Thursday 1 August 2013

Devouring Books: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

"Humans can be fairly ridiculous animals."

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is just the latest in the long line of 'this is how we should be eating' books that for various reasons I choose to read, a lot (See also: Skinny Bitch, Eating Animals) and it covers food issues I hadn't even thought about before (mainly because we're not really trained to think about them anymore) namely, seasonal eating. Considering how into food issues and things I am, I feel like I should have been IN LOVE with this book, but... Things didn't really turn out that way. You'll see.

So. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle ostensibly follows Barbara Kingsolver and her family as they go through one year of eating only things that are in season and locally grown. Helping with this is the farm they own, on which they grow their own produce, and the fact that the book begins with their move from Arizona (where, I very reasonably assume, nothing grows) to... I want to say Virginia, but I can't remember exactly where and I can't be bothered to find the book to tell you. But somewhere greener, anyway. And the book is basically their trials and errors and what they ate and how good it felt and la la la la etc. All that was fine.

I so so completely agree with so much that's in this book, I'm pretty sure we should be eating seasonally for the sake of our palates and um, THE WORLD. Like, last night I had pasta and vegetables for dinner, and the vegetables were tenderstem broccoli and asparagus and they came in a joint pack thing, and on the packet it said Peru/Kenya. Peru. And Kenya. I did some research (Google) last night and Kenya is 6,600 miles away and Peru is 6,160 miles away IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.
And clearly this is ridiculous and I shouldn't be allowed to eat like that, and it shouldn't really even be a thing that's allowed, but it is and I can't stop it, but I can make choices that means I'm not involved in a system where my food has been flown nearly 13,000 miles to get to my plate.

So clearly I applaud Kingsolver's whole mission and her ideals and yeah, seasonal food tastes better and so on (although I haven't ever had a bad piece of asparagus, and I'm not sure I've even eaten it in season but this is SO NOT THE POINT). But ugh, dude, Barbara Kingsolver and her ideals. (I KNOW. I KNOW.) I mean, I have some issues and they're mainly hypocrisy issues, and I might just be being a weenie about them, but I really feel like I have some points here. So just listen up.

FIRSTLY- the entire book is based on the idea that,  essentially, if you can't get it from within 100 miles of where you are, you shouldn't be having it. You'd think there'd be no exceptions to this, which is weird because I vividly remember a section of this book where Kingsolver's husband says 'for things like tea and coffee and spices that don't grow locally/in the US, you should totally buy fairtrade versions of them'* And you know what? No. Either EVERYTHING that's flown in from abroad is bad, or nothing is. You can't just pick and choose what you'll accept being ferried across the world because, I don't know, you really really like coffee. That's just STUPID.

SECONDLY- part of the objection to non-locally grown produce presented in the book are the amounts of petrol burnt to get it to our plates, which, you know, I have no objections with. But over the course of the book, the Kingsolvers take both a road trip and a flight to Italy, without once mentioning the amount of pollution caused by human travel. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they shouldn't ever have holidays or things like that, but if EVERYONE did that? It wouldn't be good, and it wouldn't have been non-fitting for them to somehow justify their travel, like by planting 100 trees after it or something.

THIRDLY- Kingsolver tries to argue that Farmer's Markets are cheap. Farmer's Markets (at least in the UK) are not cheap. And I'm not even saying that's a good enough reason not to buy stuff from them (although for a lot of people it's the reason why they CAN'T) but saying that the things they sell are cheaper than you would get them in the supermarket is just not true.

