Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp, Camille Kingsolver and Lily Hopp Kingsolver (audiobook)

genre: nonfiction, memoir, food

After one of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver, and her family moved from their Arizona desert to a farm on the hills of western Virginia, they made a huge decision: to try living for one year eating only food they grow themselves or that are procured from the local area around their home.  They would eat "in season" or they would've had to have home processed it themselves for later use.  It's a massive undertaking that I wasn't sure would keep my attention  for 360 or so pages, but it totally did!  It's not just the narrative of their family's experience with their own chickens and turkey, fruit trees and vegetables from their garden.  It's also about using farmers markets and local farms, eating food that is fresh and trying to truly reduce the carbon footprint of your own meals. It's about changing the entire way you look at food as well as being aware of the context and socioeconomic impact of the entire food industry.  It's a lofty order.

The truth is that I think it was super well written.  I liked that we switched from Barbara's story of the year to her daughter Camille's essay's from her point of view to her husband's Mr. Scientist Man's articles giving background and actual science.  I liked the practical ideas and just the uniqueness of the experience. Does it feel a little high-and-mighty?  A little.  Does it feel super overwhelming to imagine?  It does, but I chose to let THAT part wash over me and just appreciate THEIR experience.  I know that I just cannot do what they've done.  #1, my children would NEVER be as perfect and eager to eat only whole foods for an entire year.  The daughters in this family see edamame from the garden and rhubarb crisp as perfectly acceptable alternatives to dessert and snack foods, which is just not the case in my home.    And #2, our lives are not set up to have our own farm.  However, I DO think that I can make better food choices.  I DO think I can be more aware of how my choices can affect the planet and even while I read I started ruminating on how I can make some small changes to our food culture in my home.  I LOVED what she says at the end, about how we should never ridicule the small gesture, saying "Small, stepwise changes in personal habits aren't trivial.  Ultimately they will, or won't, add up to having been the thing that mattered."

Also, parts made me chuckle out loud and at the end, I got a few tender tears that I was not expecting.  Barbara Kingsolver is a magician with words and I'm glad that I let myself take this journey with her and her family.