With Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver
You know you have a busy schedule when it takes you over two months to read a single book! I hate to admit thats the time frame it took me to work my way through Mrs. Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but it's the truth. Instead of diligently reading away everyday, I let all those fun life things interrupt instead: I cooked, I traveled, I worked, I played, I did everything a carefree twenty-something girl is supposed to do, and all along I kept this little gem as my sidekick. From bedside table, to office desk, to carry-on, I made sure I was (almost) never without this book, because, like all of Mrs. Kingsolver's work, it is incredibly, poetically and lovingly written.
If you have never read a Barbara Kingsolver book, you should right that wrong, immediately. I've been a fan for a few years now and when I saw this book for sale, I snatched it right up (at full price, mind you, says the girl who's been known to wait around for the best possible bargain). Animal, Vegetable, Miracle chronicles one family's goal of "living local" for a year. We have all heard of the Local Movement, but I don't think we have realistically thought about the amount of work that goes into making this ideal a reality. This book is a thoughtfully written account of exactly that. The long days, the summer nights lost to canning, the nameless animals raised for slaughter. I pulled one of my favorite paragraphs (yes, I marked the ones that painted excellent mental images, of which there are far too many to actually count) so that you could have a simple sample of her writing style:
"Good people eat. So do bad people, skinny people, fat people, tall and short ones. Heaven help us, we will never master photosynthesis. Planning complex, beautiful meals and investing one's heart and time in their preparation is the opposite of self-indulgence. Kitchen-based family gatherings are process-oriented, cooperative, and in the best of worlds, nourishing and soulful. A lot of calories get used up before anyone sits down to consume. But more importantly, a lot of talk happens first, news exchanged, secrets revealed across generations, paths cleared with a touch of the arm. I have given and received some of my life's most important hugs with those big oven-mitt potholders on both hands."
Now, can't you just imagine standing in her kitchen, receiving one of those oven-mitt potholder hugs? Mix in a bundle of throughly researched information on garden growing, some interesting tidbits on animal husbandry and a dash or two of life's lessons learned along the way, and you essentially have 354 pages of some of Mrs. Kingsolver's best work. As an added plus, her husband and eldest daughter each contribute sections about food politics and nutritional aspects, respectively. The perspective of three different family members, with three very different educations, but the same common goal, make this a truly great read. Sure, it may be easy to put down and walk away from, from time to time, but you can be sure that this is one book that will never be left behind. For every foodie who has ever wanted their own kitchen garden, or for the common joe who maintains a passion for eating organic, this is the book for you. By the end, you wont think twice about choosing those slightly-more-expensive cage free eggs at the farmer's market. And you will think it truly odd to see a bunch of bananas at the grocery store, in January, in the midwest. But most importantly, you will begin to see just how eating locally works, and the amount of work, love and dedication that it takes to make it happen.