Let's eat Grandpa!

Borrowed from: the Sacramento Library

Rating: 8 out of 10

Synopsis (from Publishers Weekly): Novelist Kingsolver recounts a year spent eating home-grown food and, if not that, local. Accomplished gardeners, the Kingsolver clan grow a large garden in southern Appalachia and spend summers “putting food by,” as the classic kitchen title goes. They make pickles, chutney and mozzarella; they jar tomatoes, braid garlic and stuff turkey sausage. Nine-year-old Lily runs a heritage poultry business, selling eggs and meat. What they don’t raise (lamb, beef, apples) comes from local farms. Come winter, they feast on root crops and canned goods, menus slouching toward asparagus. Along the way, the Kingsolver family, having given up industrial meat years before, abandons its vegetarian ways and discovers the pleasures of conscientious carnivory.This field—local food and sustainable agriculture—is crowded with books in increasingly predictable flavors: the earnest manual, diary of an epicure, the environmental battle cry, the accidental gardener. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is all of these, and much smarter.

My review: I am definitely becoming a food hippie. The following thoughts went through my head while reading this book: “Ooh, I could definitely make my own cheese.” “I wish I had a yard so I could get some chickens.” “I think I’ll do some canning next year.” This from the girl who can barely fry an egg. Who eats toast for dinner. Who has an unnatural love for Sour Patch Kids. All that aside, I thought this was a really informative book. I’m fascinated by eating locally to support local growers and to cut down on the ridiculous cost (to growers, economies, the environment, etc.) of getting so much food from so far away. I’ve been shopping for my veggies and eggs almost exclusively at the farmer’s market now, and I can tell you — soooo much better than a lot of stuff at the grocery store (although I’ve noticed that Safeway has quite a bit of food labled “local” lately). I’m lucky to live in California for this reason — we have a much longer growing season here than my poor friends in Maine. I also like the idea of getting food while it’s in season and finding a way to preserve it for the winter (canning, freezing, etc.). I loved hearing from not only Kingsolver but her husband and oldest daughter. They were informative and often very funny, especially when talking about turkey mating. The book made me think a lot about why we eat what we eat and how we are so far removed from the farms that grow our food. Highly recommended if you’re interested in the stuff on your plate. (Finished 9/17/09)