As friends began "going back to the land" at the same time that a health
issue emerged, Kathleen Alcalá set out to reexamine her relationship
with food at the most local level. Remembering her parents, Mexican
immigrants who grew up during the Depression, and the memory of
planting, growing, and harvesting fresh food with them as a child, she
decided to explore the history of the Pacific Northwest island she calls
home.
In The Deepest Roots, Alcalá walks, wades, picks, pokes, digs, cooks,
and cans, getting to know her neighbors on a much deeper level. Wanting
to better understand how we once fed ourselves, and acknowledging that
there may be a future in which we could need to do so again, she meets
those who experienced the Japanese American internment during World War
II, and learns the unique histories of the blended Filipino and Native
American community, the fishing practices of the descendants of Croatian
immigrants, and the Suquamish elder who shares with her the food legacy
of the island itself.
Combining memoir, historical records, and a blueprint for
sustainability, The Deepest Roots shows us how an island population
can mature into responsible food stewards and reminds us that
innovation, adaptation, diversity, and common sense will help us make
wise decisions about our future. And along the way, we learn how food is
intertwined with our present but offers a path to a better understanding
of the future.
Watch the book trailer: https:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFG8MpTo_ZU&feature=youtu.be