FINALLY- (and it very nearly was finally- I almost threw the book down in disgust after this) the meat thing comes up. OBVIOUSLY I have feels about eating meat, and Kingsolver does too- She stopped eating CAFO animals (basically, factory farmed ones) many years ago, which essentially meant not eating meat, at the time. So I was like 'YEAH!' But then, Kingsolver kind of undermines this (seemingly to make herself feel better about eating meat again, which she does) by ridiculing the entire idea of vegetarian and veganism. And I was kind of shocked, actually, because up until that point I was like 'yep, evil food industry' and 'yep, baaaad pollution' and then she starts spouting shit like:
"To envision a vegan version of civilisation, start by erasing for all time the Three Little Pigs, the boy who cried wolf, Charlotte's Web, The golden calf, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Next, erase civilisation, brought to you by the people who learned to domesticate animals. Finally, rewrite our evolutionary history, since Homo Sapiens became the species we are by regular binges of carnivory."
And I just honestly and truly fail to see how this is at all relevant! It's not that vegans try to rewrite history (and, GOD FORBID we lose the Three Little Pigs because that's a thing that would happen and makes complete sense...) AT ALL, but that they CHOOSE to eat in a certain way that seems less harmful to the planet than just eating whatever the fuck you want and why does that sound familiar... OH YEAH, IT'S WHAT YOUR ENTIRE FUCKING BOOK IS ABOUT?! I mean, really. So annoying.

But apart from making me want to stab her in the face? I don't know. I feel like I want to recommend this purely because there's quite a lot of information in it about the EVIL that is the food industry (in the US, but you KNOW it's happening everywhere) that I may have already known about because I know too much, but you might not, and also just because I really find myself agreeing more and more with this whole eating seasonally thing, and WOAH why don't we do that anymore, it makes no sense. But all those other things really did piss me off...

Ok, I've got it. This book is good as an introduction to how we should probably be eating, but if you're already kind of well informed and/or a non-meat eater who threatens the existence of Charlotte's Web (seriously?) I'd probably give it a miss. As it is, I'm not sure I'll ever forgive Barbara...

*I'm totally paraphrasing. Obviously...

32 comments:

  1. Wooooow good review. I really want to read this, and I really want to like it (thank Bex for that), but I will definitely have The Wrath of Laura in the back of my mind when I do...

    Doesn't Bella come from Arizona in Twilight? I only say this because my memory of the first movie involves a moment where she's pretty much standing in a desert holding a tiny cactus from the garden so... yeah, not exactly green and fertile land, I don't think.

    And YES seasonal eating. It's true that stuff grown PROPERLY nearby does taste nicer than intensively-grown-7000-miles-away food. But Farmer's Markets are EXPENSIVE. Like, more expensive than a regular market where a farmer is selling the same things. Target audience tends to be more willing to spend, I guess, and maybe it does reflect the price of food much more honestly, but... y'know, we're earning about half minimum wage, so... We grow a few things at home though. Runner beans, peas, raspberries, cherries, apples, that kind of thing. Nice come summer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know, you should definitely read it because large chunks of it were good, she just did one of those things that pisses me off no end, so there was no way I couldn't mention it!

      I have noooo idea, love! But if you say it then I believe it! I have read none of the books, and only seen a teeny bit of the first movie that was some kind of vampire battle or something? I don't know, Coop from Nurse Jackie was there. *shrugs* But sure, why not!

      Farmer's Markets ARE totally expensive, right?! Thank you! Barbara's all like 'oh, it doesn't cost very much' and I'm like 'maybe not to YOU'. Not that I'm saying we shouldn't be seasonally eating (we almost definitely should) but you CAN totally do that at a supermarket, as long as you only buy things bought in the UK. But then I have issues with, like, (icing) sugar because you can either buy UK grown stuff OR fairtrade stuff and it's like WHICH IS BETTER?! Because both kind of seem like good options!

      It's awesome that you grow things though! My granddad grows tomatoes, cucumbers, runner beans, potatoes and a few other things, I think, which is pretty cool! Not that I like tomatoes, and that's what he grows most of... But oh well!

      Delete
    2. Yeah, sorry, I loved the Twilight movies, especially the later ones... *coughs and moves on hastily* BUT OH MY GOD WAIT, you're a Nurse Jackie person too? I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE IN LIKE THE UNIVERSE. Coop's an eejit but Jackie's amazing and O'Hara frickin' ROCKS.

