Celebrated New York chef Dan Barber has been making the rounds this past month. He’s promoting his hefty new book, “The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food.” More than that, he’s trying to shake up the American diet.

As chef of Blue Hill restaurants in Manhattan and at Stone Barns (the latter set on a nonprofit farm and agricultural center in Pocantico Hills, New York), Barber has long done just that, but recently his arguments have shifted. For going on two decades, he has eloquently and deliciously championed heirloom vegetables and heritage animal breeds. In “The Third Plate,” he advocates for healthy soil.

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WHOLE-GRAIN HOMEMADE PANCAKE MIX

My parents keep jars of this at their summer home in Vermont, where there is always a large pancake-hungry crowd for breakfast. The recipe originally came from Dora Coates, a dear friend of my sister Carolyn. To Dan Barber’s point, for the “other” flour, use some combination of ground oats, ground millet, rye, and buckwheat flour; you can also toast some of the whole millet lightly in a sauté pan and add it to the mix for crunch.

For the pancake mix:

4 cups whole wheat flour

3 cups white flour

5 cups other flour (see recipe note)

8 teaspoons baking powder

4 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

For the pancakes:

1 cup buttermilk 

1 tablespoon melted butter or oil

1 egg, lightly beaten

To make the pancake mix, whisk together all the ingredients and store in a jar in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to make pancakes, whisk together the buttermilk, butter and egg and add to 1 cup mix. Stir to combine. (This amount makes enough for 3 to 4 people.) Cook pancakes in a hot, greased griddle or skillet.

Pioneering organic gardener Robert Rodale was famously known to say, “Feed the soil and it will feed the crop.” In turn, Barber would add, it will feed us. In practical terms, Barber says that means eating items that, when growing, are beneficial to the soil.

This recipe for homemade pancake mix can incorporate oats, millet, rye and buckwheat. All are cover crops that naturally suppress weeds by competing with them for space, water, sunlight and nutrients (so you can skip the Roundup). Packed with whole grains, these pancakes not only boost the soil, but they also give a boost to eaters.

Find “The Third Plate,” well worth reading, at Longfellow Books in Portland and elsewhere.

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