BR's Foodie Book Club Looks at "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral"
A few months ago we introduced the Buffalo Rising Foodie Book Club. Our main goal was to introduce food-related books that we thought would be of special interest to our readers. After YUM had spent a month or more talking about CSAs and the locavore trend, we picked Barbara Kingsolver's “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle- A Year of Food Life” as the book to kick off our adventure.
“Animal, Vegetable, Mineral” chronicles Kingsolver's family as they uproot themselves from the parched Southwest and move to greener pastures in the Southeast. There they undertake the process of growing and raising most of their food themselves, sometimes supplementing their diets with goods grown and handmade locally. Kingsolver's tale takes us through the process of planting and harvesting a garden, caning and preserving, sourcing local products- even making cheese. The content is augmented by recipes and by informative asides regarding the much larger food issues that we face globally like bio-engineering, the decrease in availability of fresh, local food and the increased costs of farming.
The book has been on the best seller charts since its release and the many points it raises are at the forefront of much public debate. The politics of agriculture, the science of food production, carbon footprints and the call for an increase in fresh, whole, organic goods are all hot topics.
We had scheduled an in-office podcast as part of our book club, hoping to gather readers and food industry folks for a good long talk about the locavore movement. Unfortunately, for a handful of reasons, we were unable to make that happen. We've decided to make a few adjustments for our next book, but we'll talk more about that in an upcoming post.
Let's get back to “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral”. If your interest in this subject has been piqued and having read (or not read) the book, you're now interested in learning more about the subject, this link will lead you to a video of the PBS program NOW, where Kingsolver and others are interviewed about the need for "eating local". Also available is this American Public Radio transcript for “The Ethics of Eating”, a show which featured an interview with Kingsolver conducted by Krista Trippett. If you really enjoyed this book and are looking for other resources, I suggest that you get your hands on a copy of the great Michael Pollen's bestseller “The Omnivore's Dilemma”.
I'd love to hear from any of you that read the book or have consciously decided to apply some of the locavore philosophy to your daily life.
For those of you that read the book, what did you find most surprising about it?
Do you feel that Kingsolver balanced the cold hard facts with the whimsy of her adventure well?
Was there any specific moment or fact that you think you will carry with you?
Have you changed anything about your diet or purchasing habits as a direct result of reading this book?
Did you try your hand at any of the recipes?
Do tell! We're all ears.
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GoldenLark
Ugh, this book tears at my conscience. At first, I tried to live only on local food (with the exception of olive oil.) I bought flour from a farm in Montana while I was on vacation there. I bought a share from Native Offerings. I stocked up on local meat. And I mourned the loss of avocados. I lasted about 3 weeks. On a positive note, it has left in me this tiny voice that reminds me to buy local whenever possible. Within reason, I try to do so.
But there are two sides to every story, and Barbara's book, while incredibly well written and persuasive, is biased. She is a farmer and a friend to farmers. In one chapter, she chastises the seed industry. The arguement is if their genetically modified seeds happen to land in your garden and populate your own crops with their pattented vegetables, your crop is ruined and can't be sold. On the other side of the arguement, some farmers re-use the seeds without paying for the technology license. The seeds are designed to eliminate the need for pesticides. Why should you be able to reap the benefit of someone else's labor without paying for it?
Before you get all riled up reading this book, do your homework. Barbara labels lots of people "The Bad Guy." Research the facts and form your own opinion.
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ChristaSeychew
GlodenLark,
I also found the portion of the book dedicated to the Seed Savers' Exchange and the seed industry very compelling. Staying tuned in to both sides of the story is the only way to achieve balance, which, as most readers know from previous stories, is one of the things I think that food most "activists" struggle with.
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dsetzer
Christa, thanks for keeping this subject in front of people. This book and others like Michael Pollen's book “The Omnivore's Dilemma” present the subject of small local farms vs. industrial agriculture. Everyone that eats should be more aware of the struggle of the small farm and the need to keep our food resources local, diverse, and sustainable.
To me the most compelling reason to buy locally grown, seasonal foods is that in almost all cases they taste better than those produced using industrial methods. Simple.
