From Land to Mouth

From Land to Mouth,Second Helping: Understanding the Food System

 From Land to Mouth is out of print, but is available in many libraries. It may be available at Abebooks.com. If you cannot find it, you can click on the icon to download a copy in PDF format.  (731 KB)  This download is completely free. You can, however, make a donation to The Ram's Horn to support our work.

Since it was first published in 1989, From Land to Mouth has played an important role in the development of visionary alternatives to the industrial, capitalist food system it so carefully describes.

The book provides a clear and precise analysis of this global system—from barnyard to boardroom to biotechnology. Its analysis of the major characteristics of that system—distancing, uniformity, and continuous flow—has encouraged readers to think in terms of the opposites: proximity, diversity, and sustainability (balance).

The Second Helping describes both the system and the alternatives to it which are beginning to appear—alternatives which build on a vision of a food system designed to feed people rather than to merely produce corporate profit.

 Comments on the first edition:

 "...a book that could only be written by someone with both the detachment that allows a scholar to see patterns in the big picture, and a passion that comes from intimate involvement with nature, farmers and rural life." (Cathy Holtslander, Briarpatch)

"Kneen's forceful analysis and passionate arguments are likely to become very influential ... This book is essentially a plea for a more rational, humane approach to the production of food." (David Lewis Stein, Toronto Star)

Published by NC Press Limited, Toronto, second edition (revised and updated) 1993.

NOTE: We have made this book available as a free PDF, in the hope that people will make good use of it in their work for just and sustainable food systems.