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Search - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
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Book Description:
From School Library JournalMembers who requested this book also requested:
This book chronicles the year that Barbara Kingsolver, along with her husband and two daughters, made a commitment to become locavoresthose who eat only locally grown foods. This first entailed a move away from their home in non-food-producing Tuscon to a family farm in Virginia, where they got right down to the business of growing and raising their own food and supporting local farmers. For teens who grew up on supermarket offerings, the notion not only of growing one's own produce but also of harvesting one's own poultry was as foreign as the concept that different foods relate to different seasons. While the volume begins as an environmental treatisethe oil consumption related to transporting foodstuffs around the world is enormousit ends, as the year ends, in a celebration of the food that physically nourishes even as the recipes and the memories of cooks and gardeners past nourish our hearts and souls. Although the book maintains that eating well is not a class issue, discussions of heirloom breeds and making cheese at home may strike some as high-flown; however, those looking for healthful alternatives to processed foods will find inspiration to seek out farmers' markets and to learn to cook and enjoy seasonal foods. Give this title to budding Martha Stewarts, green-leaning fans of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth (Rodale, 2006), and kids outraged by Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation (Houghton, 2001).
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Top Member Reviews
Marsha K. (
14 member(s) found this review helpful.
A beautiful story about a life of creating sustainable agriculture. I learned about how asparagus is grown and that lettuce grows into a tall flower! It has made me appreciate the local Farmer's Market, which I go every Sunday now.
9 member(s) found this review helpful.
What a wonderful book...and written with such humor, as well as the facts or stats to back up what she is saying. This terrific story of an ordinary American family taking a year to eat consciously...buying food locally or growing their own...is a timely reminder to us that we need to be more aware of food--where it comes from, what industrial farms are doing to it and why we need to support local farming. This book really helped me connect the hunger problems around the world with my choices in buying food. I didn't expect to enjoy this book so much--such fun! Barbara Kingsolver helped me to "know" all the people of whom she spoke and took me personally into their lives and that of her husband and two daughters. Simply a wonderful book! One I definitely want for my own library as well as to share!
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
This is the kind of book that changes the way you view the world. I may not turn my back yard into rows of crops, but I am moved to buy more locally and more organically. Also, check out her website, a great resource.
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
Such an interesting book-- the authors are definitely people who have thought a lot about their food choices and what these choices mean for themselves, other living beings and the planet. A good reminder that we support our values with every action and every action counts toward making the world what you want it to be.
I don't think I could do what they did (eating practically all local foods for a year), but I will be more thoughtful about what I select to feed myself and my family.
2 member(s) found this review helpful.
I really enjoyed this book. I definitely think about what I'm buying and what I'm eating differently now. Barbara Kingsolver has a quick wit about her, which made this book entertaining as well as educational.
Monica L. (
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
A terribly important book! Fantastic, a must-read. Barbara Kingsolver and her family have produced a wonderful compilation about the importance of eating locally. They managed to avoid being at all "preachy" and included many relevant facts, and engaging witticisms.
An added bonus: recipes and handy tips for cooks and home gardeners abound.
HIGHLY recommended. I absolutely savored this book.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
This is an important book for the times that we are living in right now; I wish I had found it earlier! Put it on your wishlist!
R B. (
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
Took me back to the farm I grew up on. Kingsolver is at the top of her writing game again in this one. Her family also contributes some very spot-on reality checks in the sidebars.
Rate These Member Reviews
Lauren H. from WINDSOR, CO wrote on 9/5/2008...This is an excellent and fascinating book that I would highly recommended to the nature fiend, garden lover, person on a quest to eat healthier and reduce your carbon footprint.
I was completely inspired by this book when I first read it a year ago to plant a garden. I was renting and unable at the time, but started shopping farmers markets because of it. I recently reread it and now am in a house and am planning my first garden!
It's a fascinating look into what your life could be like if you truly tried to raise your own food for a year! Enjouy!