Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is one of those books that is so inspiring. I have enjoyed Michael Pollan's books about food, so I wasn't surprised to enjoy Kingsolver's addition to the genre.

Last summer, Evan and I got a CSA share and drowned in the amount of food we received. This year we decided not to do it, but our local farmers' market will be starting soon so we can buy local veggies at it. My dad has had a garden for more years than I've been around and I've been experimenting in my own. I was interested to read about Kingsolver's gardening.

Kingsolver's book is a memoir about how her family ate local for a year. This included meat. They were living on a family farm and were able to grow a significant amount of food, both for immediate use and to store for the winter. They also bought food at their farmers' market.

One of the criticisms of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle that I read before reading the book said that Kingsolver's experience was totally unrealistic and that she was preachy about it. To say it is unrealistic totally misses the point. Obviously we don't all live on a farm and can't grow food like she was able to. Duh. I've read plenty of memoirs, most commonly travel memoirs that are totally unrealistic for me, but are still fun to read about and put ideas in my head. This book made me think about what I could do. I didn't think Kingsolver was preachy. She laid information out in a clear, readable way.

I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It was inspiring. If you are interested in food, you should pick it up.

Garlic and Sapphires

I love food. When my online book club selected this for our monthly read, I was really excited.

It didn't disappoint. Anytime we travel, I like going to fancy restaurants and finding interesting meals to eat. I enjoyed reading about the meals that Reichl ate. (But, really, can you talk about foie gras one more time?)

In order to maintain her anonymity as a food critic for the NY Times, Reichl wore disguises. Her reviews covered the food, as well as the service. She was treated very differently based on the costume she had on and when she was recognized. The reviews of the service were to me the most interesting part.

The book also includes several recipes. I haven't tried any yet, but plan on it.

The Botany of Desire

Goodreads Summary: Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom?

While the description of the book talks more about evolutionary aspect of these plants, it also focuses on environmental and economic issues.

The past couple years I've really been thinking about the food we eat. Just a few years ago, I would have said, "Organic? Huh? High-fructose corn syrup? What?" After reading Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and The Botany of Desire, and other books taking about food and the food business (Can You Trust a Tomato in January? by Vince Staten and Bananas by Peter Chapman), I'm thinking about the quality of our food as well as the cost of it (environmental, health, etc.) much more than I ever have.

We only buy organic milk. My husband could drink four gallons in a week. (This is an exaggeration, but only slight.) This summer, for the first time, we're getting a CSA share. I'd love to grow some of our food, but we have a tiny yard that the dogs take over and Wyoming has a growing season about two weeks long. (Again, an exaggeration, but it's nothing like what I grew up with in Georgia. My daffodils didn't bloom til mid-May and it's not unheard of to have snow in June.)

I understand why agriculture has grown into big business, but it doesn't make me feel good about what I am eating. If you are all interested in these food issues, check out any of the books I mentioned above. I especially enjoyed The Botany of Desire and In Defense of Food.