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Yesterday, we celebrated #GivingTuesday, noting our achievements and accolades this year. If you made a donation, thank you, we are very grateful. Today, we want to call special attention to the power behind Civil Eats: our reporters and contributors.
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Senior Staff Reporter and Contributing Editor Lisa Held was nominated for and received many awards in 2024. Her outstanding reporting this year for our investigative series Chemical Capture examines whether consolidated corporate power may be contributing to the ubiquitous use of pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals; the series also
probes whether the influence that chemical companies wield in the halls of power makes it difficult to sort facts from marketing or engage in rigorous cost-benefit analyses. In addition to her regular reporting, Held also keeps our readers informed about the latest food policy news in our Field Report dispatches.
We recently said goodbye and wished all the best to former Staff Reporter Grey Moran as they head out on a new professional journey. Their work for Civil Eats has been recognized repeatedly over the years, and we will miss their sharp eye and caring concern for all of their subjects.
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In addition to Held and Moran, other staff members, including Associate Editors Christina Cooke and Tilde Herrera, also contribute important reporting. Civil Eats also works with dozens of regular freelance contributors, many of whom have been recognized and applauded for their excellent work, including Nicole J. Caruth, Doug Bierend, Nina Elkadi, Virginia Gewin, Kate Nelson, Naoki Nitta, Jennifer Oldham, Jake Price, Mark Schapiro, Alexandra Talty, Hannah Wallace, Daniel Walton, Meg Wilcox, and many, many more. We are extremely grateful for their contributions.
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If you appreciate the critical work done by our reporters and contributors, we are asking for your support. From November 1 through December 31, your donation of up to $1,000 will be doubled by NewsMatch partners.
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Donations of $60 or more provide you with access to Civil Eats’ annual membership benefits, which include our members-only newsletter, The Deep Dish; our Slack channel; and our live, community-building salons. If you’ve been thinking about becoming a member of Civil Eats, this is the best time to do it. Donations of $100 or more also will include a sustainably sourced, limited-edition Civil Eats tote bag.
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If you’re already a member, thank you! You can still participate in our NewsMatch campaign by making a donation. Every dollar of your support will be matched. If you believe in the work we’re doing, please consider giving today to double the impact of your donation. If you feel inclined, please share this newsletter with someone you know who will appreciate Civil Eats.
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Thank you for supporting journalists who work to make a difference.
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| Become a Member for $6/mo.
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~ The Civil Eats Team
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Our 2024 Food and Farming Holiday Book Gift Guide
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BY THE CIVIL EATS EDITORS • December 3, 2024
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We hope our Holiday Book Guide can help create a calm harbor of sorts during this often-harried end-of-year season. Our editors, staff writers, and freelance contributors have a wide selection of food and agriculture books to recommend, both for gift-giving purposes and for the quiet moments you carve out for yourself.
Our choices include an examination of climate-friendly eating, an argument for gift economies, a guide to keeping bees, and a history of how chicken nuggets have shaped our food system—plus a variety of other memoirs, social histories, and journalistic endeavors. We also offer a number of outstanding cookbooks for fueling good eating, conversation, and connection around your table during this holiday season.
We hope this guide can help anchor your reading time over the coming weeks and months—and that our favorite titles become yours as well. Check out the book guide >>
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A Black-Led Agricultural Community Takes Shape in Maryland
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BY LISA HELD • December 4, 2024
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Since 2012, Gail Taylor has built healthy soil, provided hundreds of local families with fresh tomatoes and turnips, and fostered community on less than an acre at Three Part Harmony Farm in northeast Washington, D.C. Along the way, she’s blazed a trail and spearheaded legislation to enable other urban farmers in D.C. to follow.
And she’s done it all with a sense that—at any moment—it could all be over. Because with farm leases that only cover up to three years at a time, the threat of the landlord selling out to a pricey condo developer has hung over every kale and garlic harvest.
Unfortunately, the scenario is a common one.
Surveys of young farmers running operations like hers have consistently found that farmers rank access to stable, affordable land as a top challenge. For Black, Indigenous, and other farmers of color, it’s an even more formidable barrier. And access to capital is right up there alongside—and intimately tied to—land access. Read the full story >>
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A Debut Southern Cookbook Challenges Simplified Notions of Black Cuisine
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BY NICOLE J. CARUTH • December 2, 2024
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Ashleigh Shanti says she’s “out to prove something” with her debut cookbook, Our South: Black Food Through My Lens, which hit shelves last month.
“I want to dispel the myths of what America thinks Black cooking is and is not,” she writes in the opening pages. “Through my stories, recipes, and experiences, I challenge the belief that Black cuisine is monochromatic.”
Named one of “16 Black Chefs Changing Food in America” by the New York Times, Shanti has been hard at work building her legacy as a Black, queer woman in the culinary world. In 2020, she earned a James Beard nomination for Rising Star Chef of the Year, recognizing her “Affrilachian” cooking at Benne on Eagle in Asheville, North Carolina. After that, she dazzled American television viewers on season 19 of Bravo’s Top Chef. Earlier this year, she opened a fish-fry restaurant, Good Hot Fish, in Asheville’s historically Black business district, earning accolades from Eater as one of the best new restaurants in America.
Now, the Virginia native blesses us with a cookbook that doubles as a memoir, honoring the Southern matriarchs in her family while celebrating the culinary diversity of the Black diaspora. Featuring 125 recipes and vibrant photography by Johnny Autry, Our South takes readers on a journey through five southern micro-regions—each revealing its own “courses and customs”—and people who shaped Shanti into the chef she is today.
Between stops on her book tour, Shanti took a moment to speak with Civil Eats about Black food, queer voices in cooking, and what it’s like to be a restaurant owner in post-hurricane, post-election Asheville. Read the full story >>
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