Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver

Two of my favourite topics combined - yay! Food and the environment. So now I have another hero, Barbara Kingsolver. Actually, I have loved her books for years - you all know The Poisonwood Bible which stands out from the rest. If you haven't read it, you must. Just recently I read her latest book, Flight Behaviour, which is a wonderful read, and I think second best to Poisonwood Bible. Talking to a friend about that book, she asked me if I had read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and raved about it - so I got hold of a copy, and it is so far amazing.

Anyone who read The Dirty Life, about a couple who take up farming, will love this one as well.

Barbara Kingsolver and her family move from Tucson, Arizona, to southern Appalacia to farm their land there, because of the realisation that living in the middle of the desert means that every drop of food and water that crosses their lips has been driven, trucked or flown a very long way to sustain them there. The cost in energy and the damage to the planet for humans to live in Tucson is massive (there are some statistics) and they made a decision as a family to live where their food can be and is grown.

The book tells how they spent a year trying to live on food that is grown around them - food that they know exactly where it comes from and who grew it. They have their own farm and they grew a lot themselves; the book has seasonal recipes for cooking when you have a glut - though I wish there were more recipes in it.

Among the points the author makes in the introductory chapters are two that struck me. One is that by eating locally-produced food you are saving so much of the energy that goes into transporting it (she refers to "oily food.") Another is that regions where people have a strong food culture depending on local produce usually have the most delicious diets, and are the healthiest. She mentions Italy, France, Japan, among others. So she sees a need for the US to develop its own new culture of food based on traditional and local foods. Of course Britain does not get a mention - we do have traditional foods but I am not sure they live up to France and Italy's...! But nor has our diet become as badly commercialised as in the US, yet (thinking of portion size and additives).

I am enthusiastic about the idea of becoming a "locavore". I even talked with a friend about sharing their communal allotment this year!! It makes so much sense. However there are a lot of problems associated with it and I have some reservations. One is, growing your own food, canning food, and cooking everything from scratch is very time-consuming. Two, buying vegetable and meat from farmers' markets (which are everywhere now) is extremely expensive and we are living on a limited budget. Three, so many things have to be imported - can I manage without not only coffee but tea as well? Chocolate? Bananas? Wine? Pasta? Rice? Will potatoes be enough?? And a related point, don't countries depend to some extent on other countries buying their produce? If the UK stopped importing tea, wouldn't India have a financial crisis? So how can this theory be completely right? Of course Fair Trade is a good way to go and might be the answer to that. But it is complex: the carbon footprint is still there.

So, I will end up with some compromise version as usual and maybe just make myself feel a bit better... But, it will be a way to make myself try some new recipes and lose some weight... and, every little helps, right? And maybe if everyone did that little bit, it would make a difference.

As usual, I'd love to know anyone's thoughts...