A review by iseefeelings
FoodWISE: A Whole Systems Guide to Sustainable and Delicious Food Choices by Gigi Berardi

3.0

FoodWISE, as defined in the book, is both an attitude and conscious control of what food to put into our bodies. It also is about experiential learning of the entire food system, including 'threads of the agricultural web' as Gigi Berardi once called. The concept of foodWISE should come to the mind in terms of four factors - WHOLE ("whole grains rather than refined flours; fish and pasture-fed livestock; and dishes that include plenty of vegetables), BEING INFORMED ("from reading food labels to asking questions at wholesale markets to checking online (...)", "one question to ask is how far back we traced our food"), SUSTAINABLE ("Are my food choices sustainable for my personal food world and my shared food worlds (...)?"), EXPERIENCED ("How involved are we in sourcing our food?")

*
I have to admit that this book took me a lot of effort to finish. The information is well-researched, but badly- put in writing. I can feel that the author poured her heart out to this book but what needs to be improved is the content structure and writing style.

The big turn-offs are the order of actual contents, redundant hook-on sentences and unnecessary overviews.
The introduction is lengthy and I wonder why some terminologies and explanations should be put so early in the intro. The content is poorly organised and repetitive even though this book could have been better with its helpful information.

Besides, too many times the book only discussed the U.S food market; but as someone who resides in another country as well as being nourished in a different culture, I wish I could know more about the general agriculture legislations than only things that involved in the U.S agribusinesses.

*

I thought reading it was more like having an informal conversation, which is hard to convince people who pick up the book with expectations of getting more scientific-based information instead of an experienced and subjective view.
However, the last bit of this book is surprisingly good with practical and knowledgable suggestions for FoodWISE meals.
*

The book owes a lot to one's privilege to access good food sources because it's not easy to apply all the ideas that the author Gigi Berardi examined, especially if you're not living in a developed country.
Overall, I found it more like an introduction to anyone who likes to know more about the food systems than a guide to delicious food choices.