Meet Ben Hewitt. He wears quite a few hats: journalist, small-town farmer, student of organic foods and sustainable agriculture... and now, author (as of next month).
Hewitt's first book, titled "The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food," describes his thoughts surrounding the 3,000-person town of Hardwick, Vermont. In its past, Hardwick was known as an industrial-driven locale with more bars per capita than any other town in the nation. But recent economic woes led to many layoffs within the region -- hard for any community's recovery, especially when the median income was 25% below the state average. Fortunately, through these hardships, a shift towards sustainable agriculture evolved, and eco-friendly farming procedures and natural-foods restaurants became more common. Now, the town is practically a mecca for all things organically-grown, even earning a spotlight in The New York Times as well as on celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse's new TV series "Emeril Green."
Readers of Hewitt's new book will be taken on a slow ride through this agricultural community, enjoying the down-to-earth stories of the people who make the town what it is. However, they'll also discover that the hardest thing for the town to deal with is, in fact, what it's so famous for. Due to the current unemployment rates, Hewitt surmises that many of the town's residents cannot even afford to take part in the organic food movement that has led to its fame and fortune.
Says Hewitt, "How many Hardwick residents actually eat soy products? A few, no doubt, but certainly not the majority. And how many of them can afford to buy cheese that costs upward of $20 a pound? These people are not lining up for organic milk lattes and tofu smoothies."
So why did he move away from his freelancing gigs at Popular Mechanics and Men's Journal to write this rural memoir?
"Ultimately, it's my hope that people will feel empowered by this book. Maybe that empowerment is in the shape of the garden they turn over in their back yard, or maybe it comes in the form of resolve to support the local farmers, businesses, and citizens of their community. If this book can in any way inspire people to become more engaged in their food and community, I'll be really, really happy."
Ben Hewitt's "The Town That Food Saved" is available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will be released on March 16, 2010.
Source: Rutland Herald
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