Page 14 RAIN Aug.-Sept. 1982 Access Food Food Share Support Handbook by Larry G. Raff, 1982, looseleaf notebook, 68pp. $6.00 ppd. from: Oregon Food Share 718 W. Burnside Portland, OR 97209 Food is wasted in the United States in tremendous amounts; the U.S. General Accounting Office recently estimated that $37 billion worth of food is annually lost or wasted. Food banks have been established aU over the country in attempts to channel some of this good food to needy people. Banks solicit “deposits," such as surplus products or dented cans, from wholesalers and retailers who may receive a tax break for their donation. The food is then distributed to emergency helping agencies, such as church and community food pantries. In these times of high unemployment and cuts in food assistance programs, the demand on food banks is high. Seattle's King County food bank, for instance, now serves four times the number of people it served two years ago. Considering the increased demand on food banks, the Food Share Support Handbook is especially timely. The handbook, produced by Oregon Food Share, a statewide food distribution network, is well done and should be a valuable reference for food banks and related emergency helping agencies. Although a few pages are specific to Oregon, the handbook can be used by similar organizations anywhere in the country. It covers volunteer coordination, tax incentives for donating businesses, fundraising, recordkeeping and food solicitation—topics essential to food bank administration. The book concludes with a list of organizations, books and fjeriodicals to lead readers beyond emergency food to larger issues of world hunger. TTiis is a thorough, clearly written book and it provides many good examples. To my knowledge it is the best source of "how-to" information for food bankers in existence. — Rob Baird A Handbook of Community Gardening by Boston Urban Gardeners, edited by Susan Naimark, 1982,170 pp., $14.95 from: Charles Scribner's Sons 597 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10017 A Handbook of Community Gardening, an extensive guide to establishing community gardens, is written by the people who know. Boston Urban Gardeners (BUG) is an organization of dty gardeners and garden organizations dedicated to starting and supporting gardens throughout the Boston metropolitan area. BUG concentrates its work in central city neighborhoods where the need is great and the resources are scarce. The Handbook begins with a brief history of and ideological perspective on community gardens, and from there it quickly moves into the how-to steps of getting started. The wealth of experience from which BUG draws is apparent in the work. Hints on selecting the site, establishing the plots, working coofjeratively, and tapping the resources of the community, as well as the government, can ease the way for would-be gardeners. The Handbook does not attempt to present a book on specific gardening methods or planting techniques, though mention is made of such things as cold frames, composting, and perennial agriculture. Instead the book provides the framework for establishing a coopierative garden, ownership and management, direct marketing, and more. DifficulHes faced by many community gardens, such as vandalism or high lead content in the soil, are directly addressed with suggested remedies. The numerous benefits of community gardens in terms of rebuilding urban neighborhoods, improving local food self-sufficiency, and developing a sense of community are invaluable. A Handbook of Community Gardening can help show the way. — Rosalind Riker Agriculture Empty Breadbasket? The Coming Challenge to America’s Food Supply and What We Can Do About It by the Cornucopia Project 1981,170pp., $4.00 from: Rodaie Press 33 East Minor Street Emmaus, PA 18049 In an era of apparent food abundance. Empty Breadbas^t? asks some startling ?[uestions about the process of American ood production and its future implications. Empty Breadbasket? is one of several publications of the Cornucopia Project which was set up by the Rodaie Press in 1980 to analyze Ae structure of the U.S. food system, to determine its strengths and weaknesses, and to develop strategies to make the system more equitable, sustainable and productive. Empty Breadbasket? examines the complex concept of "food systems." For many Americans, who have been removed from f>ersonal involvement in the production and distribution of their food, the system appears to be successfully providing an abundance at reasonable cost. These people are not likely to see any reason for change. But the Cornucopia Project staff, drawing on many years of personal involvement with food, and armed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's own reports and statistics, challenges such complacency. As the food system has grown increasingly specialized, mechanized and monopolized over the past 50 years, problems with diminishing resources and environmental destruction have grown increasingly important. The heavy dep>endence on limited fuel and mineral sources, the
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