Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal

Local food sounds simple until the rulebook gets involved. Written from a seasoned ecological farmer’s perspective, this book tackles why buying food from nearby producers can be expensive and difficult. Its central argument is that regulations favor industrial, global operations over local alternatives. That gives the wonderfully exasperated title something substantial to complain about.

If you’ve ever looked at local food prices and wondered how the shorter trip became the pricier option, this offers an angle worth exploring. The focus is on bureaucratic controls shaping what consumers can buy, rather than another appeal to eat locally because it feels virtuous. I’d pick it for someone more interested in the obstacles between a local farmer and a willing customer than in another celebration of farmers’ markets.

The appeal is hearing the argument from someone on the farming side of the problem, where rules affect what can reach a buyer. The drawback is that specific lens: I’d want another perspective before treating a farmer’s case against bureaucracy as the whole story of food regulation.