Jimmy’s No. 43 – New York, NY

Alan Guebert and his daughter Gracie Foxwell will read from their book The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey on Monday, December 7 at 7:00 pm at Jimmy’s No. 43. This event will also include a thought-provoking dialogue about food, farming, and the oftentimes forgotten “culture” of agriculture. The event is free and open to the public.

Published by the University of Illinois Press, the book is a collection of personal memories written over the past two decades as part of Guebert’s Farm and Food File column, which runs weekly in 70 newspapers throughout the U.S. and Canada. Each column recalls and reflects on the people, food, and lasting values he learned on the 720-acre, 100-cow “southern Illinois dairy farm of my youth” in the 1960s. While their book is a memoir, Guebert and Foxwell agree that their intention with its publication was moreover to spark a blueprint for how farming and rural communities can learn from the past to be truly sustainable for years to come.

The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey was included on Bon Appetit Magazine’s 20 Food Books to Read This Summer, Los Angeles Magazine’s Top 10 Summer Books for Foodies, and Food Tank’s Summer Reading List.

Reviews describe the book as authentic, humorous, and thought-provoking. Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, notes “Alan Guebert is one of America’s finest writers on the workings and the politics of our food system. This book eloquently describes a rural way of life that’s been lost. But the values of that world—family, community, social justice, a respect for the land—are timeless.”

James Beard award winning chef Dan Barber notes “Alan Guebert, our most astute commentator on American farm and food policy, brings the same intelligence, sensitivity, and humor to his own memories. In The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey, he’s created an enduring portrait of a farm and a family.”

Foxwell and Guebert will read selections from The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey and discuss topics related to urban farming, federal agriculture policy, and how we can all work together–in our communities, schools, and families–to make our food system more sustainable for future generations. Copies of their book will be available for purchase and signing at the event.