Wow, this was an incredibly hard book to read and every page was worth the pain. Ruin Their Crops on the Ground was incredibly well written and heartbreaking. I had some understanding of the depths of inequality in the United States of American but I had no idea it was this insane. Freeman lays out the historic and present barriers people face in accessing food in America and if this doesn't make you mad, I worry that something is wrong with you. Great read, please buy this book when it comes out and expand your understanding of food politics in America's past, present, and future.

It is so easy to be oblivious of the content in this book. Easily laid out, Freeman is able to teach in the most straightforward manner of the unjust policies that have infiltrated the "land of the free" when it comes to food. While some may feel as though they are safe because they don't fit specific criteria, it really does affect everyone. I love the detailed information and sources to back it up.

An important study of how European colonizer settlers impoverished and indoctrinated food impoverishment into the United States governing factors for Indigenous, Black, and Latin people. The book focuses each chapter on one aspect of this food inequity system from the historical beginning of white supremacy on the continent through to recent years where not much has really changed.

An excellent takedown of the unjust policies that have become ingrained in the food policies of the United States, from the country's origins right up through the present day. It's not like I've been completely unaware of anything of what Andrea Freeman covers here, but this is genuinely the first time that it's all been laid out for me so clearly, thoroughly, and comprehensively in such an accessible (and also genuinely infuriating) read. It's also an incredibly well-researched read, to boot - Freeman brings an impressive amount of receipts to back her claims, to the point that almost half the book is footnotes.

This is book I would call a must-have both both public library shelves and academic libraries like the one I work at - not to mention an excellent all-around book just for anyone looking for an incredibly read book. Though I will say this - prepare to get upset (and very justifiably so).

5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: nonfiction, medical anthropology, social justice, food studies

This review has been posted to Goodreads as of 2/13 and will be posted to my book blog on 3/19 and to Instagram on 4/5.

Wow. I cannot sing the praises of this book enough. It goes in-depth into the way food and food policy has been, and continues to be, weaponized as a means of control. I got my BA in anthropology and got very into medical anthropology when doing that, so I knew a little about the stuff Freeman talked about, but she goes into detail and provides a lot of context for these topics and clearly elucidates the historical-to-contemporary connections. I learned a lot of new information from this book and found that it was presented in a very understandable manner. This is definitely one of those books that I think everyone should read.

The book is broken up into seven chapters and an introduction, the first three chapters each focus on an ethnic and cultural group in the US: Native American, Black, and Hispanic. In each of these chapters, Freeman looks at the traditional foods eaten by those groups and the benefits those foods provide nutritionally. She then examines how colonialization altered those foods and forced people in these groups to start eating according to how white people wanted them to, often switching from highly nutritious foods to foods of subpar quality and foods with empty calories (i.e., bison to canned meat, hand-made corn tortillas to white bread, etc.). From there she discusses the impacts, historically and modern-day, of those changes and the actions some people are taking to return to traditional foods.

I already knew some of the stuff covered in these chapters, but it was absolutely horrifying to learn more of the details and I found them to be very informative. It feels weird to say I liked these chapters because so much of the information contained in them is horrifying, but it's something I haven't seen touched on in too much depth in my studies and I want to learn about it. It's these chapters in particular that I feel people should read because they're so informative and provide a lot of historical and contemporary context, and I think it really showcases how things are connected through time.

The next two chapters of the book focus on specific aspects of American food and food policy. Chapter 4 looks at milk and the USDA's ties into the dairy industry. A majority of people in the world are lactose intolerant (including me, lol), though population to population the percentage changes, with Caucasians having some of the highest percentages of lactose persistence into adulthood. Not only did Freeman use this chapter to discuss the inadequacy and capitalistic-driven motivations of the USDA's milk requirements, but she also uses it to dive into the health issues associate with dairy products, as well as the racist rhetoric surrounding milk in the past and present. Chapter 5 looks at school lunches and again targets the USDA's Big Agriculture ties for why school lunches lack nutrition. Freeman also uses this chapter to touch on school lunch debt and the myriad of ways policies surrounding lunch debt serve to humiliate and starve children.

I found these two chapters to be interesting and informative in a different way than the preceding chapters. Like with the first three, I did already know a lot of what Chapter 4 covered before going into it. Milk, lactose intolerance/persistence, and the USDA were things we discussed in my medical anthro class, but the historical ties and legal efforts to change (or not change) things were new to me. I also didn't know a lot of the negative health side-effects Freeman discussed in the milk chapter and it was definitely eye-opening. Chapter 5 was interesting to me because I rarely ate school lunch as a kid, and then as a late-middle schooler and in high school I did school online so I wasn't exposed to a lot of the stuff Freeman discussed in the chapter. I definitely remember the school lunches though and how they often lacked veggies and seemed always to contain a milk carton. It was super interesting to read the politics behind what goes into school lunches and how laws to change them or keep them the same were often tied into monetary interests.

Chapter 6 talks about racist food marketing and turns somewhat away from food itself and focuses on how branding utilizes some of the things discussed in chapters 1-3 to brand food, advertise to certain groups, or both. It was definitely disgusting to hear about the racist marketing techniques and how long it took companies to actually start doing better. Chapter 7 looks into the laws surrounding food policy, and SNAP in particular, which is an area I don't know too much about. I found the discussion to be very interesting and am definitely interested in seeing how this area of law and policy develops over time, hopefully in a positive way.

Overall I found this book to be very impactful and informative. I've already recommended it to 3 or 4 people and definitely think this is an area of study more people should know about. I'll probably check out Skimmed by this author as well.

This book holds nothing back and is laid out amazingly well with historical facts, personal stories from each timeline, the politics, and policies that were created to make certain conditions exist, and then brings the politics and policy to the present day to show where we are as a result.

