20 Books Putting Storytelling At The Heart of Food Sovereignty

Danielle Nierenberg

Danielle Nierenberg

I always love hearing food stories—I’m a food systems nerd, after all!—but I especially love it when farmers, fishers, and other folks on the front lines of our food system have platforms to share their own stories themselves. 

A highlight of Food Tank's recent Summits has been "Voices of Farmers," where we've handed over the stage to farmers for an evening of authentic storytelling. In a couple weeks, we'll be hosting these storytelling events in Dublin, Ireland (more info HERE), and in Adelaide, Australia (more info HERE), too.

Storytelling is at the heart of food sovereignty! This is why I’m inspired by the books on Food Tank’s winter reading list.

In the powerful book “Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison,” we read firsthand accounts of nutrient-poor meals, privatized food contracts, and systemic neglect in the carceral system—and explore emerging efforts to bring accountability and care back into prison food systems. 

Samin Nosrat, in “Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love,” brings us a joyful guide to using our ordinary ingredients to connect with others. And in her bestselling memoir “Accidentally on Purpose,” Top Chef winner and host Kristen Kish tells stories of her childhood as an adoptee, her career in the kitchen, and navigating missteps on the way to finding her voice.

Several titles on this list tell stories of specific ingredients and crops themselves, too, from breadfruit trees across continents as an embodiment of resilience to the ways macaroni and cheese intersects with social movements from 1700s English sophisticates to the American Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century.

Here are the books we’re reading this winter. (These titles are listed in alphabetical order.)

• Accidentally on Purpose by Kristen Kish

• Al Dente: A History of Food in Italy by Fabio Parasecoli

• Breadfruit: Three Global Journeys of a Bountiful Tree by Russell Fielding

• Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly by Hannah Selinger

• Dark Laboratory: How Colonialism Shaped the Climate Crisis by Tao Leigh Goffe

• Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison by Leslie Soble with Alex Busansky and Aishatu R. Yusuf, based on research by Impact Justice

• Food Fight: Misguided Policies, Supply Challenges, and the Impending Struggle to Feed a Hungry World by Richard Sexton

• Food Intelligence: The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us by Julia Belluz and Kevin Hall, PhD

• Food Justice Undone: Lessons for Building a Better Movement by Hanna Garth (forthcoming February 2026)

• Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand by Jeff Chu

• Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love: A Cookbook by Samin Nosrat

• Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity’s Favorite Food by Bruce Friedrich

• Native Food Plants of Texas: an Austin Forager’s Guide Based on Indigenous Knowledge by Cyrus Harp

• Reclaiming the Black Body: Nourishing the Home Within by Alishia McCullough

• Revolutionary Science: The Struggle for Agroecology in the Americas by Bruce Jennings (forthcoming March 2026)

• The Almond Paradox: Cracking Open the Politics of What Plants Need by Emily Reisman

• The Bottomless Cup by Kevin Boehm

• The Chesapeake Table: Your Guide to Eating Local by Renee Brooks Catacalos

• The Epic History of Macaroni and Cheese: From Ancient Rome to Modern America by Karima Moyer-Nocchi

• Will This Make You Happy by Tanya Bush

You can check out more details about all these books by CLICKING HERE.

I hope you find time this winter to connect with meaningful stories about the food system. And as always, I’m at danielle@foodtank.com, so please share what stories you’ve seen recently that have sparked inspiration and optimism! I’m always filled with hope to hear Food Tankers share stories of food systems transformation in their communities around the globe, and I look forward to hearing from you, too.

(Danielle Nierenberg is the President of Food Tank and can be reached at danielle@foodtank.com)