Briefly Noted: "Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket"

It's not every writer who can get away with calling downtown Lincoln, Nebraska "hip," but Brian Halweil pulls it off. Halweil, a senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, studies the social and ecological impact of our food supply.

His recent book, "Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket" (2004, 236 pp.) argues that eating local "is better for your health, for farmers, and for the planet." (vii.) Halweil describes the economic, environmental, and health problems associated with agribusiness. He sees a solution to the broken agricultural system in the burgeoning local food movement, which shortens the distance between farmers and the people who buy their food. Halweil argues that the local food movement will benefit family farms, and offer substantial health, safety, and environmental advantages.