Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)

I was excited to read this book, having just finished the Omnivore's Dilemma and Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, both of which are very thought provoking, lucidly argued, and well written (though not without their flaws). This book by contrast was cloyingly sweet, sanctimonious, and simplistic. My annoyance with this book is two fold:

First: I get it - factory farms are bad. Sustainable farming is better from nutritional, moral, and environmental perspectives. The much harder question is how to actually live this way from a practical daily perspective, for those of us who work 10-12 hours per day, don't live on several acres in a temperate climate, cannot find pasture-finished beef/poultry near us, and do not have ready access to a CSA or local farmer's market. Kingsolver does not seem to realize what a luxury it is to be able to eat locally - both in terms of time and food access - and her exhortations to her readers to eat and live better come across painfully and ungratefully self-righteous.

Second: Her frequently entertaining stories are often sideswiped by gratingly illogical arguments, delivered in an unbearable "isn't it obvious" tone. It completely took the pleasure out of reading this book when Kingsolver seems out to prove that she is incapable of critical reasoning. Her solution to the problem of uncompetitive local farmers boils down to "we should be willing to pay more because food is important and farming is hard work." Even putting aside egregious violations of basic market dynamics and economic self interest, this begs the question of where does the money come from to pay more? Must be nice to be a rich bestselling author who can afford to overpay to support uncompetitive behavior on principle alone. On a simpler scale, she mocks a young, vegan movie star who wishes for a sanctuary for all animals on factory farms. This is a naive and myopic idea, certainly. But Kingsolver's strongest argument to dismiss the starlet is the equally myopic and missing-the-forest-for-the-trees objection of who would milk the cows and pick up the eggs on this sanctuary?! She ultimately concludes that the starlet would need to hire someone. I paid money for THIS?

On a less important note - in the audiobook version (read by the author), the author's voice is the definition of cloying. Really, really annoying.

I've come late to the table, if you excuse the pun, since I'm just finishing up the book now.
Kingsolver's book is not a gardening guide. I didn't expect to learn how to do this myself; I expected
to understand the issues and why the family is living like this for a year.

As a non fiction memoir (and not a guide), the book was fascinating. I'm not a gardener,
just a home cook but I was inspired to go to my farmers market more often.
It's a good read.

Danny Bernstein, author of Hiking North Carolina's Blue Ridge Heritage

This is a great book that brings you back to the basics that we seem to forgot in a society of "I want it now!". The writing is excellent!

"Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"
A novel by Barbara Kingsolver

Book Review by Jay Gilbertson
The sub-title for this non-fiction account could read--"Who Grew it?" Or maybe--"It came all the way from where?" It's a refreshing, lively paced account of a how a family of four literally dug in, gardened their brains out, and had a stocked-to-the rafters larder to prove it. But more importantly, it's an information-packed collection of stories, and farming experiences suggesting viable alternatives to eating out-of-season food that has to hitched our plates to a fossil-fueled semi.
How many things in your pantry came from out your back door--or even down the road? Do you have any idea how far a banana has to fly or float to be part of that fruit salad? And when is the last time you read the label on Little Debbie and knew what even half those ingredients were?
There's a movement slowly rebuilding the confusing food pyramid ([...]) and Kingsolver embraced it full on with a "How To" manual that gives The Whopper a run for its money. Through a nothing-fancy-here-folks approach she takes on the challenge of feeding her family food obtained exclusively from within a 100-mile radius of their kitchen. She devised a plan beginning with their 40-acre farm in an Appalachian hollow of Virginia.
What's refreshing about Kingsolver's approach is that this isn't a book to show you how to grow all your own food, but how to look at your food--and see it! Know what's in season and most importantly--who grew, raised and cared for it. By thinking locally and having the sense to simply eat what's in season (canning, freezing and drying for when its not) Kingsolver builds her case against the corporate farm and all it stands for. With garden-dirty hands-on-hips, Kingsolver builds her case that corporate farming isn't about health and nutrition--it's about the almighty cash cow.
Kingsolver moves the reader through the growing season with the heave-hoe of what's literally erupting from their well cared for rows, be it springs snappy surprise--asparagus, June's exotic garlic's, or those caboose-like zucchini. Another aspect of this work is that there are two other "books" within. Her husband, Steven Hopp, shares many resources for the reader to further explore, from how to find local growers to what paying the price of low prices means to the survival of small farms as well as our country's health. Her daughter, Camille, adds the third dimension to this wonderful work by offering an eighteen year-olds perspective on a year long garden-growing adventure, and along with her hopeful insights, she offers some really terrific recipes to boot.
Since the first word of the title is "Animal" I should mention that they grew and continue to grow much of their own meat. From birth to "harvest" Kingsolver shares the reality of what most Americans can't even imagine--that Whopper once was a cow--and a very unhappy one at that. Her question to us, the reader, is this; what kind of life did that cow/chicken/turkey have (not to mention, diet) and isn't it time we cared? The premise of you are what you eat, is one of her main ingredients in this deliciously informative read and really--wouldn't you rather have a grass-fed burger made from your neighbor's beef than one fed--???
For all sorts of detailed information: [...]

This book was very inspiring even for someone who hasn't been eating local or organic.