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Tangled Routes: Women, Work, and Globalization on the Tomato Trail
Where does our food come from? And what impact does its production have on the earth, on the women workers who move it from field to table, and on all who eat it? Tangled Routes follows a corporate tomato from a Mexican field through the United States to a Canadian table, examining in its wake the dynamic relationship between production and consumption, work and technology, health and environment, bio-diversity and cultural diversity.
After tracing the tomato's journey through space and time (routes and roots), three case studies--a Mexican agribusiness, a Canadian supermarket, and a U.S.-owned fast-food restaurant--offer a view of globalization from above (corporate profiles), globalization from below (stories of women who plant, pick, pack, scan, slice, and sell tomatoes), and "the other globalization" (acts of resistance and alternatives to the corporate model).
Tangled Routes grew out of a unique six-year collaborative project involving feminist academics, activists, and popular educators from Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Written in an accessible style and integrating over 100 photographs, this critical introduction to complex issues ends with signs of hope--creative responses by local and global movements for social justice and environmental sustainability.
Canadian distribution rights for Tangled Routes are held by Garamond Press. All purchases and examination or desk copy requests within Canada should be directed to Garamond Press. The book can be accessed via the Garamond Press website via the following
After tracing the tomato's journey through space and time (routes and roots), three case studies--a Mexican agribusiness, a Canadian supermarket, and a U.S.-owned fast-food restaurant--offer a view of globalization from above (corporate profiles), globalization from below (stories of women who plant, pick, pack, scan, slice, and sell tomatoes), and "the other globalization" (acts of resistance and alternatives to the corporate model).
Tangled Routes grew out of a unique six-year collaborative project involving feminist academics, activists, and popular educators from Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Written in an accessible style and integrating over 100 photographs, this critical introduction to complex issues ends with signs of hope--creative responses by local and global movements for social justice and environmental sustainability.
Canadian distribution rights for Tangled Routes are held by Garamond Press. All purchases and examination or desk copy requests within Canada should be directed to Garamond Press. The book can be accessed via the Garamond Press website via the following
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 2002
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December 21, 2025it’s nice to remember that there didn’t used to be produce all year, and how our geographies are so different now because there is
August 17, 2016
I had to write a critical analysis of this book for a course I was taking so I figured I'd add it here too.
Deborah Barndt's book Tangled Routes: Women, Work, and Globalization on the Tomato Trail focuses on the long and typically convoluted journey of the tomato from planting to consumption as a means to examine food routes and commodity chains through an intersectional lens. Barndt draws on her experiences and discussions with the women who work for the companies involved in tomatoes throughout their journey. Barndt focuses on the women who are employed by the producers in Mexico, those who leave their families for long periods in order to increase the family income, those who follow the harvests all across North America, as well as the women who work at McDonald's and cash registers at grocery stores.
By considering gender, ethnicity, geography, and class, Barndt observes gendered labour, workers' rights, and consumerism in a multi-faceted manner, enabling a thorough argument of her thesis that the consumerism that has affected foot routes has been detrimental to women, their families, and to society both in terms of culture and health. Barndt argues that by commercializing the growth of produce, families have turned from largely self-sufficiency through family farming to needing to purchase produce, and because they need to purchase the food, more family members must work in order to pay for the additional expense. Furthermore, changes in production, through modified seed and a dependence on chemical fertilizer, mean that families cannot afford to be self-sufficient as they would need to purchase new seed annually. As more family members are needed to work to ensure the family can afford their necessities, the family dinner and family time suffers. Health also suffers for those who work to get consumers their food, from the field workers who are directly exposed to pesticides without adequate protection, to the supermarket cashiers who must stand for long hours and repeat motions that can cause injury.
The scope of the book covers the history of the tomato from an Indigenous crop to a colonized global commodity, and the distancing between ourselves and the people and land that give us food due to the vast commercialization of farming. For each case study and each part of the process, Barndt discusses the issues by examining them in the pairings: production/consumption, biodiversity/cultural diversity, work/technology, and health/environment.
In approaching reading Barndt's book, I had the expectation that she would discuss how food routes currently function, how they have changed through history, what affected those changes have had, how those changes affected women, if the changes were positive or negative and how the negative changes can be addressed. Each expectation held at the start of the book was achieved by the book's end. Barndt explained, in detail, the changes from a traditional agrarian society where food was grown and consumed locally in keeping with sustainable growing practices and the demand of the local families to the global commodity chain of which we are now familiar. Currently food is grown thousands of kilometres away and shipped with technologies that not only provide our grocery stores with the perfect tomato but also the manipulation of the fruit through chemical process that slow its ripening until it is at the warehouse doors. She explains how these changes have been affected though colonialism and forcing European farming practices and short term technologies on Mexican soil in the name of profits to the detriment of the environment.
