The Newest Responsible Eater on the Block

I finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a couple of weeks ago but haven't felt ready to write my review of it yet. As I mentioned before, reading this book was truly a life-changing experience for me. I think the last time I described a book that way, I was talking about The Poisonwood Bible (also by Barbara Kingsolver—coincidence, you say?), but in that case, I meant that it had a profound effect on me and would be unforgettable. This time I mean that I will be making actual, tangible changes to my life because of it.

To recap: Kingsolver and her family—biology-professor husband Steven Hopp and daughters Camille and Lily—leave Tucson, where almost nothing edible grows anymore, and move to a farm in Virginia. They embark on a year-long experiment in living off the land (their own and their community's), eating only locally raised food. They make certain exceptions—for instance, Hopp won't even consider the move unless he can have coffee, which must be brought in, but at least they do their research and find a source of fair-trade coffee; Kingsolver herself knows she'd never be able to cook without olive oil, so they find a good source for that; and so on. To no one's great surprise, this "experiment" turns out to become a way of life. They enjoy eating the fruits (literally!) of their own labor, buying from their neighbors at the farmers' market, supporting the community, ridding their bodies of pesticides and hormones and God-knows-what-else, and even saving money in the process.

I learned so much from this book, I barely know where to begin. For one thing, I hadn't realized that the U.S. agribusiness machine was so powerful and out of control. For instance, did you know that we export 1.1 million tons of potatoes while we also import 1.4 million tons of potatoes? What's wrong with this picture? We could instead be supporting our own farms—and eating fresh potatoes! I also learned about the atrocities of CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations), where chickens and cows are forced to live in darkness, standing in mountains of their own excrement, eating foods they were never meant to eat (including body parts of their own kind—turning them into cannibals). Do you want to eat the meat of an animal that has spent its entire miserable little life exuding stress hormones? (And, speaking of eating meat, Kingsolver does an admirable job of "justifying" her reasons for not being a vegetarian.)

Why is it that food, of all things, is the area in which we are most likely to shop by price? We do it all the time—saving a buck here and there on trucked-in produce regardless of the fact that it's less fresh and tasty than the local variety and has lost many of its nutrients in transit (and I'm not even addressing the use of fuel required to get it here). No one I know can afford to completely disregard price when choosing food, but shouldn't we first consider the health benefits and the flavor, even if we don't think we can afford to care about supporting our local farmers and reducing our dependence on petroleum? Let's say someone presented you with two tomatoes that were the same price. One was mushy and flavorless, had already lost most of its antioxidants, and probably still contained residue from pesticides; the other was bursting with flavor, had been picked the previous day, and had been grown without the use of any pesticides. Everyone would choose the second one, right? Well, what if it cost one nickel more? One dime? How much is it worth to feed your family food that tastes better and is more healthy for them? How much more can you spend on milk that comes from cows that never had estrogen injections or on blackberries that weren't sprayed with toxic chemicals? These are some of the questions we need to start asking ourselves. I know I can find other places to trim my budget, and I intend to.

I want you all to read this book! Borrow a copy from a friend and use the money you saved to buy eggs from chickens given free range on grass—and did you know that those eggs have more omega-3s than factory-farmed eggs and only about half the cholesterol, and it's mostly LDL (the good kind)? I promise you that despite how preachy I might come across here, Kingsolver manages to escape that tone entirely. She's so smart and funny that I ended up just wishing I could be friends with her. She doesn't expect us to make 180° conversions, or even to do what she has done; I for one know I'll never give up bananas and orange juice just because they can't be grown locally. But there are plenty of other things I can do. I'll leave you with Kingsolver's own words:

I share with almost every adult I know this crazy quilt of optimism and worries, feeling locked into certain habits but keen to change them in the right direction. And the tendency to feel like a jerk for falling short of absolute conversion. I'm not sure why. If a friend had a coronary scare and finally started exercising three days a week, who would hound him about the other four days? It's the worst of bad manners—and self-protection, I think, in a nervously cynical society—to ridicule the small gesture. These earnest efforts might just get us past the train-wreck of the daily news, or the anguish of standing behind a child, looking with her at the road ahead, searching out redemption where we can find it: recycling or carpooling or growing a garden or saving a species or something. Small, stepwise changes in personal habits aren't trivial. Ultimately they will, or won't, add up to having been the thing that mattered.

Comments

[Wendy]

Nice post. I reached a lot of the same conclusions after reading Michael Pollan's *The Omnivore's Dilemma,* so you're already preaching to the choir, but I've heard other good things about the Kingsolver book, so I'll add it to the pile. My mom already thinks I'm a crank, so may as well be hung for a sheep as a goat, hmm?

[mommyralf]

This is one of the main reasons I read your blog--you've got the connections to so much great stuff. I really need to get my hands on the Kingsolver book. It's right up our alley around here. Just a few days ago I was explaining to my older son about how stupid it is to truck so much produce 3000 miles.

I get frustrated knowing how badly this country needs to redirect its energy and time to local farming. Meanwhile, the suburban schools keep us moms hopping, and kids get saddled with ever more homework, and we all are kept too busy to make really significant changes by breaking out of established social cycles. Many days I ponder throwing in the towel and moving to our Blue Ridge property and basically doing a Kingsolver.

That said, one of my "small gestures" a couple years ago was subscribing to an organic co-op. It was expensive and had ridiculouly meager crops of stuff I'd actually use, while overrunning us all with basil, basil, basil. We paid something like $700, and I estimate we used maybe $50 worth. I felt like an idiot. Some small gestures turn out stupidly.

[amy]

I bought this book yesterday (borders coupon day, 20% off!) based on your blog from a while back when you quoted Kingsolver's husband sidebar about saving millions of barrels of oil by eating one local meal a week.

We are lucky enough to live near a small farm which has a co-op of organic vegetables; and also near a larger farm (Verrill, in Concord) which has amazing produce, and are fortunate enough to be able to afford the higher prices.

Conversely, I read in the paper over the summer that some Congressmen living in DC experimented with living on a Food Stamp budget for a week...and found they were unable to purchase nearly any healthy items at all. It was cheaper and more cost efficient to buy processed foods than it was to buy even supermarket shrink-wrapped produce. The inequities of food distribution in our society staggers imagination.

[Kelly]

Here's another on eating locally I just finished: *Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. McKinnon.* I'm off to check out Kingsolver's book now.

[amy]

If anyone is interested in reading more on this subject; click on the link and read about what another writer has to say about growing and eating locally:

http://blog.ruhlman.com/

[Cheryl]

You convinced me -- I just ordered the book. My local grocery store posts signs that identify where the produce was grown. I have started to pay attention and try to buy as much as possible that is grown in Washington or Oregon. I am with Hopp in that I could not give up my coffee, but with a bird-loving son I have been brewing shade grown (and fair trade) beans for quite awhile. Perhaps there is hope that we can teach our children (or rather that they can teach us) to be more mindful consumers.

[Tammy]

If you can believe it, I have not read this book, yet. There was a long line of holds on it at the library, but it sounds like it's worth the purchase. And quite fitting given the theme of my blog this month.

[beastmomma]

I found your review through Hidden Side of the Leaf and I agree with you completely. I too, LOVED Poisonwood Bible. I put a link to your review in my post. Here is my review of the book, if you are interested: http://beastmomma.squarespace.com/from-shelf-to-hand/2008/7/8/animal-vegetable-miracle.html

[CHARON]

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