November Book Review - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - A Year of Food Life

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - A Year of Food Life, follows a year in the life of one of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver and her family.  This book has been written with the help of her husband, Steven L. Hopp and oldest daughter Camille Kingsolver.

This book is a wealth of information on learning how to eat from sources close to home, become more mindful of where and how the food we eat is not only produced, but how far it must travel to reach our tables.
Barbara Kingsolver writes, "This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew..and of how our family was changed by our first year of deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank the water, and breathed the air."

Barbara writes most of the book using an easy to read style to read, filled with vivid, interesting and humerous facts on how they began and survived the year. 

Steven Hopp adds to each chapter with short essays that have more in depth information, numbers and facts.  Some examples include, "How to Find a Farmer", "The Price of Life", "Sustaining the Unsustainable" and "Legislating Local".  He gives much thought provoking information and is a call for all of us to listen and start to make some changes to how we eat.

Camille Kingsolver has a wonderful writing style, weaving interesting stories about her family at the end of each chapter and adds interesting information and recipes. 

I have been wanting to read this book for a long time and when I happened to spot it on the shelf at the library I knew the time was now.  My family has tried to tread lightly on the earth, but know we have a long way to go.  We have been trying to make changes to grow or raise more of our own food, and eat more locally and this book has helped to continue to spur that desire and not give up because it becomes a bit hard.  We owe it to ourselves and the future generations to know where our food comes from, and not use valuable resources to obtain items from across the globe at the cost of our environment.

If you are interested in checking out their website, please visit www.animalvegetablemracle.com/org/net


(As a side note, I also suggest any of Barbara Kingsolver's novels)

Happy and healthy eating!

Namaste.
Pamela Nelson
www.plnyoga.vpweb.com