Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally

by Alisa Smith, J.B. Mackinnon

book data

717 ratings, 3.74 average rating, 248 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		18%
4		44%
3		29%
2		6%
1		0%

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published

April 24th 2007 by Harmony

binding

Hardcover, 272 pages

isbn

030734732X (isbn13: 9780307347329)

description

Like many great adventures, the 100-mile diet began with a memorable feast. Stranded in their off-the-grid summer cottage in the Canadian wilderness w...more

[close] Like many great adventures, the 100-mile diet began with a memorable feast. Stranded in their off-the-grid summer cottage in the Canadian wilderness with unexpected guests, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon turned to the land around them. They caught a trout, picked mushrooms, and mulled apples from an abandoned orchard with rose hips in wine. The meal was truly satisfying; every ingredient had a story, a direct line they could trace from the soil to their forks. The experience raised a question: Was it possible to eat this way in their everyday lives?
Back in the city, they began to research the origins of the items that stocked the shelves of their local supermarket. They were shocked to discover that a typical ingredient in a North American meal travels roughly the distance between Boulder, Colorado, and New York City before it reaches the plate. Like so many people, Smith and MacKinnon were trying to live more lightly on the planet; meanwhile, their "SUV diet" was producing greenhouse gases and smog at an unparalleled rate. So they decided on an experiment: For one year they would eat only food produced within 100 miles of their Vancouver home.
It wouldn't be easy. Stepping outside the industrial food system, Smith and MacKinnon found themselves relying on World War II-era cookbooks and maverick farmers who refused to play by the rules of a global economy. What began as a struggle slowly transformed into one of the deepest pleasures of their lives. For the first time they felt connected to the people and the places that sustain them.
For Smith and MacKinnon, the 100-mile diet became a journey whose destination was, simply, home. From the satisfaction of pulling their own crop of garlic out of the earth to pitched battles over canning tomatoes, Plenty is about eating locally and thinking globally.
The authors' food-focused experiment questions globalization, monoculture, the oil economy, environmental collapse, and the tattering threads of community. Thought-provoking and inspiring, Plenty offers more than a way of eating. In the end, it's a new way of looking at the world. [close]

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08/09/08

Jen rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, diet-food-exercise, non-fiction

Read in August, 2008

This was similar in many ways to Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle", in that it is a year-long experiment in eating only local foods. Kingsolver is a much better writer and I enjoyed reading her book more. "Plenty" did, however, supply what I thought was lacking in the other book: realism. "Plenty" documents the difficulties in trying to eat locally: struggling to live without wheat/flour, trying to store potatoes in an urban apartment, staying within a b...more

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2 comments

07/25/07

Margaret marked it as to-read

bookshelves: to-read

Excerpted without permission from Flavorpill's "Boldtype" newsletter. I like books about food!

Review
Sometimes couples do strange things — start dressing alike, say, or take up bowling. Alisa Smith and her partner James MacKinnon, both professional writers, decided to mini-size their diet. After realizing some of their food traveled 3,000 miles to their table, they decided they wanted to reduce their carbon footprint — so they committed to only eating food grown wi...more Excerpted without permission from Flavorpill's "Boldtype" newsletter. I like books about food!

Review
Sometimes couples do strange things — start dressing alike, say, or take up bowling. Alisa Smith and her partner James MacKinnon, both professional writers, decided to mini-size their diet. After realizing some of their food traveled 3,000 miles to their table, they decided they wanted to reduce their carbon footprint — so they committed to only eating food grown within 100 miles of their Vancouver apartment, for a year. To celebrate their decision, they had a glorious meal full of local, organic delicacies. When that set them back about $128, they quickly remembered that they were two young freelancers who were already pinching pennies. It's this realism that keeps Plenty, their co-authored memoir, from being a self-congratulatory romp.

Surprisingly, this project founded in ascetic determination turns into a year of discovery and flexibility. With many of the bare necessities off-limits (salt, cooking oil, even beer) or simply hard to get (wheat), the couple find themselves exploring their little corner of the world, getting to know fisherman and farmers. Along the way, they're schooled by an unlikely set of teachers, including intractable farmers, a Native American fisherman, and an old cookbook from the '40s. Their provocative reflections illustrate how quixotic it is to eat against the grain these days.

Trading off his-and-hers chapters, the two offer complimentary but distinct stories. Occasionally, both MacKinnon and Smith digress to the point of losing the reader, but they usually salvage the story by bringing it back to the dinner plate. James is the cook — excitable, stubborn, and given to rapturous bursts of natural history. Alisa is equally passionate, but also practical, more of a social historian than her partner. She's candid about the impact their diet is having on their lives, as they suck it up through weevil scares, tedious bouts of canning, and the inevitable intrusions of real-world troubles. The cumulative strain comes very close to breaking them up for good, but the saving grace of Plenty is that it doesn't try to hide the wear and tear. That makes all the pluck, humor, and plain-old good eating all the more savory.
- Toby Warner(less)