      I try to buy fruit and veg seasonally from the supermarket, cos if it's out of season it generally tastes crap anyway. Strawberries and apples being prime examples. In season? Yummy! Out of season? SHUDDER INDUCING. Eurgh. I'm not sure if there are any fruit trees at the new house yet, but when we move we want to AT THE VERY LEAST make some raised beds out back where there's this sort of concrete non-garden swathe of space. Maybe grow some strawberries and stuff in there, salad things, herbs... Mmmmm. :)

      Delete
    3. NO COMMENT. I'm soooort of a Nurse Jackie person- I looooved season one, I liked season two plenty, but with season 3, I used to watch (vaguely illegally) online at the same time as I watched US of Tara (RIP) and after watching Tara sometimes I couldn't even be bothered to watch Nurse Jackie. So basically, I should probably pick up from where I left off, but I'm bitter that they cancelled Tara instead of Jackie.

      I sort of, um, don't know the seasons fruits and things belong to. I KNOW. But I guess I know that apples are autumny and strawberries are summery? The thing is, that kind of information would genuinely have been useful in this book, but it's not really provided! Like, there could have been a little guide at the front or back just to summarise the most often used fruits and veg and when they're in season? But nope.

      Delete
  2. Hm this sounds like an interesting book... It's been on my radar for a while but I have so far avoided reading any book about how and what we should be eating because I'm scared I'll have to give up things I like. :|
    Anyway, about your first issue with it: Does it really have to be so black and white? Either all non-local food is bad or not? I always think that it will be great if everyone does the best they can and just be sensible. Like, you don't have to have raspberries in January but, you know, it's ok to use pepper in your cooking. Because saving the planet is important but it's also nice to maintain some sort of quality of life. Again, within reason (put down the packaged asparagus in November!).
    The thing about the markets, they are most certainly not cheap! You can argue that you are getting better quality ingredients (that are in season and locally grown) but cheap? No. Although I did walk past a fruit stall the other day and they were selling British strawberries that were cheaper than in Tesco/Sainsburys.
    What a crazy thing to say about vegans?! Just seems so silly and unrelated to anything.
    Anyway, great review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel like reading books like this doesn't necessarily MAKE you give up things you like unless you already feel strongly about it or you have a ridiculously overactive conscience! Like, I read Eating Animals at exactly the right time to make me go 'shit, I really don't want to eat animals anymore' but if you didn't really feel like that to begin with, it wouldn't necessarily change you. And at least with this one you don't have to give anything up, apart from at non-seasonal parts of the year!

      Yeah, no, you're definitely right about it not being so black and white- I actually just re-read that paragraph, and now I understand everyone's comments (when I read them by email I was like 'did I say that?! Whoops!') haha. I think my point was, not so much that we SHOULD deprive ourselves of everything, but in the context of Kingsolver's experiment, surely they actually should have? It just seemed inconsistent to me.

      And THANK YOU, farmers markets are totally not cheap! I know that some fruit and veg stalls ARE actually cheap, but I haven't really gone close enough to them to check where their stuff comes from, as far as I know it could be as far away as the supermarket stuff, so. (Obviously not the British strawberries- did you get some?!)

      And yeah, I really and truly don't understand the vegan thing! I was just like HOW IS THAT WHAT THEY'RE TRYING TO DO?! Stupid Barbara.

      Delete
  3. I do kind of still want to read this, because I like all the info about the food industry, even if it doesn't change like ANY of my habits (I must be the only person who was disgusted by Supersize Me, but then also REALLY wanted a double cheeseburger... which I no longer eat b/c I don't eat beef b/c of cloning issues, but yeah). And I like Barbara Kingsolver...

    I don't think things have to be so black and white, which might be a problem I would have with this book. Like, eating locally is a great idea... but also if you live in an area where like half the year is freezing and snowy, you're kind of risking malnutrition if you don't spend time like canning a bunch of crap ahead of time, which just isn't realistic for most households.

