Editorial Review:

Drawing upon 40 years' experience as an ecological farmer and marketer, Joel Salatin explains with humor and passion why Americans do not have the freedom to choose the food they purchase and eat. From child labor regulations to food inspection, bureaucrats provide themselves sole discretion over what food is available in the local marketplace. Their system favors industrial, global corporate food systems and discourages community-based food commerce, resulting in homogenized selection, mediocre quality, and exposure to non-organic farming practices. Salatin's expert insight explains why local food is expensive and difficult to find and will illuminate for the reader a deeper understanding of the industrial food complex.

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Lots of opinions, but where's the evidence?:

More of a political piece than I would have hoped for, Joel Salatin did prepare me for his rant-laced manifesto when he titled his book Everything I Want to do is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front. I had wrongfully assumed that Salatin would offer stories and anecdotes regarding procuring and selling local foods. Instead, I was greeted with a long-winded, bitter outburst that provided few real solutions for what Salatin deems to be the e.coli to his beef: government bureaucrats.
The true... more info

Mandatory reading:

I found this book very enlightening and I think everyone should read this book at least once. I would compare his anecdotes to those of Upton Sinclair when he wrote the The Jungle. This is why you see so much criticism among these reviews, because the things he writes about are rather shocking to those of us outside the farming community. None of us liked to read about the things that went on in the meatpacking industry and I doubt most people would pick Sinclair's book a second time for that reason, it's... more info

This Guy is a Nut!:

Salatin is a nut, but a very interesting nut. Now, this book is titled "Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal" and so I should expect complaining. But, this book was over the top. He justs rants. In his view, no one but him can figure anything out. He will argue for a position in one chapter but against it in another. For instance, he says chicken should be tested based upon the birds health levels, not how the bird is taken care of. But when government inspectors show up at his farm to test his birds for bird... more info

Great Book:

Well written, humorous stories from an independent small farmer detailing his struggles with government oversight and inspection. The role of the USDA in particular and government regulators as presented by Salatin is to make things as difficult as possible for the independent farmer.
Most of the health problems in the US directly arise from the industrial food system. Local, independent food is the answer!

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