Barndt also discusses the effect the changes to the global food chain have had on the women at many stops along the way. Mexican women are working for tomato producers for pay, going home to work their own farms, and then performing the household duties that fall disproportionately to the women in a household; and the North American women whose work is largely flexible and part time so that the employers can have staff available for their busiest times only and not have to pay benefits to increase their bottom line, and who also work double duty by doing a disproportionate share of the housework.
After spending seven chapters discussing the changes that have been made and how they have adversely affected the land, the environment, and the people, Barndt provides, in chapter eight, a lengthy list of the things that have been done at both the individual and organizational levels in order to effect positive change in the global food chain. She also details the ways that those efforts have worked and how they have been limited. For instance, when the Coalition of Immokalee Workers convinced McDonald's to pay more for tomatoes, so that production employee wages could go up, the deal only affected the grape tomatoes that McDonald's uses in their high-end salads (p. 409). Although the efforts made by individuals and organizations do not tend to have perfect outcomes, it is important to see what can be done so that upon reading all of the negative aspects of the global food chain, the reader is able to take their energies and target them in ways that can be effective.
The book is logically constructed by bringing the reader from common historical to common present day agricultural practices. Barndt explains how historical practices benefited not only people but the land and environment, and how present day practices benefit corporations. Once the changes in practice have been laid out for the reader, Barndt presents case studies to cement the information presented concerning the detrimental effects these practices have made in the lives of women. This is followed by ideas for the reader to use and build upon should they be inspired enough to contribute.
It could certainly be argued that Barndt is biased in her delivery of the information in this book as she does not have any pro-capitalism arguments; however, she is reflexive and writes that her opinions have been formed through decades of work and activism in the Americas surrounding this issue (p.117). While one might argue that her book is not pro-capitalist, it is easy to see that the reason for that is because her arguments are informed through research – both her own and that of others. Barndt’s writing is accessible, making what could easily be a dull subject engaging. Her mixed methods approach to delivering her argument also makes for easier reading by providing statistics to assuage the analytical, combined with case studies and stories in order to give the numbers some gravity. The sources Barndt uses are varied and seem to be appropriate for the subject matter at hand. By marrying scholarly environmental experts like Vandana Shiva and Belinda Martineau with the women who are directly affected, the reader is able to be thoroughly informed.
In conclusion, it is my opinion that Barndt’s book is a thorough and thoughtful summary of the issues that have arisen due to European agriculture technology. The only thing that I felt was missing from her book would be the reason(s) why food corporations cannot simply move to a crop rotation system similar to the historic model; however, it did encourage me to seek out those reasons for my own edification which I would not have thought to do without the book. It is my position that Tangles Routes is an exemplary book to use to introduce the reader to the issue of global food chains and the many things that are affected by them.
Deborah Barndt's book Tangled Routes: Women, Work, and Globalization on the Tomato Trail focuses on the long and typically convoluted journey of the tomato from planting to consumption as a means to examine food routes and commodity chains through an intersectional lens. Barndt draws on her experiences and discussions with the women who work for the companies involved in tomatoes throughout their journey. Barndt focuses on the women who are employed by the producers in Mexico, those who leave their families for long periods in order to increase the family income, those who follow the harvests all across North America, as well as the women who work at McDonald's and cash registers at grocery stores.
By considering gender, ethnicity, geography, and class, Barndt observes gendered labour, workers' rights, and consumerism in a multi-faceted manner, enabling a thorough argument of her thesis that the consumerism that has affected foot routes has been detrimental to women, their families, and to society both in terms of culture and health. Barndt argues that by commercializing the growth of produce, families have turned from largely self-sufficiency through family farming to needing to purchase produce, and because they need to purchase the food, more family members must work in order to pay for the additional expense. Furthermore, changes in production, through modified seed and a dependence on chemical fertilizer, mean that families cannot afford to be self-sufficient as they would need to purchase new seed annually. As more family members are needed to work to ensure the family can afford their necessities, the family dinner and family time suffers. Health also suffers for those who work to get consumers their food, from the field workers who are directly exposed to pesticides without adequate protection, to the supermarket cashiers who must stand for long hours and repeat motions that can cause injury.
