Our premise is simple: the global food system, which many bemoan as broken, is functioning exactly as intended. Unfortunately, its aim is NOT actually to feed people but to maximize profit. So, no single “solution” –  whether it’s “eat local” or “grow meat in labs” – is going to repair the rifts created by modern agricapitalism. We must change the goal –  or starvation and suffering will be our legacies.

The central goal? Relationship. 

The outcome? A food system that actually feeds people, honors nature, and doesn't destroy our planet’s capacity to support life. 

Impossible? We think not. 

But to make this real, we need a guidebook. One that makes a compelling case for paradigm shift and offers a set of practices that can move us in the right direction. We’ve got to source wisdom from those who’ve long been pushed to the margins. And we sure could use some inspiring examples of relational change already underway.

Our book is just such an offering…

Feeding Each Other charts a path out of the fearful, helpless feelings that rise up when we reckon with the collapse of ecosystems, economies, and social structures. It does so by treating food – and all the steps involved in producing and preparing it – as a dense and precious thread that connects all humans and the rest of nature across the globe.

Across pages that combine data, story, paradigm-shifting practices, and insights from diverse thinkers, food systems educator Nicole Civita and story justice activist Michelle Auerbach make sense of sustenance. In the process, we demonstrate how our lives – now and in the future – depend on the relationships we make with and through food. 

Even if you already know about the awful environmental impacts and social injustices that get heaped on our plates, you will find new perspectives and strategies in these pages.  Even – perhaps especially – if you are already working to make your corner of the food system better, you should take a chance on this book and its unexpected advice.