The Third Plate by chef Dan Barber is a non-fiction book that examines agriculture, food, and sustainability, which he argues for a new way of thinking about America’s food system. Barber explores how our current system is unsustainable and unhealthy for American’s, and tries to find new ways to change the system by visiting several farms, restaurants, and high class chefs.
Barber used a storytelling technique in his writing to convey his viewpoints and facts from a historical illustration, personal experiences, and modern day systems. In the opening part of The Third Plate, Barber tells a historic story about a farmer from Spain who created new ways to modify his wheat in a healthier and tastier way. This opening set a tone for the rest of the book by establishing his approach to exploring sustainable agriculture.
Another element of Barber’s writing was his analogies and metaphors. Throughout the entirety of The Third Plate, he was constantly comparing the food system to other complex systems to make his points more relatable to readers, like the complexity of ecosystems or the human body. For example, he uses the analogy of comparing soil vs to the human gut. They both break down things for nutrients and digestion.
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One of the first pages of the book, he began to share his experiences when he was a kid working on a farm like, “I helped make hay for winter storage from one of eight pastures,” (Barber 3). He eventually goes on to tell of his success as a chef when he said, “I was confronted with a question from a food magazine,” (Barber 17). With all of his stories of success from the introduction, it conveys the reader to believe that Dan Barber is a credible source, convincing them to keep reading the