Eating the Landscape evaluation

Sarah Kelley

3/12/18

Engl-102-037

In the book “Eating the Landscape” by Enrique Salmon, he talks about farming and how different indigenous farms work. He talks about the culture and how food plays a big role in Indigenous peoples culture. Not only is food important for Indigenous people but people of all nationality and background, people can be brought together with food.  Early on the book Salmon talks about how food is part of his culture. He shares “ Food was an essential ingredient at all our family gatherings. It blended with music, teasing, laughter, stories, and dancing to create a delicious, pungent celebration(4).” I think that Salmon put this early on in the book to show that food has a lot of power and is a big part of everyone's life. He talks about how some people are brought together by culture and their food habits that a community have. Salmon also shortly talks about storytelling and how stories have the power to bring a community together.

I think that the structure and set up of of the book was a strength, it flowed very well and all his points connected to his main point. Another strength of the book was the pictures that were in it. Seeing where he was talking about seeing the landscape or the object he is describing helps the reader really connect and actually understand what the landscape looks like. Personally the picture really helped me since I am a visual learner, seeing the places described help me remember the important details that Salmon describes. I think that one thing that  made the book stronger to was how he shared personal stories but also made sure he had historical information or research to back up his points.

I would definitely recommend this book to a person that wants to learn about farming especially for  anyone that wants to learn about Indigenous people. I think that it really shows their culture. It also shows how farming and food has a huge impact on people and that it is different depending where your from and who you are, like what your family is like.I think it is also good for those who are trying to learn about the process of food coming from the farm to a person's  table.