May 15, 2012 / Leslie

First Chapter First Paragraph – Tuesday Intros

First Chapter Tuesday, Food, Future, Non-Fiction

Welcome to First Chapter Tuesday, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea.

I’m tired of looking through landscaping books. My front garden project is starting to take shape in my mind and I’m ready to start digging. The only way to do it is to “do it”!

This morning I looked through my stack of review books, glanced at the blurb and the first few paragraphs, and decided that The Taste of Tomorrow would be my next book.

The Taste of Tomorrow by Josh Schonwald

Publication Date: April 10, 2012
Publisher: Harper

What’s It About?

In The Taste of Tomorrow, journalist Josh Schonwald sets out on a journey to investigate the future of food. His quest takes him across the country and into farms and labs around the globe… a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse at what we eat today—and what we’ll be eating tomorrow.

First few paragraphs:

Prologue: Gastropub 2035

Imagine that you are extremely hungry. You want a burger and a beer, and you will be sating your appetite in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Also, please consider that the date of this beer and burger quest is not now, or next year, but July 25, 2035.

You choose to go to Moby’s, a pub on Tejon Street.

You sit down in a booth. You check out the menu on your 10G iPhone.

Moby’s has a Real Beef Burger special tonight – a quarter pound of grass-fed, free-range, antibiotic-free Hereford; char-grilled, topped with coarsely ground Balinese long pepper, slathered with white cheddar and homemade papaya ketchup, with a side of cassava fries and choice soup or salad. Sounds fine. It’s sixty dollars – it’s by far the most expensive thing on the menu.

The waitress, detecting your price point discomfort, notes that “its real meat”. She suggests another burger – that’s almost as good – and is only ten dollars. “We have cow meat, bison, chicken, and port – all fresh out of the bioreactor. We have an excellent meat-grower.”

Would you want to continue reading?