Review: “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver

I do a lot of reading, yet it has been years since a book had such a profound effect on my thinking and habits. I had borrowed it on the employee book program, and had to go back and purchase it the next day. There is just TOO much good stuff to NOT have this in my library.

My interest in this book was really sparked by the tragedy with the pet food industry. While there are more regulations on food for human consumption, the quality of agribusiness is not exactly to the par of the local farmer. The horrors of poultry farms were bad enough, but I really started to question how little I knew about what we were putting in our bodies.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver is a non-fiction account of her family’s decision to commit a year to eating only those products grown by themselves or their neighbors. She takes readers on a journey away from the industrial food pipeline to a rural lifestyle. Her husband, Steven Hopp, a teacher of Environmental studies at Emory and Henry College contributes great statitical information and her daughter Camille contributes perspective and recipes to this amazing book.

The story is not only of how they worked the land and raised plants and animals. This story addresses the fact that Americans, on the whole, have become far too distanced from their food sources. They will readily by California tomatoes that have traveled 3,000 miles in refridgerated trucks instead of stopping at the roadside farmer’s stand or growing their own.

One of the most shocking statistics this book presents is:

” Americans put almost as much fossil fuil into our refrigerators as our cars. We’re consuming about 400 gallons of oil per year per citizen-about 17 percent of our nation’s energy use- for agriculture. …….Each food item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles.

…..If every US citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our conutry’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That’s not gallons, but barrels. “
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle pg. 5

I know that when I think about conserving energy, the last place I considered changes was at the supermarket. You don’t hear much about these ideas as the focus on consumption is usually directly related to our driving habits.

We have kept a small garden for years, but more for taste and convenience. There is nothing as good as a tomato right off the vine or berries off the bush. We spend afternoons berry and apple picking each year. I have enjoyed putting up pickles, relished, and all sorts of tomatoes. It is one of the skills I learned from my dear grandmother, and when I spend an August day in the steaming kitchen, my world is filled with memories. I have kept it up for nostalgia more than anything else.

This book has encouraged me to consider the concept of “in season” fruits and veggies. Local farmers cannot put their produce in the bank for the winter. They need to sell it when it is fresh. My canning skills and equipment can play a big part in making the most of that, for them and us.

Moreover, we live close enough to farm country to buy free range meat and fill our freezer with butcher-paper wrapped roasts and steaks instead of a cacophany of brightly over packaged items produced in scary conditions.

We have been slowly introducing better habits, and will now add “eating local” as our next goal. We know some farmers where we can get fresh milk and eggs. We are lucky enough to live an hour from Amish country, which means we have great choices of Amish grown meats and veggies at small farmer’s markets all around us.

The best news is the organic grower’s mart just ten minutes from our house. On Sunday mornings, we will head over and see what we can get in season and local. Our Sunday evening meals will be local and organic. We can store more items for the week, but that one meal will be our family habit.

I am also going to commit to can a minimum of one day a month through October. Our garden doesn’t produce enough to can, but I surely can help out local farmers by purchasing and canning more. I think I need to start hitting the yard sales in search of more Mason Jars…..

I recommend this book highly to anyone who wants to eat well, help small farmers, and save our resources. It really is a win-win!