We are proud to announce that author Julie Castillo has signed a contract with Ruka Press to publish her first book, tentatively titled Opting Out of Industrial Food: Feed Your Family and Your Worldview for Less than You Pay at the Supermarket. Publication is initially planned for late in 2014.

Opting Out is a guide to choosing delicious, healthy, environmentally friendly, affordable food for your family. The antidote to overpriced, boutique “natural” foods on the one hand and unhealthy processed food products on the other, this book is a guide to transforming your relationship with food from routine to blissful. It shows readers how to buy local, organic, and sustainably grown food for less than they pay at the supermarket. It’s not written to persuade but to inform, with the goal of helping people act on the choice they’ve already made to eat purposefully and buy responsibly.

“I heard dozens of voices, on TV, radio, and the Internet, grumbling that local organic food was much more expensive, and not one voice suggesting that it could be cheaper,” Castillo said. “I decided to be that one voice.”

Opting Out is a practical guide aimed at American families who have had it with the foods available at most supermarkets. It will appeal to members of the no-cook generation, who have never roasted a whole chicken or seen the inside of a butternut squash, and have started to suspect they’re missing something. It will be a worthy follow-up to books like Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, and John Robbins’ Food Revolution.

Castillo, who lives with her family in Frederick, Maryland, is a college anthropology and writing instructor with a Masters degree in sociocultural anthropology from Catholic University. Although this is her first self-written book, she is a fourteen-year veteran of the publishing industry. She has co-written or ghost-written a number of books — including Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura’s two autobiographies (both New York Times bestsellers) and two popular books for Ripley’s Believe It or Not! — under the name Julie Mooney. She has taught creative writing and publishing at community colleges since 2007. She is on Twitter at @CastilloJulie.

In keeping with the book’s environmental focus and Ruka Press’ philosophy, Opting Out of Industrial Food will be published on 100 percent recycled paper, as well as in appropriate e-book editions. “We’re very excited about adding Julie to our roster of authors,” said Daniel Kohan, founder and editor-in-chief of Ruka Press. “We believe the time is right for a book that demystifies and simplifies the world of sustainable food for ordinary consumers.”

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