Allen seeks a variety of answersto questions ranging from how tomatoes get to our dinner table to why somedon’t taste very appetizing once they get there. Ripe reads in anengaging and evocative style, often with a firsthand perspective as Allenrecounts his experiences of picking tomatoes with immigrant workers andspeaking with the corporate giants that have institutionalized the tomato intoour diets. A surprisingly dramatic tale that examines the variety, flavor andtexture of tomatoes through a combination of reporting, research andnarratives, Ripe: The Search for the Perfect Tomato will make readerscrave the elusive “perfect” tomato as well as appreciate the effect of foodproduction on public health and the environment.
Allen has served as an AssociatedPress foreign correspondent and a contributor for numerous magazines andnewspapers, from The New York TimesMagazine to The Washington Post.%uFFFDAllen is currently the science reporter forWashingtonIndependent.com. He will be discussing Ripe at Boswell Book Co. on Sunday, July 25,from 2-3 p.m.%uFFFDBoswellwill also host a Green Market from 2-6p.m. that afternoon.
On Wednesday, July 28, at 6 p.m.at the Haggerty Museum of Art, poet,essayist and nature writer Tim McNulty will deliver a presentation based on hisbook Olympic National Park: A Natural History.McNulty is a passionate spokesman on environmentalpreservation and has penned numerous publications on natural history. His workshave won the National Outdoor Book Award and the Washington State Governor’sWriters Award.%uFFFDIn additionto his appearance at the Haggerty, McNulty will appear the next day, July 29,at 7 p.m. at Woodland Pattern BookCenter to read some of his poetry.
