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?