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Eating Right: Recipes for Social Justice

What we eat is so intertwined with justice and injustice in the world around us. That's why several activists, politicians, chefs, and foodies have created cookbooks and other resources dedicated to eating right, not just in terms of personal health, but also the health of the environment and community.


Photo by ex.libris The Borough President of Manhattan recently released a book called Go Green East Harlem, which features recipes contributed by people who live and work in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York. The book is part of a broader health and environmental campaign in the neighborhood, including a tree-planting project, a green building conference, an asthma initiative, and a new farmers' market.

Grub, by Bryant Terry and Anna Lappé, is an organic recipe book that also offers readers some background on the food industry and advice on how we can all become more socially conscious cooks and eaters. Last year's interview with Bryant Terry on Culinate explains how food is related to everything from human rights to institutional racism to artists' egos.

Culinate is an online community featuring recipes and articles on the theme "Eat to Your Ideal"—in terms of where our food comes from, how it is produced, how it affects our health, and even whom we eat it with. Visitors to the site can, for example, read an article about the domestic fair-trade movement in the United States, learn about healthy and unhealthy fats, and get a recipe for carrot apricot muffins.

Search for "cookbook" in Idealist's database of Materials to find more recipes for supporting your favorite cause or nonprofit organization.