The scope of the book covers the history of the tomato from an Indigenous crop to a colonized global commodity, and the distancing between ourselves and the people and land that give us food due to the vast commercialization of farming. For each case study and each part of the process, Barndt discusses the issues by examining them in the pairings: production/consumption, biodiversity/cultural diversity, work/technology, and health/environment.
In approaching reading Barndt's book, I had the expectation that she would discuss how food routes currently function, how they have changed through history, what affected those changes have had, how those changes affected women, if the changes were positive or negative and how the negative changes can be addressed. Each expectation held at the start of the book was achieved by the book's end. Barndt explained, in detail, the changes from a traditional agrarian society where food was grown and consumed locally in keeping with sustainable growing practices and the demand of the local families to the global commodity chain of which we are now familiar. Currently food is grown thousands of kilometres away and shipped with technologies that not only provide our grocery stores with the perfect tomato but also the manipulation of the fruit through chemical process that slow its ripening until it is at the warehouse doors. She explains how these changes have been affected though colonialism and forcing European farming practices and short term technologies on Mexican soil in the name of profits to the detriment of the environment.
Barndt also discusses the effect the changes to the global food chain have had on the women at many stops along the way. Mexican women are working for tomato producers for pay, going home to work their own farms, and then performing the household duties that fall disproportionately to the women in a household; and the North American women whose work is largely flexible and part time so that the employers can have staff available for their busiest times only and not have to pay benefits to increase their bottom line, and who also work double duty by doing a disproportionate share of the housework.
After spending seven chapters discussing the changes that have been made and how they have adversely affected the land, the environment, and the people, Barndt provides, in chapter eight, a lengthy list of the things that have been done at both the individual and organizational levels in order to effect positive change in the global food chain. She also details the ways that those efforts have worked and how they have been limited. For instance, when the Coalition of Immokalee Workers convinced McDonald's to pay more for tomatoes, so that production employee wages could go up, the deal only affected the grape tomatoes that McDonald's uses in their high-end salads (p. 409). Although the efforts made by individuals and organizations do not tend to have perfect outcomes, it is important to see what can be done so that upon reading all of the negative aspects of the global food chain, the reader is able to take their energies and target them in ways that can be effective.
The book is logically constructed by bringing the reader from common historical to common present day agricultural practices. Barndt explains how historical practices benefited not only people but the land and environment, and how present day practices benefit corporations. Once the changes in practice have been laid out for the reader, Barndt presents case studies to cement the information presented concerning the detrimental effects these practices have made in the lives of women. This is followed by ideas for the reader to use and build upon should they be inspired enough to contribute.
It could certainly be argued that Barndt is biased in her delivery of the information in this book as she does not have any pro-capitalism arguments; however, she is reflexive and writes that her opinions have been formed through decades of work and activism in the Americas surrounding this issue (p.117). While one might argue that her book is not pro-capitalist, it is easy to see that the reason for that is because her arguments are informed through research – both her own and that of others. Barndt’s writing is accessible, making what could easily be a dull subject engaging. Her mixed methods approach to delivering her argument also makes for easier reading by providing statistics to assuage the analytical, combined with case studies and stories in order to give the numbers some gravity. The sources Barndt uses are varied and seem to be appropriate for the subject matter at hand. By marrying scholarly environmental experts like Vandana Shiva and Belinda Martineau with the women who are directly affected, the reader is able to be thoroughly informed.
In conclusion, it is my opinion that Barndt’s book is a thorough and thoughtful summary of the issues that have arisen due to European agriculture technology. The only thing that I felt was missing from her book would be the reason(s) why food corporations cannot simply move to a crop rotation system similar to the historic model; however, it did encourage me to seek out those reasons for my own edification which I would not have thought to do without the book. It is my position that Tangles Routes is an exemplary book to use to introduce the reader to the issue of global food chains and the many things that are affected by them.
November 11, 2021
Clearly an enormous amount of research has gone into this book. Barndt, a Canadian academic, traces the journey of the Mexican tomatoes (or Mexican-picked tomatoes) that end up in Canada. Through this, she investigates the role of women in the tomato industry: overworked, underpaid, and exploited. More so in Mexico than Canada, although the exploration of how part-time employees (overwhelmingly women) in Canadian fast food restaurants and supermarkets doesn't exactly paint a shining picture of equality either. The epilogue, in which Barndt takes one of her Mexican worker friends to the airport after her season picking tomatoes in Canada is over is frankly shocking: this seasonal worker, and all the others like her, not only travel in a cargo plane but are literally listed as cargo themselves.
