I selected this book as yet another in a short line (very short) of food-related texts I occasionally check out with the faintest hope of informing better dietary choices (shall we say, it’s a rather slow season for us architects – even to the alarming degree that I now do much of the family grocery shopping… fortunately armed with excruciatingly detailed lists authored by the wife). Well written overall, the historical aspect of this story is very interesting. Belasco traces the “countercusine’s” rise from the days of Digger Papers, and subsequent commune organic-gardening societies. As the “underground” recipe books and what not multiply, the “squares” and food industry peeps take a defensive position against the “nuts” and “freaks” until they (or, indeed, the aging nuts and freaks themselves) figure out ways to subsume the concept of healthy dietary options into profitably processed grocery items. US citizens blindly rely upon government recommendations and studies regarding sundry chemical additives – a mostly floundering structure heavily compromised by the wallets and clout of the Pillsbury Doughboy, Ronald the clown, and their ambiguously conceived cohorts. Cynicism inevitably prevails with all the official flip-flopping and designations such as “natural” and “organic” are increasingly slathered across the packaging of Oreos, microwavable Salisbury steak and Frito Lites. A twisted cycle certainly.

The author isn’t as negative as my re-presentation probably implies. The fact that people generally acknowledge processed foods as not yielding the best nutritional benefits is something that was apparently less certain circa 1962. Options for dining have expanded exponentially and even Wendy’s host salad bars. Whereas Belascos does betray a bit of cynicism and is admittedly biased as he falls more firmly within the “fruit and twig” camp, I felt this to be an even-keeled historical account of the countercusine’s emergence over a twenty year period. He positions a typically underhanded Industrial Food Complex against a progressive countermovement often defined by inarticulate posturing (the short-lived organic food-based communes seemed as much about propitiating a male-centrist society as offering any real alternative structure; the women still handled the arduous task of food prep while the men exploited the free-love paradigm to get laid a lot). This is a development – or awakening – fraught with controversy, ups and downs, and indecisiveness.

Though this covers a twenty years period ending twenty years ago, strangely there doesn’t seem to be much change in outlook beyond more Farmer’s Markets and the Trans Fat bans (my wife recently bought "Omega 3 Peanut Butter" for God's sake!). Towards the conclusion, I had even forgotten that this wasn’t fairly new until he mentioned the “Reagan/Bush” administrations. What do I know? My dietary preferences align more with the house-on-wheels set than the patrons of South End bistros. Every third TV commercial this week uses Biz Markie’s one-hit song so maybe it is 1989! While posting this, I noticed that Goodreads lists an updated (2006) version so I suppose I would definitely recommend unless, like me, you rely upon a major library system - in which case you may have to wait until 2029 (“Biz Markie – Live at Foxwoods!”) to score a copy. ( )