Endangered Eating

America's Vanishing Foods

By: Sarah Lohman

Narrated by: Sarah Lohman

Apples, a common New England crop, have been called the United States' most endangered food. The iconic Texas Longhorn cattle is categorized at critical risk for extinction. Unique date palms, found nowhere else on the planet, grow in California’s Coachella Valley, but the family farms that caretake them are shutting down. Apples, cattle, dates―these are foods that carry significant cultural weight. But they’re disappearing.

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. She travels the country learning about the distinct ingredients at risk of being lost: in Hawaii, she learns the stories behind heirloom sugarcane; in the Navajo Nation, she assists in the traditional butchering of a Navajo Churro ram; in the Upper Midwest, she harvests wild rice; in the Pacific Northwest, she spends a day reefnet fishing; on the Gulf Coast, she devours gumbo made with filé powder; in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, she tastes America’s oldest peanut. She learns from those who love these rare ingredients: shepherds, fishers, farmers, scientists, historians, and activists. And she tries her hand at raising these crops and preparing these dishes.

Animated by stories yet grounded in research, Endangered Eating gives listeners the tools to support community organizations and producers that work to preserve local culinary traditions and rare, cherished foods.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Sarah Lohman (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Unfortunate Narration but Interesting

The book itself is quite interesting overall. Though I feel like I got a bit more of the narrator/author’s personality than I had wanted. The most difficult thing was to get through her narration. She puts on an accent personalized to each person she quotes… sometimes this feels a bit offensive other times like a theatre kid narrating. She quotes a fair number of people (which I appreciate hearing from them “directly”) so there’s a lot of voices she puts on throughout the book. Additionally when she quotes many people it’s like she forgets all understanding of tone and intonation in the sentences pausing at strange moments.

It was worth listening to despite the narration being a bit poor and a little honestly cringy at points.