The Third Plate
‘A must-read for anyone interested in food and the future’ Yotam Ottolenghi
Based on ten years of surveying farming communities around the world, top New York chef Dan Barber’s The Third Plate offers a radical new way of thinking about food that will heal the land and taste incredible.
The ‘first plate’ was a classic meal centred on a large cut of meat with few vegetables. On the ‘second plate’, championed by the farm-to-table movement, meat is free-range and vegetables are locally sourced. It’s better-tasting, and better for the planet, but the second plate’s architecture is identical to that of the first. It, too, disrupts ecological balances, causing soil depletion and nutrient loss – it just isn’t a sustainable way to farm or eat.
The ‘third plate’ offers a solution: an integrated system of vegetable, cereal and livestock production that is fully supported – in fact, dictated – by what we choose to cook for dinner. The Third Plate is where good farming and good food intersect.
Based on ten years of surveying farming communities around the world, top New York chef Dan Barber’s The Third Plate offers a radical new way of thinking about food that will heal the land and taste incredible.
The ‘first plate’ was a classic meal centred on a large cut of meat with few vegetables. On the ‘second plate’, championed by the farm-to-table movement, meat is free-range and vegetables are locally sourced. It’s better-tasting, and better for the planet, but the second plate’s architecture is identical to that of the first. It, too, disrupts ecological balances, causing soil depletion and nutrient loss – it just isn’t a sustainable way to farm or eat.
The ‘third plate’ offers a solution: an integrated system of vegetable, cereal and livestock production that is fully supported – in fact, dictated – by what we choose to cook for dinner. The Third Plate is where good farming and good food intersect.
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Reviews
Dan Barber's new book, The Third Plate, is an eloquent and thoughtful look at the current state of our nation's food system and how it must evolve. Barber's wide range of experiences, both in and out of the kitchen, provide him with a rare perspective on this pressing issue. A must read
Barber is a stylish writer and a funny one, too
The book that, perhaps more than any other in recent times, laid out the urgent imperative that to look after the land we grow our food on is to eat as best we can and vice-versa. It redefined nutrition, agriculture and fl avour, and established Barber as the preeminent voice in food that is as ethical as it is excellent