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11/12/08

Sarah rated it:

bookshelves: 2008-reads

Read in November, 2008

I should begin by disclosing that I was, from minute one, hugely troubled by the use of the word "raucous" in the title. If it is, indeed, possible to eat in a raucous manner, I don't want to hear about it, much less a year's worth of it. Shudder. You can keep your rowdy, disorderly, strident eating to yourself. One is left to assume, then, that the authors, or a particularly misguided set of marketing people, use "raucous" as do (with great frequency) the college women ...more

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02/05/08

Amber rated it:

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: Environmentalist, Foodies, Naturalist

This book was the same topic as Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It was a bit of a different perspective though and I enjoyed that. AMV is about a family that lives on a plot of land and they grow most of their own food. Plenty is about a couple (instead of family) that live in an apartment in the middle of the city (instead of the country with land). They have a small community garden plot that they use to supplement their diet when able to. They take you through their story of trying to find what i...more

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01/20/08

Sally rated it:

bookshelves: natural-living

Read in January, 2008

Interesting story, written by 2 freelance writers, interspersed with great essays on the history of food. Some favorite quotes:

A study in the UK showed that the amount of time people now spend driving to the supermarket, looking for parking, and wandering the lengthy aisles in search of a frozen pizza or pre-mixed salad is nearly equal to that spent preparing food from scratch 20 years ago.

Despite eating more than ever before, our culture may be the only one in human h...more

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10/29/07

Chessa rated it:

bookshelves: cooking, environmentalist, go_local

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: Fans of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle or The Omnivore's Dilemma

Quick read about a couple from Vancouver, B.C. who decide to conduct a one-year experiment in local eating. They draw their boundaries with a 100-mile radius of Vancouver and there their adventures begin.

Similar in themes to Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, this book is neither so broad in scope (in terms of increasing the reader's knowledge of industrial food systems) nor narrow in menus - they didn't talk toooo much about what they ate on a daily basis, which I for one mis...more

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06/18/08

carolyn rated it:

Read in June, 2008

A quick, interesting read about a couple in Vancouver, BC that decide to spend a year eating only foods from within a 100 mile of their home. The average food item travels 1500 miles from where it's grown to where it's eaten. Besides the obvious wastefulness of this system they also discover a community of farms, a connection to the seasons and a far more varied diet than most of us enjoy. It's not preachy or holier than though. The reader learns along with them. It's definitely food for th...more

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03/11/09

Purlewe rated it:

bookshelves: food, non-fction

Read in October, 2007

Stayed up last nite to finish my book from the library. It is due today and has about a billion holds on it so I have to return it. Plenty by Smith and MacKinnon. It was the people who started the whole 100 mile diet thing. They did it on a whim and it became a tidal wave. It was enjoyable to read.. even if some of the statistics make me miserable. I like how they really decided to go with the whole plan.. and even though they gave themselves plenty of contingency plans (say if invited to a hous...more

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05/20/09

Quinten rated it:

Read in May, 2009

This book was good, but not as good as Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle A Year of Food Life, which unfortunately for Smith I had read first.

The book fails due to a compromise of two opposing styles; the epistolary style of the blog that precedes the book, and the cohesive narrative needed for a full-length book. Smith does not do a great job at this merger, and it's further hurt by the changing in perspective between her and her partner.

Instead of a narra...more

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02/08/09

Joanna rated it:

bookshelves: nonfiction

Read in February, 2009

Again I feel inspired to eat more locally, eat healthier, be more mindful. This was a good book. It was approachable and entertaining. It is impossible for me to avoid comparing it to the Kingsolver book. The rules set were slightly different, but the struggles were similar. And both chose to start the year on the first day of "spring" rather than starting at a time of plenty. The style of writing however is completely different. And there was more of a spirit of hunter-gatheri...more

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05/22/09

Kerry rated it:

Read in May, 2009

Eating Locally. It's admirable. It's tricky. It takes creativity. It requires planning. Or does it? A couple in Vancouver Canada decides to give eating locally for a year a go. They try to eat within a 100 mile radius. Piece of cake if you had been planning for a while, had your own small farm, and had canned since you were young. Oh contraire...these folks don't even have a yard. Armed with a small community garden plot, they venture forth and rise to the challenge. I found it interest...more

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11/21/08

Erica rated it:

bookshelves: food-essays

Short, infinitely readable (both authors write for magazines) and fluffy. A far cry from Gary Paul Nabhan's Coming Home to Eat with his hardcore foraging and tracing of native foods, but still enjoyable.

It was fun to relate to events in the book, like the first inaugural local dinner which cost them over $100 just for local products, or the search for local flour.