    BUT I do have to disagree that either everything flown in is bad or nothing is... If it's something you COULD be growing in your area, then yeah you should do that. But if you can't grow coffee in your backyard, that's okay to just buy. Every little bit that you grow yourself helps, but you don't have to be all-or-nothing about it, which I think is why a lot of people don't bother trying to change their food habits. I think like the 1700-1800's was a good time, when you grew MOST of the food you could, but you traded for stuff that had to come from far away like spices and tea and coffee, etc.

    I do have to say though about the farmer's market - maybe it depends on the area? Because the farmer's markets that happen on the weekend in my city are CRAZY cheap. WAY cheaper than a grocery store. I hardly ever get to go to them b/c I work weekends though, which sucks b/c it would definitely save me money on produce.

    But anyways, yeah! I do kind of want to read this book still, just to see :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dude, you should totally read it for the food industry stuff- If I hadn't known a lot of it already, I would have been extra horrified and might have been willing to overlook some of the other stuff, but I have watched too many documentaries lol (And DUDE whut?! I didn't have McDonald's for SO LONG after I watched Supersize Me, and obviously now I basically never have it).

      Yeah, I definitely don't think that canning is an option for most people, and it all seems like a bit... Much. I feel like everyone should do as much as they can (like, totally eating locally in seasons where its sustainable) but not have to feel all bad just because they fancy a banana.

      And, yeah, see above re: flying stuff in. I just felt like, Kingsolver made such an incredibly big deal about only eating locally, but then just goes 'UNLESS they are things that you want and then it's fine'. I don't know, it just didn't sit well with me. I definitely agree that, in practical terms, you should do a little of both and that's absolutely better than nothing.

      DUDE way to have awesome farmers markets! I think it definitely depends on the area, and I think actually in England in general (although I could be wrong) there are either MASSIVE farms that supply to supermarkets and stuff, or teeny farms that have to charge loads to make money off their produce. So there's no middle ground where people grow a lot so they can charge less. (But I'm sort of just making this up, but it feels true!)

      Delete
  4. Crap, sorry for the longest-comment-ever. I ramble :-/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, it's good! There's a lot to discuss here!

      Delete
  5. This is exactly why I eat meat. Because if Charlotte's Web goes away..well I don't want to live in a world without that book!

    I love the idea of eating locally. I love the idea of shopping exclusively at Farmer's Markets. Sadly, I live in the wintriest darn state in the US. Our summers are about 4 minutes long. I know there are things I can do to improve our eating. BUT some of these books just make me feel so damn guilty. Ack.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha, I'm so glad you're keeping Charlotte's Web alive for us, Jennifer! If I had my way and no one ate pigs, we wouldn't have Wilbur (but the whole POINT of that story is not eating pigs, what are you even talking about, Barbara?!)

      I don't really think you're supposed to feel guilty, but more to think about things more? And the thing is, even choosing foods that come from a state nearer to you than one further away is better than nothing? But I really don't think she thinks about places that are covered in snow for large parts of the year. I mean, what about your vitamins and stuff?!

      Delete
  6. Yeah, I agreed with a ton of the info in this book (except Farmer's Markets being cheap!), but it was Kingsolver's condecension that just ruined it for me. We do try to each seasonally and locally. We have a garden and work with others to raise chickens and buy a bit of a local cow each year, but I wish Kingsolver could share the informaiton without sounding like such an asshole.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OMG YES! Doesn't she though?! I mean, I didn't want to put it so harshly because there was this one chapter about the day of the dead that I really liked (LOL, impeccable reasoning) but she was kind of an asshole about it! I think it's the kind of thing where it's easy to become an asshole because you're doing things better than other people, but daaaaamn.

      Also dude, it sounds like you are doing that awesomely and not being an asshole so I feel like you should go and teach Barbara how to do that :)

      Delete
  7. The name of this book makes me spontaneously eye-roll. Animal, Vegetable, *Miracle*? Really?

    I like the point "EVERYTHING MUST BE GROWN AND BOUGHT LOCALLY unless I really want it and can't get it locally, in which case, it's cool." Also Farmer's Markets out here, also not cheap. And Freakonomics did a podcast about locally grown stuff and how much gas is used to ship things and how, in the grand scheme of things it's not actually that much.