Food... Something simple, basic, and necessary to survival has been weaponized and used as control. This book shows telling ways of how tactics, stemming from the birth of this nation under Washington, were used to deconstruct and divide. The way this book was written is so powerful and impactful that it is now difficult to walk through stores without looking at certain brands and not truly realizing the history of their existence. It has never been easy to drive through a food desert community, but fully comprehending the systematic rationale behind it should cause every reader to question why this system works so well... in every city USA. A small part of the book seemed to be an exhaustive view of food brands and their politics. When I got to those parts of the book, I wanted to learn more about who was responsible - or at least how to make changes. I will read this again and I am sure I will see new meanings in various aspects.

One thing is certain, the concept of "ruin their crops on the ground" has evolved. This book skillfully draws out the methods. We are all impacted.

Wow, it’s really sad that we use food as a weapon, this book does a great job in ripping the bandage off this topic. Andrea Freeman does a great job in showing what was going on with this and was able to convey the topic in a smart and easy to read way. I could tell that the research was well done and is a scary idea overall.

What a dynamic and chilling political history of food policy in the Unites States. Like so much of country's defining social policies, the root cause is racism. While most of us know on some level that white supremacy is the underpinning of much American history, to see it in all its well-researched and outlined glory was an eye-opener.

Freeman's research absolutely shines here. When a book is 40% bibliography, the nerds are going to rejoice. While drawing many subtle connections across policy and history, the author never backs down from placing the blame directly where it belongs: with racist and elitist social policies. It is refreshing to read an analysis of food policy that doesn't default to individual responsibility and instead outlines, and understands, the social determinants of health.

My only quibble, and this is pervasive in public health and the greater health care industry so I can't really blame Freeman here, is the constant use of obesity rates as the primary marker for health outcomes. It is a little disappointing to see someone run right up to the flawed health model used in this country, then make a hard swerve away from the next step in reforming public and individual healthcare. Granted, one step at a time is probably needed here and decolonizing what we "know" about food and nutrition policy is good first step.

Overall a very informative read on the history of white-washing food policy in the United States. I would group this with The Truth about Baked Beans: An Edible History of New England and The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market as a trio of primers on how we got to 2024's sad state of affairs.

This was a really informative and insightful read. I had pieces of a lot of the information presented here -- how important food was to projects of "Americanization" that targeted immigrant families, the horrible food economics of chattel slavery, etc. But the great thing about this book is it pulls all these together and the author doesn't flinch about drawing a straight line to how these policies and decisions still impact people today.

In the most respectful way, reading this book felt like when a friend sits down in front of you and is like "are you ready to hear some BULLSHIT?" and you're all ohhhh let's go and then they proceed to incisively detail exactly how and why some situation is complete and total wretched nonsense such that if situations would able to feel emotions the whole shebang would be left a shriveled up humiliated mess by the end of it. And it is GREAT.

Absolute fury at each of these injustices undergirds every chapter of this book ending in a positively delicious excoriation of the US government and the Supreme Court in particular. If you're picking up this book you probably already know that the whole US food system is on some fucked up shit (example: student lunch debt...exists), but Andrea Freeman makes it clear that girl, you don't even know. I learned a hell of a lot, I got super mad, I spent some time brooding about how everyone in the whole government needs to be strapped down and made to read this and acknowledge what they've done and fix ittttt. Because yikes, man.

This book is sourced to hell and back btw, so if you pick it up thinking it's very, very long, that is a trick - the book ended for me at 59% and the remaining whole 2/5ths of it was footnotes. The length is actually perfect. Fantastic work all around.

My thanks to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and Metropolitan Books for the chance to review Ruin Their Crops on the Ground by Andrea Freeman. This book was truly eye-opening and I appreciated that there were over 500 references cited. This book describes America’s politics of food: Food as political power, with especially powerful stories of historical injustices experienced by Indigenous nations and enslaved people. Freeman described the origins of free breakfast programs, forced assimilation of immigrants, and racially targeted advertising. Stories of lunch debt and shame for free lunches were so powerful. Truly, an excellent historical perspective that ties into today’s food insecurity experience.

Thank you, Henry Holt & Company, Metropolitan Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book!

I truly appreciated getting the opportunity to read this; though I was somewhat aware of some of the information from conversations and online resources, few had gone into depth and provided sources as often and neatly as Ruin Their Crops On the Ground, due to being more casual interactions. There was still a great amount of information I’d learned and desire to incorporate while teaching.

Though too I knew many are lactose inpersistent (as RTCotG suggests it), I had not considered it deeply as a tool of colonialism and hurt pre-1950s, as I’d heard far more about alcohol and crop monocultures.

I appreciated the references to recent media and the statements of how food eaten in times of struggle can have a multitude of meanings, both as harm and a source of community and memories. I wish the last chapter had gone into more action-based solutions of band-aids than statements of how full, broad change must be enacted, though I am in firm and full agreement.

What a fascinating look at how racism plays into food and hunger.

The author separates the book into Native Americans, Black and Mexican groups and how the white race has tried to control their food and what they eat.

I had known about the Native Americans but the Black and Mexican sections were really eye opening and I had never heard of some of the material presented.

With a STRONG emphasis upon milk and lactose intolerance, the author begins a great adventure into the inequalities in food and races.

Reaching back through history to trace the way in which dairy farmers, corn, soybean farmers all have a stake in getting their products in front of the American people. Either by commodities or by producing cheap junk, they are front and center.

The only drawback that I had with the book was the end chapter. I thought that the author was stretching and reaching with the court cases.
I wished that the author did not spend so much of the last chapter talking about the supreme court, but rather actionable things that everyone could do to help fight this injustice.

Overall a great book, I learned a lot and I appreciate the authors diligence in researching it and making a cohesive narrative.