I don't know if Tal and I could ever truly eat within 100 miles of where we live. We are too Americanized, ...more

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05/23/09

De rated it:

Read in May, 2009

These two are pretty funny. They live in BC and decide that they're not going to eat anything that doesn't come from within 100 miles. Naturally along the way they learn to open their eyes and actually see the food that's growing right in front of them (literally) that they never would have noticed. Something we should all be doing. I continue to be amazed at people who will eat whatever greens a restaurant throws into a salad but if you point out the baby dandelion greens growing in their b...more

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01/29/09

Lindsey rated it:

In this book, Alisa Smith and her husband decide to live locally for a year. They are aspiring writers living in a small apartment in Vancouver--strapped for both cash and space. They draw a 100 mile wide circle around Vancouver and agree not to eat anything that comes from further away than that. As opposed to a book like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (where everything is hunkydory) this couple really struggles to figure out how to succeed in their challenge and their marriage. They have real...more

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01/23/09

cheri rated it:

bookshelves: go-green--eco-wise, living-off-the-land, recipes

Read in July, 2008

OK, this is another one of those stories about folks that "eat local" for a year. It's a good book to read if you are interested in environment issues, economic issues and even organic eating. But, I do have to tell you one spoiler about this book. I wouldn't go as far as they did when it comes to finding wheat to make bread. They go to a guys barn and he told them they could have all his wheat; however, it had mice in it (with their poop) and they still took it home and used it to...more

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12/02/08

Carrol Krause rated it:

recommended to Carrol by: no one
recommends it for: locavores, and those who think Kingsolver is the last word on the subject

The book's chapters are written alternately by the two authors, which is an interesting way to illustrate the challenge that they set themselves: to eat locally for one year. This book was superior to Barbara Kingsolver's separate book about being a locavore because it lacked her didactic, hectoring tone. This book addressed not only the physical challenges of obtaining locally grown foodstuffs around the authors' home in British Columbia, but also the subtle strains on the relationship caused b...more

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11/26/08

Anderse rated it:

While I admire the premise and the fact that they didn't live in southern California, the area of Canada they are in is fairly temperate and fertile. And they traveled a lot. 100-mile diet would be fairly impossible these days in a lot of areas without a lot of sacrifice. I admired their determination and ability to admit ignorance of how to go about things and the whole learning process. Whether you like the book or not, we should all think more about where our food comes from and not rely on f...more

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03/29/09

Angela rated it:

bookshelves: public-health

Read in December, 2008

Although I have been a long-time supporter of organic and fair trade goods, I have been a slow and grudging convert to the locavore movement. My first introduction to the idea--through Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle--seemed very distant from my life as a working mom, with a toddler, in a tiny apartment in a dense urban area. The closest my husband and I have come to a garden was a (probably) heavy metal contaminated triangle of land that the landlord allowed us to "farm"...more Although I have been a long-time supporter of organic and fair trade goods, I have been a slow and grudging convert to the locavore movement. My first introduction to the idea--through Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle--seemed very distant from my life as a working mom, with a toddler, in a tiny apartment in a dense urban area. The closest my husband and I have come to a garden was a (probably) heavy metal contaminated triangle of land that the landlord allowed us to "farm" at my last apartment. I was able to harvest a bountiful crop of okra, some peppers, and the few tomatoes that were not stolen by passers-by...but it was hardly enough to revolutionalize my views of agriculture or to support a family of three. And then I read Plenty! Finally, a locavore story of urban folks--like me!--in a small apartment in a major metropolitan area. Okay, it's Vancouver, Canada, but, still, it's not a family farm in Appalachia. They are not independently wealthy, they do not have 100 acres, they bicker, they fail, and they make local eating seem like a fascinating possibility. Although the course of local eating does not run smooth, this is a couple that you would love to have coffee--or a locally produced alternative--with. What is just as fascinating as their transformation over the course of 365 days of local eating is their discovery of the human side of the food system. As they struggle to find staples produced within 100 miles, they discover a whole community in their large city--a fishmonger, a guy to get them flour, another guy at the university with an amazing garden of heirloom varieties of vegetables. What once seemed so alienating--the brightly lit industrial supermarket--is now as intimate as a traditional village. Each food item is linked with a person and a story of how it came to their plate. Also, what once seemed like abundance--all of the groceries in that same industrial food store--now seems like scarcity as they discover all of the foods, from odd varieties of honey to native plants to vegetable varieties--that will never make it to the shelves. I am not quite sure that I am ready for a 100-mile summer in Chicago, but I am a lot closer to considering it after this book. (less)

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02/19/09

Jessie rated it:

Read in May, 2009

I liked this book for its effort to further the cause of local eating and food culture, and more broadly of sustainable living, all of which grow nearer and dearer to my heart every day. I liked the information it contained. I loved that it was written by two young urban professionals who were able to demonstrate that it's possible to really live this way without having to move oneself and family out to the sticks or have a grand property for accomodating livestock and massive gardens or live in...more

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11/28/08

Michal rated it:

Read in March, 2009

Like Omnivore's Dilemma, this book provokes a re-examination of the way we obtain food and how we eat. Each chapter begins with a recipe; for example before Chapter 1 there are simple directions for mint-sage tea. The chapters alternate between the voices of James and Alisa, who are each very personable writers. Reading of their efforts and thought processes as they undertook this year long experiment, I was very inspired to try local eating myself. I realize it does not have to be all or not...more

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