Ben Hewitt

Good Germs, Bad Germs: Exploring the Relationship Between Humans, Bacteria and Food with Ben Hewitt

Ben is the author of two books about regional food systems and economies: The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food, and Making supper safe: One Man’s Quest to Learn the Truth About Food Safety. His latest book on food safety looks at the battle over food rights, genetically engineered salmon and the interplay between humans and the bacteria they consume through the food that we eat. In The Town That Food Saved, Ben tells of the story of a rural, working-class Vermont community that is attempting to blueprint and implement a localized food system. Ben was born and raised in northern Vermont, where he currently runs a small-scale, diversified hill farm with his family. He lives with his wife and two sons in a self-built home that is powered by a windmill and solar photovoltaic panels. To help offset his renewable energy footprint, Ben drives a really big truck. His work has appeared in numerous national periodicals, including the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Gourmet, Discover, Skiing, Eating Well, Yankee Magazine, Powder, Men’s Journal, National Geographic Adventure, and Outside. Find out more at www.benhewitt.net. Location: Blue Moon Evolution, 8 Clifford Street, Exeter, New Hampshire Price: $70 per person includes three-course, locally sourced dinner, a glass of wine and the seminar. Register here.

Location: Street: 8 Clifford Street City: Exeter, Province: New Hampshire Postal Code: 03833-2456 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Ben Hewitt reads from Making Supper Safe.

Ben Hewitt wowed us last year with his classic love letter to the local foods movement, The Town That Food Saved (just coming out now in paperback). Now he returns to Concord to share his new book, Making Supper Safe, a serious and sobering look at the dangerously flawed food system in the United States. Hewitt exposes the vulnerabilities inherent in the U.S. food industry, where the majority of our processing facilities are inspected only once every seven years, and where government agencies lack the necessary resources to act on early warning signs. But the most dangerous aspect of our food system isn't just its potential to make us acutely ill, but the ever expanding distance between us and our sources of nourishment. Hewitt introduces a vibrant cast of characters and revolutionaries who are reinventing how we grow, process, package, distribute, and protect our food, and even how we protect ourselves. He takes readers inside a food contamination trace-back investigation, goes dumpster diving, and talks to lawyers, policy makers, and families who have been affected by contaminated food. Making Supper Safe explains why we should worry, but it is also a quest to understand how we can learn to trust our food again. (bookconscious)… (more)

Ben Hewitt reads from The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food.

Vermont author and farmer Ben Hewitt presents his new book The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food. Like many rural communities throughout the United States, Hardwick, VT, was built on an industry that packed up its bags and left long ago. With a population of 3,200, a median income 25% below the state average and an unemployment rate 40% higher, the town suffered from a depressed economy for nearly a century. The Town That Food Saved chronicles a group of (mostly) young farmers and entrepreneurs who embarked on a quest to create the most comprehensive, functional and vibrant local food system in North America – bringing jobs to a region that desperately needed them and finding inventive ways to make a living off the Vermont farmland. Hewitt tells the remarkable story of one town’s transformation and what these changes might mean for the rest of us. Ben Hewitt was born in northwestern Vermont; his father was a poet and his mother worked on a nearby dairy farm. He now lives with his wife and two sons on a diversified, 40-acre farm in Vermont. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers. (lemontwist)… (more)

Ben Hewitt discusses The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food.

Ben Hewitt will discuss how, over the last three years, Hardwick Vermont has managed to jump-start its economy and redefine its self-image through a local, self-sustaining food system unlike anything else in America. Afterwards, Hewitt will be available to sign copies of his new book, The Town that Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food. Even as the recent financial downturn threatens to cripple small businesses and privately owned farms, a stunning number of food-based businesses have grown in the region - Vermont Soy, Jasper Hill Farm, Pete's Greens, Patchwork Farm & Bakery, Apple Cheek Farm, Claire's Restaurant and Bar, and Bonnieview Farm, to name only a few. The mostly young entrepreneurs have created a network of community support; they meet regularly to share advice, equipment, and business plans, and to loan each other capital. Hardwick is fast becoming a model for other communities to replicate its success. The captivating story of a small town coming back to life, The Town That Food Saved is narrative nonfiction at its best: full of "beguiling profiles" of colorful characters and grounded in an idea that will revolutionize the way we eat (Booklist). Ben Hewitt writes about sports and the outdoors for a wide variety of publications, including Bicycling, Men's Journal, Mountain Bike, Outside, and Skiing. He lives in Vermont. (phoenixbooksvt)… (more)

Ben Hewitt reads from The Town that Food Saved.

Books and programs about local foods have been very popular at Gibson's, and the subject has engaged the people of Concord for several years now. But we've never heard a story quite like this one--how a local foods movement can revitalize and literally save one small town. Over the past 3 years, Hardwick, Vermont, a typical hardscrabble farming community of 3,000 residents, has jump-started its economy and redefined its self-image through a local, self-sustaining food system unlike anything else in America. Even as the recent financial downturn threatens to cripple small businesses and privately owned farms, a stunning number of food-based businesses have grown in the region--Vermont Soy, Jasper Hill Farm, Pete's Greens, Patchwork Farm & Bakery, Apple Cheek Farm, Claire's Restaurant and Bar, and Bonnieview Farm, to name only a few. The mostly young entrepreneurs have created a network of community support; they meet regularly to share advice, equipment, and business plans, and to loan each other capital. Hardwick is fast becoming a model for other communities to replicate its success. The captivating story of a small town coming back to life, The Town That Food Saved is narrative nonfiction at its best: full of colorful characters and grounded in an idea that will revolutionize the way we eat. (bookconscious)… (more)