Diet for a Small Planet (Revised and Updated)

By: Frances Moore Lappé

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

Discover a way of eating that revolutionized the meaning of our food choices and sold more than 3 million copies—now in a 50th-anniversary edition with a timely introduction plus new and updated plant-centered recipes

“Frances Moore Lappé is one of the few people who can credibly be said to have changed the way we eat—and one of an even smaller group to have done it for the better.”—The New York Times

In 1971, Diet for a Small Planet broke new ground, revealing how our everyday acts are a form of power to create health for ourselves and our planet. This extraordinary book first exposed the needless waste built into a meat-centered diet. Now, in a special edition for its 50th anniversary, world-renowned food expert Frances Moore Lappé goes even deeper, showing us how plant-centered eating can help restore our damaged ecology, address the climate crisis, and move us toward real democracy. Sharing her personal journey and how this revolutionary book shaped her own life, Lappé offers a fascinating philosophy on changing yourself—and the world—that can start with changing the way we eat.

This new edition features eighty-five updated plant-centered recipes, including more than a dozen new delights from celebrity chefs including Mark Bittman, Padma Lakshmi, Alice Waters, José Andrés, Bryant Terry, Mollie Katzen, and Sean Sherman.

*Includes a downloadable PDF of charts, graphs and recipes from the book

Critic reviews

“A small number of people in every generation are forerunners—in thought, action, spirit—who swerve past the barriers of greed and power to hold a torch high for the rest of us. Lappé is one of those.”—Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States

“Since the publication of [Diet for a Small Planet,] a movement dedicated to the reform of the food system has taken root in America. Lappé’s groundbreaking book connected the dots between something as ordinary and all-American as a hamburger and the environmental crisis, as well as world hunger.”—Michael Pollan, The Nation

Interesting book but.

I really like a lot of the information in this book and felt like there were a lot of very valid and interesting information. However, I could have done without the details of the author’s accomplishments. A summary would have been better. Also, I felt like, at times, the book was more about a political agenda than encouraging people to eat a healthier and more sustainable diet. I work in healthcare and would agree with the author that the standard American diet (sad diet) is unhealthy and causes a lot of preventable health problems. The information in this book seams to be well researched and the connections between large corporations and our food supply was very interesting as well as a little frightening. After listening to this book I feel better informed and also inspired to eat a more plant based diet.

Regrets for not learning of this author earlier

Fascinating that Frances was such a pioneer and early adopter of the lifestyle. Reinforces all I’ve learned to date about the greed and political motivation of the food industry and conglomerates holding these companies.