I fall on the side of being against GMOs. I could give you a long litany of reasons, but that disease or pest resistant tomato is going to taste more like cardboard than a just picked, sun-ripened tomato. [Begin sarcasm] Maybe we could modify it to taste like a lemon. Or an even better idea, let's add the flavors of garlic, onion, and basil. Instant marinara! [End sarcasm] The only thing to be gained by GMOs is increasing the size and power of industrial agriculture.
Just say no to food that tastes like cardboard.
But, you say, it is too difficult to find what I want. The availability of locally grown and artisan-produced foods is growing rapidly in WNY and will grow even faster if we search out and support these farmers/producers. Operating a small farm or artisan food business is a labor of love and is beset with risk. If we as consumers can demonstrate our desire for these foods, the producers will be more likely to provide us with what we desire.
And GoldenLark, don't feel guilty about the occasional avocado.
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ChristaSeychew
dsetzer,
One of the most unfortunate things is that I'd guess a good 90% of the population have no idea what a real head of lettuce or carrot actually tastes like. If you've never had the real stuff, this conversation may strike you as entirely unnecessary. All of the people shopping at supermarkets, buying mushy round objects in a cello-wrapped tube in the dead of January think they are actually buying tomatoes.
The lack of fresh food that is available in the school cafeterias and senior centers amazes me. Only in America is it "cheaper" to feed kids individual bags of mini muffins made by Hostess, Lucky Charms cereal in tiny cardboard boxes and frozen, processed "Uncrustable" peanut butter and jelly sandwich-things over locally grown unprocessed food.
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dsetzer
Christa,
I couldn't agree with you more. Although, I would be willing to bet that your 90% figure is low. I made up my mind a while back that turning the tide to local, sustainable foods will take a long time. I am happy right now just to have one or two people at a time taste real food and "get it".
The situation in school cafeterias is just depressing. The crap these kids get fed is an express ticket to diabetes, heart disease, and worse. There are several great initiatives for farm-to-school programs that have been very successful in other parts of the country. It would be great if we could get a program started here. Any volunteers?
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ChristaSeychew
dsetzer,
You can count me in. It's a huge undertaking, but it has to start somewhere. A child with no brainfood in their system isn't getting the education they deserve. Kids are all doped up on meds for being uncontrollable or having short attention spans while we're spoonfeeding them something called "Go-gurt" and fruit snacks, things that parents have been misled into thinking are healthy (because of the insinuation of yogurt and the use of the word "fruit") as opposed to the pure sugar conduit that they are really are.
I'm anything but a health nut, and I think kids should be able to enjoy junk food like we all did, but moderation is key, and while we were having a relatively healthy, homemade diet with the occasional junk food, kids today are rarely eating anything healthy at all, dinner is now made in the microwave. One merely needs to glimpse at the back of a container of lunch meat or chicken nuggets to figure that out.
Sorry about all of the run-on sentences, I got a little excited....
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GEMonster
Christa and dsetzer
I would love to help take this farm to school initiative on and maybe by the time my daughter is in school it may be a reality. I love to cook and don't use my microwave if I can help it. This book has made me think and inspire me. It may not always realistic to eat at restaurants that use only local but I would like to know where I could support local outside of local Farmer's Markets (which I miss right now - but no cardboard for me please - can you guide me to some places where I could start?
I ama few days late on this train but better late than never!
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ChristaSeychew
GEMonster,
Please send me your contact info via email- christa@buffalorising.com. desetzer and i carried on a more extensive conversation via email and are looking for someone with some gumption to really make this their own- though we would of course be willing to lend a hand.
Finding local produce in this season is a toughy- Guercio's on Grant, Mom & Pop's on Main in University Heights, the Lexington Co-op on Elmwood and the Broadway Market are probably your best bets, though most of those carry a mix of local and non-local produce. Wegmans also carries a lot of local based on the season- again, not much at this time of year.
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dsetzer
GEMonster,
Thanks for your interest in farm to school! It is an important issue that we all should address. I read recently about a study that over two-thirds of kids born today will suffer from type II diabetes if major changes in diet are not made. This kind of initiative can go a long way toward making those changes.
Finding locally grown produce during the winter months is tough. In addition to Christa's suggestions, one farm that does offer winter produce through a CSA share is Native Offerings Farm - www.nativeofferings.com. Stew and Deb Ritchie offer winter shares that consist of root vegetables. You will have to contact Stew as I don't know if they have any more shares available for this year.
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