November – Cactus Book Club: “How the Other Half Eats” by Priya Fielding-Singh
Join us on Wednesday, November 4th at 5:30 for our next Cactus Book Club. NourishMKE will lead an evening of discussion on Priya Fielding-Singh’s book, How the Other Half Eats.
Inequality in America manifests in many ways, but perhaps nowhere more than in how we eat. From her years of field research, sociologist and ethnographer Priya Fielding-Singh brings us into the kitchens of dozens of families from varied educational, economic, and ethnoracial backgrounds to explore how—and why—we eat the way we do. We get to know four families intimately: the Bakers, a Black family living below the federal poverty line; the Williamses, a working-class white family just above it; the Ortegas, a middle-class Latinx family; and the Cains, an affluent white family.
Packed with lyrical storytelling and groundbreaking research, as well as Fielding-Singh’s personal experiences with food as a biracial, South Asian American woman, How the Other Half Eats illuminates exactly how inequality starts on the dinner plate. Once you’ve taken a seat at tables across America, you’ll never think about class, food, and public health the same way again.
Recommended bookseller: Boswell Book Company
“NourishMKE is the largest network of community food centers in Milwaukee. We provide encouraging spaces to select and prepare free quality foods, and explore nutrition and wellbeing. The foods are thoughtfully sourced to offer options and reduce waste. We’re always looking for valuable ways to love our community, which is why we go out of our way to meet people where they’re at. When we join together, we are nourished and help each other grow.”
ABOUT US: Cactus Book Club (CBC) meets on the first Wednesday of the month from 5:30-7:30 in the back room at Cactus Club. Each month a different community organization, collective, mutual aid group, or business chooses the book & recommended bookseller then leads the discussion. We read sociopolitical fiction and non-fiction, with a focus on works by women, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and/or otherwise under-published groups. You don’t have to finish reading the book to attend. All book club meetings are free. No registration required. 18+. CBC is part of our ongoing Cactus+ programming. Contact bookclub@cactusplus.org with questions or suggestions.