The Deepest Roots. Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island.
Kathleen Alcala
As friends began “going back to the land” at the same time that a health issue emerged, Kathleen Alcalá set out to reexamine her relationship with food at the most local level. Remembering her parents, Mexican immigrants who grew up during the Depression, and the memory of planting, growing, and harvesting fresh food with them as a child, she decided to explore the history of the Pacific Northwest island she calls home.
In The Deepest Roots, Alcalá walks, wades, picks, pokes, digs, cooks, and cans, getting to know her neighbors on a much deeper level. Wanting to better understand how we once fed ourselves, and acknowledging that there may be a future in which we could need to do so again, she meets those who experienced the Japanese American internment during World War II, and learns the unique histories of the blended Filipino and Native American community, the fishing practices of the descendants of Croatian immigrants, and the Suquamish elder who shares with her the food legacy of the island itself.
Combining memoir, historical records, and a blueprint for sustainability, The Deepest Roots shows us how an island population can mature into responsible food stewards and reminds us that innovation, adaptation, diversity, and common sense will help us make wise decisions about our future. And along the way, we learn how food is intertwined with our present but offers a path to a better understanding of the future.
Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFG8MpTo_ZU&feature=youtu.be
Product Details
About Kathleen Alcala
Reviews for The Deepest Roots. Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island.
Rebekah Denn
Seattle Times
"As important now as when it was first published in 2016, Kathleen Alcalá’s book The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island recently released in paperback, allows the reader to come along as Alcalá explores the food culture of her home, Bainbridge Island, learns more about how to care for her health, and discovers the ways our collective fates are intimately connected."
1889 Washington's Magazine
"This unique and fascinating memoir blends the history of Washington with the story of her family’s migration from Mexico, highlighted by informed insights on ecology, economy and gastronomy."
Rigoberto González
NBC News Latino
"Combining memoir, historical records, and a blueprint for sustainability, The Deepest Roots shows us how an island population can mature into responsible food stewards and reminds us that innovation, adaptation, diversity, and common sense will help us make wise decisions about our future."
Birdbooker Report
"The Deepest Roots should inspire readers to expend elbow grease in working la tierra and seeking community with like-minded gente for healthier living."
Michael Sedano
La Bloga
"Alcalá takes the local food movement, so long the province of hippy gringos, and brings it home to the immigrant communities for whom it has so long been a fact of life."
Alejandra Oliva
Remezcla
"A layered experience of discovery, moving organically between personal stories, cultural history, and discussions of environmental policy. . . . Bainbridge Island is a perfect microcosm through which to explore the question of local sustainability. . . . It is a pleasant surprise to hear from some Whatcom County locals among Alcalá’s interviews."
Lisa Gresham
Cascadia Weekly