    Love your review. Hooray for yelling

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wordplay, Alley! The miracle is, you know, living off the land like people have been doing for centuries. Miraculous.

      YES THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I MEANT BY THAT! Because seriously, you can't advocate for one thing and then go 'except this this and this because I like it' right?! Farmers Markets over here are kind of bullshit THERE I SAID IT. And duuude, that is so interesting. Like, very interesting indeed. I'm still down with the eating locally as much as you can, but it's interesting that things have kind of been... overstated, somewhat. And also, I'm pretty sure all the pollution created still isn't as much as all the cows make because everyone wants their fucking burgers so yeah.

      YELLING IS THE BEST.

      Delete
    2. Oh I get the word play. And there goes my eye-rolling again.

      Also I found that podcast thing I was talking about if you want to listen
      http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/06/07/you-eat-what-you-are-pt-2-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/

      Delete
    3. Hahahaha, I know you did. I think we all did. It's not the best.

      Cooool. ALSO I totally bought Freakonomics (the book) today, MOSTLY because I needed another book to get 2 for £1, but also because we had this mini-discussion. So, good talk dude.

      Delete
    4. GOOD BOOK CHOICE. I am a bit of a fan and I'm listening to one of their other podcasts now.

      Delete
  8. I rread the first pargraph of your review and was like 'ooh Laura,why don't we agree about any books anymore?' but then I read the rest and... Yeah I kind of agree. There was quite a bit of hypocrisy and a few things I thought were slily when I read it but overall the message is good and it's so informative.
    I don't agree with you about the Fairtrade thing though. Yeah if they have theor 100 mile rule they should stick to it but if you're gonna have tea/coffee/bananas then surely ones produced according to some kind of ethical guidelines are betted than ones which aren't?
    Farmers markets are totally expensive and it's ridiculous that she tries to convince people they're cheap. Good? Yes. Fun to go to and look at stuff you'd never see in Tesco? Yes. Cheap?no.
    Farm shops are cheap,seasonal and awesome though probably easier to come by round here than down your way :-)
    And that's all i have to say :-p

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Except oh my god typos!!
      Blame my phone, it's total crap

      Delete
    2. Aw, Bex, I'm glad I got you round to my way of thinking! Or that we at least don't disagree as much as you first thought! It really is very informative and does have a positive message, it's just that I kind of knew a lot of that stuff already, and it was presented to me in a way less... judgey way. But that's why I'm still like 'yeah, read it and learn stuff!'

      And oh yeah, I definitely agree that buying fairtrade things is better than buying non-fairtrade things, like, for example, I physically can't buy non-fairtrade bananas. I just can't. So yeah, ABSOLUTELY they're better than ones that aren't fairtrade, but my point is, they shouldn't be having them AT ALL if it's really so bad having things travel so far to you, you know?

      SO EXPENSIVE. They are very nice to look at and everything, but I vividly remember going to one with my parents and we just walked around and then left because they wouldn't pay the prices! I can think of, like, one farm shop round here (it's like part of a pick your own place, which I love) but that's also kind of expensive! Or at least more expensive than Tesco. But then, everything kind of is, and I think sometimes you need to eat that expense to do the right thing. (sometimes. When you can afford it.)

      Delete
    3. I've noticed how much better non-tesco fruit and veg tastes recently like we got potatoes from the farm shop (can you tell i love my farm shop? I'm turning into such a country person!) and they tasted like potatoes and id forgotten what that was like cos tescos potatoes dont taste like potatoes at all!
      Our farm shop is amazing for stuff in season.. 4 cauliflowers for a pound, £5 for like 8kg tomatoes. That kind of thing. But there are about 5 within a 5 mile radius and the only one that's that cheap and that good is the one I go to. The rest are more expensive,definitely so I guess im just lucky :-)

      Delete
    4. I may have NEVER had a proper potato in my life, to be honest! Maybe I SHOULDN'T go to farm shops and stuff because what if potatoes aren't good enough for me after that?! DILEMMA.

