Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jun 26, 2008 Jaspreet rated it really liked it · review of another edition

While I was waiting for my plane to take off on Sunday night, I finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. A lot of people were upset that we had such a long delay; however, I was glad to have the extra time to finish my book and postpone meeting the Food Police. I thought that the book finished pretty strong; it read like one of Kingsolver’s novels. I loved the story of the turkey having babies and the image of Kingsolver seeing the new babies with her daughter. A lot of the book is dense and While I was waiting for my plane to take off on Sunday night, I finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. A lot of people were upset that we had such a long delay; however, I was glad to have the extra time to finish my book and postpone meeting the Food Police. I thought that the book finished pretty strong; it read like one of Kingsolver’s novels. I loved the story of the turkey having babies and the image of Kingsolver seeing the new babies with her daughter. A lot of the book is dense and heavy with information; the ending felt optimistic and tied it back to the story. Essentially, this is a story about a family who set out on a journey.

After I finished the book, I realized that I do believe in eating local, but as a person with limited budget, time, and land space, I find that challenging. One of the messages I am taking away from the book is how doing a little bit can make a big difference. In Seattle, I already shop at the local food co-op; although, I am not buying very much fresh produce. When I return to Seattle in the fall, I am thinking of asking Dude if he would want to share the cost of a vegetable and fruit box with me. When I move to Massachusetts, Partner to-be and I will likely get a box filled with vegetables and fruit from a local farm to help us eat better and support the local economy. While I am living with my family in Maryland, I just try to get produce and things (when I shop) from the closest destination. Unfortunately, this means that things are still coming from out of state, but I am trying to work within my circumstances for the summer. Even though my family does not do a lot of “hard core” local shopping and eating, I do remember that my mother would take my brother and me to a pick your own farm when we were little. We had so much fun picking our own beans and other vegetables. She also had a garden in our old house and it was always a fun event to help plant. Weeding was not so much fun, but a good way to be outside. The tomatoes we picked always tasted better than the ones we would buy. My parents have moved into a new community which has weird rules, including one that says they cannot have a garden! How messed up is that?!?! In spite of the restriction, my brother has been growing jalapenos, tomatoes, eggplant, basil and bell pepper in various pots on the back porch. I am impressed that his rule breaking has lead to some fresh produce. One of my family’s favorite places to shop continues to be the Amish Farmer’s Market. All of the items come from Pennsylvania which is out of state, but we (or I guess my mother since she does most of the shopping) knows the vendors and how they produce the various items we consume. Again, the food always tastes better from produce to cheese to ice cream than most things we find at the general store.

My in-person book club meeting, the first one for me is over a year—I think, is on Sunday. For that meeting, I am in charge of preparing the meal. I am going to get ingredients from the Farmer’s Market and hopefully come up with something delicious. Of course, I am curious about how other people reacted to the book; I would especially like to find out what kind of food behavior and rituals they remember being modeled for them or participating in when they were little.

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Apr 20, 2009 Jill rated it really liked it

One thing that makes me rate a book 4 stars is if I think about it when I'm not reading it. This one really got me thinking... Obviously, as Ms Kingsolver states many times, many people just don't have "40 acres and a mule" to grow their own food. However if we all try just a little harder to buy local food, or even to grow our own tiny patio gardens, we may make that much of a difference. I know I will be looking beyond Home Depot for my plants this year! Hopefully some of the smaller nurseries ...more

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Jan 13, 2008 Leeann rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2008

Goodness, what didn't I learn from this book?! I was already pretty into the idea of eating locally, but Kingsolver laid out even more compelling reasons than I'd seen before. The tale of her family's year of raising their own food was exciting and inspiring, too, full of useful ideas about growing and preparing food. There were even seasonal meal plans and recipes (contributed by Kingsolver's daughter Camille), some of which I'm very excited to try. (Actually this book has me wanting to try all ...more

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Sep 21, 2008 Rivkah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, required-reading-for-humans

This book should be required reading for every single person on this planet. This means YOU.

Barbara Kingsolver and her family spent one year eating locally grown food only, which was quite a challenge. But it's not only about how a family farmed for a year. I thought I was going to read a charming farming story. Instead, I found a solid review of where our food comes from, how it's produced, and good advice as to how and what we should choose to eat.

Barbara's husband and daughter contribute to ...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Wendy E. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio-book

I really, really enjoyed this thought-provoking book. Case in point? We're going to try to plant a small garden next year and I'm much more aware of labels and organic. Finally, I'm a new and frequent customers of the farm stand/Farmer's Market. ...more

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