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I was fascinated by this book and have become greatly inspired by it.
From the cover: As the U.S. population made an unprecedented mad dash for the Sun Belt, on carload of us paddled against the tide, heading for the Promised Land where water falls from the sky and green stuff grows all around. We were about to begin the adventure of realigning our lives with our food chain. Naturally our first stop was to buy junk food and fossil fuel…This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew…and of how our family was changed by our first year o deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank that water, and breathed the air.
I am not even sure where to start with this book. This family moved out of the city, across the country to live on a farm and produce as much of their own food as possible. What they were not able to produce on their own, they vowed to obtain locally (w/in 100 miles or less of their new home). It is important to keep in mind that this is a family of means and the farm they moved to was one the already owned. It had been inherited by the husband years before. This fact took a bit of the awe away from the story since at first, I pictured a family with not a whole lot moving somewhere completely new and building there new home from scratch. I know I like to be dramatic like that. Clearly I was way off base but I was still in awe.
I think that one reason I was so fascinated by this book is because I long to move out of the city someday to a quieter more open place where I can hopefully have a small garden and just enjoy the fresh air and here was a family who had done just that.
What I liked:
- While this family did something that many families are not able to, it gave a lot of good information and easy ways that those of us who do live in a city can make a difference. For instance did you know that if each family in America ate just one meal each week from locally grown or produced ingredients we could reduce the nations oil consumption by 1.1 million barrels of oil each week. That’s barrels not gallons and each week not each year. That is a staggering figure!
- It has a lot of yummy recipes that can also be found on their website.
- It had helpful information about what goes into the food we find at the supermarket and sound arguments for eating organic. Some of it scared me a bit and some of it made me realize that there really are some simple solutions.
- It provided many sites for further information including how to find a farmer’s market near you. I learned of 3 other farmer’s markets in my city besides the one that I go to on Saturday mornings. This way if I miss Saturday or need something later in the week, I have other options open to me besides the market down the street.
- It had a lot of knowledge about what fruits and veggies are in season and when. Of course, this has a lot to do with whether or not you live in a place that experiences seasons. Here in So Cali, not so much.
- It made me think - really think. I didn’t agree with everything the book but it really did inspire me to make some easy changes to the food we buy and where we buy it from. I like it when the wheels turn.
What I didn’t like:
- There were few times when Kingsolver said something to the extent of ‘Unless you live in California, you won’t find ____ produce in season in your supermarket.’ She made it sound like living in CA means living in the land of plenty with ready access to locally grown produce.
Now I know that living in the land of sunshine allows for many more options and longer seasons for growing produce. Well, guess what? I live in Cali and I can’t find produce from a local source in my supermarket when it is out of season in other places and even if it is in season, much of it is still imported. I went to my supermarket and know what I found? Bananas from Argentina, Grapes from Chile, Apples marked USA which I think means Washington, Melons from Mexico, Tomatoes from Mexico, Pears from Ecuador and numerous other veggies that weren’t marked and the produce guy couldn’t tell me where they are from. I only found 3 things that for sure where from good old Cali: carrots, asparagus and artichokes (these 2 are in season and any more that I find in the store after a few weeks are sure to be from another country) So there ;P we have to deal with imported produce too.
- While the book does give suggestions of simple ways that ‘everyone’ can help make a difference, at many times some of the suggestions seemed to be very class based. I know they are writing from their point of view and that is fine but to assume that ‘everyone’ has a bread maker in their cupboard; or regardless of their socio-economic status everyone has a weekly farmer’s market in their neighborhood or access to transportation to one a few miles aways is a bit much in my opinion. Perhaps, part of the point is that there should be more farmer’s markets in more places.
In the end, I became inspired to buy local more often. I had already begun making that effort before reading this book but now I feel like it is even more important and a whole lot easier. Even if only for the sake of my taste buds. I have to admit the mushy sort of pink tomato from Mexico has nothing on the red, ripe, just picked yesterday tomato from the farmer’s market!
Lately I have seen this book all over the place. I really should check it out.