The Story of How America Eats

The hands, histories, and decisions that shape how a nation feeds itself

Friends,

We begin this week in unexpected places — a soybean field in Arkansas, a citrus grove in California, among the peach trees of the Willamette Valley. They all share one truth: our lives depend on people and systems we rarely see up close.

A trade deal in Beijing can decide whether a farmer in Iowa keeps his land. A century-old law can still make it illegal for a hungry family to pick fruit from a city tree. A government shutdown can turn into an empty pantry overnight.

When we talk about food in America, we’re really talking about everything else too: power, labor, race, and dignity.

Because every meal, every field, every empty plate and plane full of exports tells us something about what kind of country we’ve become, and what kind of nation we could still be.

Join us for:

• How Hard Can It Be, Boys Do It?

• The Shutdown and the Dinner Table: A Guide to America’s Food-Assistance System

• The Foreign Policy of the American Farm

• The Great American Food Swap

• The Theft That Built a Nation

• The Racist Reason Why You Can’t Eat Nature’s Free Food

• We Want Workers, Not People

Plus: advice from a therapist, product picks from the Preamble staff, an extended cut of my interview with historian Colin Woodard, and so much more.

With gratitude,

Sharon McMahon, Editor-in-Chief

P.S. What topic should we tackle next? Tell us in the comments here, and paid subscribers, be on the lookout for a message tomorrow so you can vote on your choices!