Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)

I listened to the audio version of this book--read by the author. It is wonderful. Barbara Kingsolver has a lovely voice and a charming sense of humor, and...her book is very well-written. She and her husband and daughter give a very intelligent, impactful rendering of the subject of growing one's own food, eating locally, sustainable farming...and the "negatives" of the con-agricultural biz. You will learn a lot and enjoy doing it because despite the fact that certain portions of the book are of necessity serious in nature, the book was also an entertaining and fun read!

A friend in my book club recommended this and so I decided to read it not knowing too much about it. But as a mom of two young children, I had been feeling like I should focus on feeding them better. I thought this was just going to be a book about how living on vegetables for a year made them so healthy. But it was a fascinating and capitivating story because of not only what they went through during that year, but also because of her revealing insights into the food industry - how meat is produced for mass market, how hens are treated, how much energy is wasted by transporting produce across the country (and world), how large corporate farming is affecting local farming communities and the national economy. I closed the book feeling like I had been empowered with so much more knowledge about the food I have been putting into my body and was inspired to frequent my local farmer's market, grow my own summer garden, and be much more choosy about my meat and dairy products.

I've struggled with my weight for years which tells you that I've also struggled with food for the same time. I've recently let my underlying distaste (pun intended) for factory-farmed animals rise to the surface and am exploring other ways to eat that don't involve inhumane treatment for animals and the world we're putting at risk. Kinsolver's book was one I started, put aside as "too hard", picked up, put aside, and picked up again as I really got serious. I doubt I can ever emulate her experience, but I can certainly do better than I have done and, with the information in her book, I know I will be able to do better with practice and support. If you want to change your ways -- and defend the change to those who may question or even mock you -- this book will become a new pantry staple.