Importance of Stories in Relation to Food

UWM Department of Sociology professor Jennifer Jordan contributes to the Journal Sentinel’s article, “Fresh: A bushelful of information on heirloom tomatoes.”

The world is experiencing a farm-to-table food revolution. Jordan, and others like her, have rediscovered, researched, and authored articles and books on “old foods” that pre-date Burpee’s hybrid seed business, dating back to 1949. Jordan focuses on the stories surrounding these old foods, and also on the dedicated and careful collecting and preserving of seeds, a process that has kept these old and flavorful foods alive and available to us today.

Earlier this year, Professor Jordan’s book Edible Memory: The Lure of Heirloom Tomatoes and Other Forgotten Foods was published by the University of Chicago Press (2015). The book has received positive reviews from the New Yorker, the Spectator, the Baltimore Sun, among many others, and excerpted on Salon.com. Jordan has also been interviewed on numerous podcasts and radio programs on the subject.

Please read the article.