      4 cauliflowers for £1 is amazing though! I don't know that I could eat that much cauliflower in any given time frame, but STILL! That's awesome. And yay for finding the best one!

      Delete
  9. Here in Australia markets tend to vary. Up in Cairns there are the Rusty's Markets which are open Fri-Sun (I think? Maybe Thurs too) and are stalls for the farmers in the area and everything is really pretty cheap - mostly because there is *so much* competition I think. Like, when 20 other stalls are selling tomatoes you can't charge exorbitant prices. But in Brisbane we also have some smaller markets which are kind of ridiculous, and mostly for the yuppies who want to be all "I eat organic!" but are too stupid to realise when they're being ripped off.

    But, I also think Australia is much cheaper when it comes to fruit and veg since we grow SO MUCH of it ourselves. Except berries, berries are always fucking expensive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah dude, you pretty much have the best climate ever for growing stuff. Like, in AVM, Kingsolver's always like 'eat this rather than something that's flown in from California' because California has the year round sunshine that means they can grow stuff all the time, AS DO YOU. So yeah, you're pretty lucky in that you can pretty much eat whatever and not feel guilty! Just don't eat stuff from, like, Perth and you're all set.

      Delete
    2. Ooh I liked this. But then, we tend to like each other's ranty reviews, yes? Yes. Well. They usually involve funner GIFs.

      But yeah, if that's what she's saying about being vegan, that's some bullshit right there.

      Delete
    3. This is absolutely true. Ranting is the funnest to both write and read. And also, yeah, the gifs. Most of the rest of the time it's just Skarsgard being cute (for me, anyway.)

      She kind of goes 'I completely respect other people's choices' and stuff, and THEN she says the bad thing. And I just don't know what to do with that because HUH? And also DO VEGANS DENY THAT FARMING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF HISTORY? They do not. I'm STILL ANNOYED.

      Delete
  10. What EVEN with that vegetarian/vegan conspiracy theory?! That is legitimately ridiculous. If everyone on the planet became a vegan right NOW, that would not create a rift in the space/time continuum causing E.B. White to write a story about a spider that befriended a plump head of corn.

    PLUS, most vegetarians/vegans wouldn't have a PROBLEM eating meat if we were still doing things the traditional way. So if anything is threatening all those cozy traditions of meat-eating and writing books about meat-eating, it's environmentally irresponsible factory farming practices. DAMMIT, KINGSOLVER.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I KNOW! I don't even... I guess her point is 'if we'd always been vegan, we wouldn't have evolved to the level humans are at now' but having always done something is the WORST reason to continue doing that thing (see: slavery, justifications of) and I'm pretty sure it's an illogical argument of some kind but I can't remember all that philosophy I used to do.

      And YES EXACTLY! I mean, I have developed the added issue of being like 'OMG animals you are all so sweeeeet!' but I'd definitely be more willing to eat an animal that I know had a good life. Which IS something she also supports, but she's such a weenie she doesn't really get that there are no guarantees about where the meat has come from UNLESS, like, you meet the animal yourself and how often does that happen? Not. Very.

      Oh yes, I got very cross INDEED.

      Delete
  11. Ha! This sounds like it espouses ideals that I, for the most part, not only agree with but think are hugely important AND YET it sounds horribly preachy. So I'll pass, ta.

    I remember having some long conversations about local v organic v fair trade and how, yes it would be ideal if we could get everything as all three but obviously that isn't going to happen so which do we prioritise? And is it the one that lets us buy what we want, e.g. fair trade tea and coffee so we can get them at all?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Some organic or naturally farmed products sold at small markets can be cheaper if you consider the loss of nutrients, etc on those who were not. I mean, one happy grown lettuce can have a bit times more vitamins than the bad farmed ones, and it doesnt cost that much. ;)
    Anyway, thanks for reviewing.

    ReplyDelete