Book Evaluation

Marc Ruiz

ENGL-102-042

Professor Santos

16 March 2018

Eating the Landscape Book Evaluation

            Eating the Landscape: American Indian Stories of Food, Identity, and Resilience is a nonfiction book written by Enrique Salmon that gives a deep insight into American Indian history along with showing a new prospective on food and farming traditions threatened by today’s society and its new advances in technology through varies personal experiences. Salmon showers the readers with knowledge on culture through great detail on indigenous foods and farming traditions, how deeply connected food and people are and about many different native American and Indian cultures spread around Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico.

            One part of the book that stood out apart from the rest was when Salmon began talking about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and how they are affecting the way natural traditions of farmers around the globe and the effects devastating of GMOs on the soil and naturally growing, unmodified crops. “GMOs on a large-scale agribusiness decrease soil productivity as a result of farmers having to use Monsanto-based fertilizers that drain the microorganisms from once fertile lands… GMO plants are designed to release toxins for specific pests, which would decrease the harvest.” (152) I never knew how dangerous GMOs were for the environment and basically forcing farmers to make a switch because of how cheap they are just so they can keep their farms from running out of business. Salmon knowledge wide range of knowledge is really amazing.

Enrique Salmon made some the stories feel relatable like whenever he talked about meeting with family or when he talked about food and his own family traditions and gatherings. “She always had cookies at hand when I came to visit” (1). Being able to relate to the author early on into the book made it easier for me to really enjoy the book and feel better connected to it. I would recommend this book to anyone because it is a really good read and will broaden the readers knowledge on the American Indian traditions, foods, and farming techniques.