If you’re prone to eco-stress inspired heart palpitations, don’t read this book. At least not now. Save it for later. Because Sandor Ellix Katz’ “The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America’s Underground Food Movements” can be more than a little overwhelming for the newly-initiated would-be socio-environmentally-conscious foodie.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy this book! The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved is both informative and inspiring — and comprehensive and absorbing! The main point of the book: Despite what seems like an increasing number of consumer food choices, it’s harder than ever to get healthy, sustainable food — and we need to change that. Writes Katz: “The scandal of our contemporary food system is that not just a few exotic luxuries but virtually everything — including the most basic and mundane staples — is transported such vast distances, traveling thousands of miles from producers to consumers.”

Still, the book’s also not for the faint-hearted. There’s the more obvious out-there stuff, like a “recipe” for — eating dirt! Talk about getting back to nature. If you’re not ready to put the earth into your mouth, literally, then maybe you’d be into foraging for weeds — though that’s no simple task if you’re living in the middle of a city. Or if you’re really ready to take “waste not, want not” to the extreme, read the chapter on eating road kill. And you thought freeganism was adventurous!

What’s really anxiety-inducing about the book, however, is simply that it’s so wide ranging and detailed. You may be ready to read about and denounce genetically-modified, patented seeds that wreak financial and environmental havoc on independent farmers — information that may lead you to support local, independent farmers instead. But the book also delves into the the isolationism and racism that’s present in small farming communities, pointing out that family farms aren’t all automatically happy, idyllic places.

Still, The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved is helpful in showing the connections between the many current issues that’re often considered independently. covers so much stuff. marijuana. From urban community gardens in New York City to AIDS medication to intentional communities in Tennessee to herbal medicine to marijuana and hemp legislation, The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved covers it all.

I don’t agree with everything Katz says, but his book certainly made me think more deeply about the environmental and social issues I care about, and consider some of the more radical ideas out there. In the end, The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved left me with two important and practical desires: Support the yummy local food at the farmers’ market, and work on expanding my own private balcony garden.

[crossposted on BlogHer]

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