Book Club: Tomatoland Discussion Questions

The Giving Table Book Club is currently reading Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook. We're close to wrapping up this read, but it's not too late to join. Here are a few discussion questions to consider. Answer one, or all of them, in the comments section below!

• It was encouraging to learn that Lady Moon—an organic tomato grower in South Florida—uses no synthetic chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and is succeeding on a commercial scale. Would you buy this brand of tomatoes if you saw it in a grocery store?

• How have the worker stories transformed your views on tomato farming? Does their exposure to pesticides and other harmful chemicals affect your decision whether or not to buy out-of-season tomatoes?

• If "a 10-foot drop followed by a sixty-mile-per-hour impact with pavement is no big deal to a modern, agribusiness tomato," can these tomatoes even be classified as real food?

• This book isn't an easy read. What makes your most infuriated about the situation of slavery in Florida's tomato fields?

• How empowered (or not), do you feel as a consumer navigating the supermarket shelves when it comes to shopping for tomatoes?