I think you and I are having a rare bit of synergy. I have been a long-standing Barbara Kingsolver fan and picked up her latest nonfiction book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life" when it came out about a month ago. It has *really* opened my eyes to a lot of things I suspected, but also put my head in the sand about food-wise if I wanted to keep eating. It sounds to me that you'd probably get a lot out of this book, too!
I'd like to thank you, Amie, for pointing this book out to me. It'll be here in two days. One hopes that it contains information that will complement and enhance the learning I'm doing every day. I'm glad I'm not the only one looking around and noticing that the food production industry is a scary, scary thing.
I think the hardest thing is going to be giving up the occasional potted-meat sandwich on white bread. That stuff is like crack, to me. =P
I'm about halfway through the book now and one thing I've really liked is Barbara's prose coupled with her husband's sidebars giving facts (including links to websites for more info) and her eldest daughter's menu planning and recipes. There is a ton of good info in there without the book feeling "preachy" and it's definitely had an effect on the way our family eats! Let me know what you think of it once you get a chance to dive into it!
I've read it through... very good book. And excellent read, but I see now why critics bemoaned the lack of an index. It'd be nice to be able to reference recipes and web sites at will
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Re: Finished.wickedgillieJune 27 2007, 20:50:47 UTC
I am so glad you liked it! And yup, the chapter on turkey sex was an eye-opener as well as funny as hell. I will never buy a butterball again!
We just found another local to us source for grass fed beef, and we already have a great farmers market, including the guy who organized the thing who has been certified organic since 1979. Bill's best friend is a homesteader so we get eggs from them when they're available (his hens are in menopause so he's waiting for the spring chickens to start laying). With small kids in the house, we still have more crap food in the house than we should (some days Abbey will eat nothing but noodles and chicken nuggets), but in general it has really made an impact on what and how we eat.
Same here about the Butterball.. it's insane and unhealthy, for every living thing concerned, the way those big-breasted turkeys are produced.
CONGRATULATIONS on finding grass-fed beef! Not much beef around here, grass fed or otherwise. It's just really too bad alpacas aren't edible, because we're over-run with the little critters. Maybe I'm a geek, but I get excited over things like supporting local small farms in the small way that's available to me. I'm just relieved to not be the *only* geek around. =D
http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Vegetable-Miracle-Year-Food/dp/0060852550/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4557630-2144101?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181863499&sr=8-1
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I think the hardest thing is going to be giving up the occasional potted-meat sandwich on white bread. That stuff is like crack, to me. =P
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We just found another local to us source for grass fed beef, and we already have a great farmers market, including the guy who organized the thing who has been certified organic since 1979. Bill's best friend is a homesteader so we get eggs from them when they're available (his hens are in menopause so he's waiting for the spring chickens to start laying). With small kids in the house, we still have more crap food in the house than we should (some days Abbey will eat nothing but noodles and chicken nuggets), but in general it has really made an impact on what and how we eat.
Oh, and all of the recipes are on her website: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com
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CONGRATULATIONS on finding grass-fed beef! Not much beef around here, grass fed or otherwise. It's just really too bad alpacas aren't edible, because we're over-run with the little critters. Maybe I'm a geek, but I get excited over things like supporting local small farms in the small way that's available to me. I'm just relieved to not be the *only* geek around. =D
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