Eating on a Mountain at the End of the World: How I Found Love, Humor, and Beauty in My Quest for Ethical Food

by Zackary Vernon

Genres: Nonfiction

156 pages, Hardcover

Published June 2, 2026

About the author

Zackary Vernon is a writer and scholar based in Boone, North Carolina. His work has appeared in a range of magazines and journals, including The Bitter Southerner, Carolina Quarterly, and Southern Cultures, and he has received both the Alex Albright Creative Nonfiction Prize and the Randall Kenan Prize from the North Carolina Literary Review. He is the author of the YA novel Our Bodies Electric.

Reviews

[Jim]

Really great stuff. A mix of memoir, reportage, field notes, and scholarship. It'll make you want to eat better, live healthier, and probably raise some chickens.

[Autumn]

An engaging/thought-provoking/educational read that will make you want to visit Boone and also make you very hungry.

[Fathi]

Copy received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Firstly, an honest apology...this should have been out months ago.
Rating: 4⭐
Medium Read: 📱

An incredibly thought-provoking read. As a non-American university student whose main environmental achievements included recycling, a singular beach clean-up and eating free-range eggs, this served as a rude awakening to become more proactive.

Each chapter took us on a journey, memoir-esque eco-centric experiences from Boone, to Against the Grain and F.A.R.M. Cafe; each new individual introduced or action participated in exposed the reader to new ideas or ways forward. It truly felt as if the reader was an important contributor towards this valiant quest of ethical food sourcing.

The raw experience of living in Appalachia was presented. As someone who dreams of subsistence mountain living, this was informative. I will admit all the peeing through me for a loop...

I do have some minor disagreements with some points the author made, but these might stem from personal or religious views and in no way impacted my overall reading experience. My main concern is that it failed to address people from developing nations. Citizens of developed countries or the wealthy from developing countries have different resources available to aid them.

However, this was a moving read that I would highly recommend.