We didn't ask for books for the holiday, mostly because we like to pick our own, but a list complied by Grist has us ready to head to our local indie bookstore.

Grist, the Seattle-based environmental blog, asked a bunch of well-known foodies to tell us about the books they considered the most important books they read in 2010. Anna Lappe, Michael Pollan, Ruth Reichl and others provide a broad variety of great reads.

Which books do they nominate and are they ones you have read? Here are several on the list:

• Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food, by Paul Greenberg. The author explores the history and current status of four fish which have long dominated the world's seafood market: tuna, salmon, bass and cod.

• Free for All: Fixing School Food in America, by Janet Poppendieck. I stopped eating school lunches when I came face to shin with mock chicken leg, but unappetizing dishes are just one of the problems in our nation's schools. Poppendieck examines a system that willfully feeds our children unhealthy foods such as tacos and pizza and proposes bold solutions.

• Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town, by Nick Reding. What does an in-depth exploration of the meth epidemic have to do with food, you might be asking (we did)? Farmer Greg Massa says Big Ag is implicated in the meth mess, first by supplying the nitrogen fertilizers used in meth production to the economic collapse of rural America driven by increasingly big, centralized industrial farming.

You can see the whole list here. Any they missed? Give us your suggestions in the comments section below.