Eating The Landscape: Evaluation

Nicole Wojnowski
Prof. Melissa Santos
ENGL 102-037
11 March 2018

Evaluation: Eating the Landscape

               Eating the Landscape by Enrique Salmon is a novel about American Indian stories. To further go in depth about the subjects within the American Indian stories, they include, food, identity, and resilience. Eating the Landscape has similar content as far as the subjects, to Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. Both novels talk about the importance of keeping cultural ways and how important it is to continue farming practices. Discussions about how foods connect people and how it can change cultures is also discussed within the novels. It’s intriguing to read about these early-told stories and puts us in the mindset about their thoughts during that time.

A particularly interesting quote that engaged my attention was discussed in class and in my previous blogpost. “Ease of acquisition of prepackaged food outweigh access to ancestral and healthy foods.” (Salmon 120) This is a particularly powerful quote as it says a lot about our world now. It tells the reader that this is an important factor that contributes to the loss of cultural practices. This novel was very moving as it brought thoughts to how we can change as a society to create a better environment. Michelle from GoodReads.com commented, “I hope people from other regions follow this example and share how language, culture, and food interact to form distinct regional identity and resilience in the face of rapid change.” (WWW.GoodReaders.com) I agree with her, because it’s important to educate people about what’s happening in this fast-paced world. Because everyone is constantly going, they may not take the time to reflect on the change that is occurring around them. People need to realize that to preserve their land and take care of nature.

I agree with the book about these aspects and outlooks on life. I am a huge advocate for environmental awareness subjects and am very connected with my heritage and culture. I feel that through books like Eating the Landscape and Braiding Sweetgrass, it teaches readers about real-life situations that need to be dealt with.