I did not want to like this book. Actually, I did not even want to read this book but all the ladies in my book club (Hello Book Scouts!) seemed to think it was a good idea and they had been kind enough to read the dark novel I had proposed a few months prior to this so…. I decided I needed to get over it and read the book.
I was already making up titles for a parody of the book. How about Town Car, Sedan, Convertible?
Maybe Liar, Cheater, Thief.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver is the story of how the author’s family decided to try to spend a whole year eating foods that came from within a small radius of where they lived. They wanted to eat locally and thus save the fossil fuel that is consumed when produce is transported across long distances to reach consumers who would not get the food otherwise. It was an effort to shrink their carbon footprint and to stimulate local economies. They grew a large garden and spent a lot of time canning, freezing and drying food for the winter months and they frequented local farmers markets for food produced close to where they lived.
While I have never read any of Ms. Kingslovers fiction, I have read a collection of non-fiction essays she wrote a few years ago entitled, Small Wonder. I thought her writing was very good but I also felt she was a bit preachy and you know how I tend to rebel against people telling me what to do or think. I was quite prepared to disagree with her and to attack her premise at my book club meeting.
The first thing that got my goat was that they did not begin this experiment in the place they were living. Ms. Kingsolver lived in Arizona and she was very straightforward in admitting that Tucson would be an almost impossible place to conduct this experiment. OK. Strike One. You have to live in a certain place in order to do this stuff.
Another thing that really bugged me was that I knew for sure that there was no way you could eat bananas since they certainly do not grow in the United States let alone Virginia where the whole family moved. “I gots to be havin’ my bananas”. Strike Two.
This brings me to another problem for Bob. I don’t drink a lot of coffee but I really like that cup I have as soon as I get up in the morning. Coffee is just as exotic as banana and perhaps more important to most of the folks I know here in the Pacific Northwest. That is, of course, Strike Three so I won’t even start on how I would miss the great wines of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, etc., etc.
But as I moved through the beginning chapters I started to get upset by something completely different from these problems that I had already outlined in my mind. The biggest one was that she was not avoiding any of these issues and instead was taking them on in an honest and forthright manner. Then she went and did something that really disappointed me. She told about how the whole family (husband, wife and two daughters) sat down and decided to allow each of them to pick one food item that could not be obtained locally and make that an exception to the rule. Now I was really mad. You mean to tell me that you are not going to get all hardcore and snooty about the whole thing? How am I supposed to ridicule that?
They started the year long experiment in the spring and they planted a large garden. At local farmers markets they found sources of locally grown beef, chicken, eggs and dairy and the husband kept his coffee. It can be very hard to like people who act like regular human beings. They found sources of local wines and beer, which in this day and age is easier than ever. They made friends with local farmers and helped support the small businesses they were trying to run and the adults forgave themselves when they were lucky enough to take a trip to Italy for a couple of weeks. After all the idea in itself, while perhaps not 100% attainable is a good one. Why should we support giant food corporations that use huge amounts of gasoline to transport tomatoes to us so that we can eat them all year long instead of in the summer time like our grandparents did. If they wanted tomatoes in the winter they had to spend the time canning them and if you have ever done any canning you know that while it is rewarding, it is also work. (Hello Randy, I miss canning with you, you crazy fool).
The final straw in my capitulation to the book as a whole was that the writing was not only very good but funny. Whenever I find myself laughing out loud at something I read, I have to give credit where it is due. I love to laugh and I love writers who can make me burst out in vocal glee.
Thank you Ms. Kingsolver for the information. Thank you for the story. And most of all thank you for the laughter.
The taste of good food will always trump the nutrition for me and good writing will always beat out information, but laughter wins it all. Even though there is no actual food inside this book there are a number of interesting recipes so check out Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for all of the above.
