Rachel's review
Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally
by Alisa Smith, J.B. Mackinnon
Rachel's review
Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith, J.B. Mackinnon
Rachel's review
rating:
"Plenty" documents the earnest quest of a young Canadian couple to eat only food grown locally - within 100 miles of their Vancouver apartment - for a year. It follows the same exact premise as Barbara Kingsolver's book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," but the two diverge in many respects. As far as the experiment goes, Barbara and her family were fortuante enough to grow many of their vegetables and fruit in ther backyard in Virginia, whereas the authors of "Plenty," having no land, had to rely on local growers. Moreover, whereas Barbara seems to have a wealth of experience in growing and preserving food, our Canadian friends are young and experimental - and they do make things work surprising well - but it all seems largely new to them. Barbara also gave herself a break - she and her family had some "allowances" for wheat, spices, and a few other unlocal items. By comparison, Smith & MacKinnon nobly allowed themselves only the items they...more
