“It’s no coincidence that the epidemic of diet-related illnesses now sweeping the country—obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes—are harming blacks the most. They are most likely to be poor, to live in communities without supermarkets, farmers markets, or produce stores.”

Eric Schlosser, author of the Foreword, discusses the relevance of Allen’s efforts as they relate to urgent health issues in underprivileged communities. Allen also discusses the pervasive nature of diet-related health problems in black communities as a significant source of motivation.

“When I was growing up, she rarely spoke of her Southern past, as if it were a secret that was best not talked about in polite company. She told my brothers and me that she liked the taste of every vegetable except asparagus—she simply had picked too much of it.”

Allen describes his mother, Willie Mae, and her own history with farming and growing food. This introduction to the agricultural life was a complicated one for Allen; parts of him absorbed the value of such work and the potential for enjoying farming, while other parts inherited a resistance to farming. Willie Mae would have understood Allen’s reluctance as she herself had experienced it in her own life.

“I believe that equal access to healthy, affordable food should be a civil right—every bit as important as access to clean air, clean water, or the right to vote.”

Allen asserts his political views early on in his book, establishing his vision of urban agriculture as a something much more than a personal goal or preference. This assertion reflects his understanding of the complicated nature of race and social hierarchy in America, as well as his idealism and his desire to serve the larger community.