Animal, Vegetable, Miracle : A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a combination narrative of a year in a locavore family's food life, and a rich collection of facts about our food and where it can and does come from. I am anxious to put many of the ideas and principles into action in our family food life. I especially enjoyed the facts and quotes included, some of which i jotted down:

"If every US citizen ate just one meal a week composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week."

"Humans have eaten some 80,000 plant species in our history. After recent precipitous changes, three quarters of all human food now comes from just eight species with the field quickly narrowing down to genetically modified corn soy and canola."

"the Colorado River - owing to our thirsts - is a river that no longer reaches the ocean, but peters out in a sand flat near the Mexican border."

and i now have another reason to seek out and read some Wendell Berry:

"I dislike the thought that some animal has been made miserable in order to feed me. If I am going to eat meat, I want it to be from an animal that has lived a pleasant, uncrowded life outdoors, on bountiful pasture, with good water nearby and trees for shade. And I am getting almost as fussy about food plants."
- Wendell Berry, 'What Are People For?'


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