Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods

American food traditions are in danger of being lost. How do we save them? Apples, a common New England crop, have been called the "most endangered food" of the United States. The iconic Texas Longhorn Cattle is categorized as being 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 maintain them are shutting down. Apples, cattle, and dates: these foods carry significant cultural weight, but they are quickly disappearing.

In Endangered Eating, culinary historian Sarah Lohman traverses the country learning about the distinct ingredients at risk of being lost. Readers travel alongside her to Hawaii, as she walks alongside farmers to learn the stories behind heirloom sugarcane. In the Navajo Nation, she assists in the traditional butchering of a Navajo Churro ram. Lohman heads to the Upper Midwest to harvest wild rice; to the Pacific Northwest, to spend a day fishing on a traditional reefnet gear; to the Gulf Coast, to devour gumbo made thick and green with file powder; and to the low country of South Carolina, to taste America's oldest peanut, long thought to be extinct. Lohman learns from those who love these rare ingredients: shepherds, fishers, and farmers; scientists, historians, and activists.

Endangered Eating gives readers the tools to support community food organizations and producers that work to preserve local culinary traditions and rare, cherished foods before it's too late. Join us for this special conversation and book signing. All attendees receive a copy of Endangered Eating upon arrival!