In general, the intersection of gender and race and how it applies to food production is done really well, and limiting the study to the production of a single fruit focuses it down to manageable level. That said, it took me months to read this, and I very nearly gave it a lower score. Once I got to around the middle of the book, things picked up - mostly because this was when the interviews with different women become more of a focus, as did the circumstances of their lives. I remember the first quarter or so as a tedious theoretical slog, however, and the regular return to theory at various points during the narrative did far less to make the intersectional connections clear than the bits that dealt with actual people. I'm glad I slogged through to the good parts, because this really is an interesting and valuable book, but my goodness, it took a while for me to get into it.
In general, the intersection of gender and race and how it applies to food production is done really well, and limiting the study to the production of a single fruit focuses it down to manageable level. That said, it took me months to read this, and I very nearly gave it a lower score. Once I got to around the middle of the book, things picked up - mostly because this was when the interviews with different women become more of a focus, as did the circumstances of their lives. I remember the first quarter or so as a tedious theoretical slog, however, and the regular return to theory at various points during the narrative did far less to make the intersectional connections clear than the bits that dealt with actual people. I'm glad I slogged through to the good parts, because this really is an interesting and valuable book, but my goodness, it took a while for me to get into it.
January 28, 2012
I don't think I have ever related to a school book this much.
For my second semester in USA as an international student it was time for me to specify some sociology classes (my major). My first choice was of course to take the class "Global Culture, Sociology 35" and I do not regret it.
This book was the main book and it's in my shelf at home today (no way I could sell it back!)
The author Deborah barndt was researching the people behind the life of a single tomato, the so called "tomato trail" from Mexico, across the United States to Canada via the free trade organization NAFTA.
This is a book I actually could read for fun, and it really fits my university studies as a "Global Development" major in Sweden now.
Highly recomend this if you are interested in where food comes from and what people must go through in order for you to have it on your plate. Rich on interviews from ordinairy peoples lives and it makes you question and value food more.
For my second semester in USA as an international student it was time for me to specify some sociology classes (my major). My first choice was of course to take the class "Global Culture, Sociology 35" and I do not regret it.
This book was the main book and it's in my shelf at home today (no way I could sell it back!)
The author Deborah barndt was researching the people behind the life of a single tomato, the so called "tomato trail" from Mexico, across the United States to Canada via the free trade organization NAFTA.
This is a book I actually could read for fun, and it really fits my university studies as a "Global Development" major in Sweden now.
Highly recomend this if you are interested in where food comes from and what people must go through in order for you to have it on your plate. Rich on interviews from ordinairy peoples lives and it makes you question and value food more.
December 7, 2011
Wow so I have a lot to say about this book, but I will start with it is very repetitive! I think the overall point of this is to inform students of the issues hidden behind things. Reading this in an Anthroplogy course left me really confused, but as I've thought about it and discussed it in class. This book helped me figure out some things about society and politics (on a more personal level). If you are interested in food activism you should read this. If you are interested in progressive thought you should read this. If you aren't interested in either of those, you should read it to gain some perspective, and help you figure out some things. As a fiscal conservative (classical liberal) this book has actually helped me sort through the criticisms of free trade, and made known the issues. There is a for my generation to think about.
November 1, 2007
Tangled Routes examines the "tomato trail" in North America through a social ecofeminist lens. Deborah Barndt examines different stops along this trail through stories from women - cashiers at grocery stores and McDonalds and Mexican and indigenous farm workers - and frames - work/technology, production/consumption, environment/health. Not only is the analysis ecofeminist, the production of the book is as well. Barndt returns profiles and sometimes critiques of profiles along with pictures of the women to the profiled women. The women sometimes edited their profiles and provided feedback to analysis. Barndt, also, introduced women from different points on the trail to each other when feasible economically.
March 8, 2009
Tangled Routes was an amazing work from Barndt that broken down the complexity of the tomato trail. Tangled Routes was also an amazing resource for anyone who wishes to do ethical research. Barndt's research and writing is transparent, honest, and shares the authentic voice of the women she collaborated with throughout her study. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about our food system and the people who are effected by it.
March 9, 2013
Read this for class: Ethics of Globalization with Dr. Allison Wolf. It was a great eye-opener to the elaborate and corrupt world of globalization just related to tomatoes. It is not the most scholarly of writings, but it is easy to read and serves as a great introduction to the topic of globalization.
December 16, 2013
This was a hard book to get through for me. Interesting though.
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