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mamajaime's review against another edition
5.0
This book was amazing! Such an inspiration and very informative!
jmbq_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Having followed Smith and MacKinnon's columns for the Tyee (online) for a year, I had to pre-order this book. After all, their articles helped push me along toward eating more local foods. I read this around the same time as Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and found it to be an excellent complementary read. The book differs from their columns in that you get a better sense of the struggles they went through to source local foods... and the strain it sometimes caused in their relationship. Still, as with AVM, it inspired me to try a little harder to seek out new local foods and to change some of my old habits.
red_magpie's review against another edition
4.0
A good look at local eating. Due to a number of relevant contemporary issues, the authors decide to spend a year eating only foods grown within a 100 mile radius of their home in Vancouver, Canada. Like so many of the things we think are admirable but impossible, the authors pushed past excuses and found a way to make it work, learning a great deal along the way about their local community and themselves. The writing is good and the theme is encouraging.
erikars's review against another edition
4.0
One year, a couple was inspired to try to eat locally for a year. They defined locally based on their geographic surroundings and ended up drawing a boundary that allowed them to eat food withing 100 miles of their home in Vancouver, BC.
This book is the story of the challenges they faced and the lessons they learned. A year of trying to eat only locally grown and produced foods was difficult. Some of these difficulties were due to their geographic location; the area around Vancouver is just not fit for producing sugar or citrus. Other difficulties were more humorous; their 100 mile area included parts of northern Washington. They visited and found that the area produced a variety of wonderful foods, but then realized that they would be hampered by restrictions on taking food over the border (they decided it was worth the risk to smuggle home a wheel of cheese).
One of the most important lessons that the authors learned about food is that you can grow a lot more than you think in the climate of the Pacific Northwest. Our stereotypes about what can grow well are extremely warped by where things can be grown with the absolute highest yield. However, in reality most climates can support a much larger variety of food than they are known for, albeit at a smaller scale. Thus, even eating locally in Vancouver, BC, the authors were able to have a varied and interesting diet all year round (although it did take some preserving and finding wheat was a pain).
The other lesson the authors learned was to appreciate their food more. Spending a year eating locally caused Smith and Mackinnon to really think about the food they ate and helped them to appreciate the simple joys of fresh fruit or the first greens of the season. They learned, emotionally not just intellectually, that our food connects us to the earth and that holds true whether the food comes from your windowsill, a small farmer, or a giant farm.
The main thing I have taken from the book is to just think about my food, where it comes from, and what its production method may be denying me. I am not going to start only eating food that comes from within 100 miles, but I am going to take distance into account when given the choice. I am not going to stop buying lemons, but I am going to acknowledge that a strawberry shipped from California is less tasty than one picked fresh and ripe in Marysville. Mainly, I am going to acknowledge that our food production system is not without real social and environmental cost and try to take that cost into account when I am looking at price differences.
This book is the story of the challenges they faced and the lessons they learned. A year of trying to eat only locally grown and produced foods was difficult. Some of these difficulties were due to their geographic location; the area around Vancouver is just not fit for producing sugar or citrus. Other difficulties were more humorous; their 100 mile area included parts of northern Washington. They visited and found that the area produced a variety of wonderful foods, but then realized that they would be hampered by restrictions on taking food over the border (they decided it was worth the risk to smuggle home a wheel of cheese).
One of the most important lessons that the authors learned about food is that you can grow a lot more than you think in the climate of the Pacific Northwest. Our stereotypes about what can grow well are extremely warped by where things can be grown with the absolute highest yield. However, in reality most climates can support a much larger variety of food than they are known for, albeit at a smaller scale. Thus, even eating locally in Vancouver, BC, the authors were able to have a varied and interesting diet all year round (although it did take some preserving and finding wheat was a pain).
The other lesson the authors learned was to appreciate their food more. Spending a year eating locally caused Smith and Mackinnon to really think about the food they ate and helped them to appreciate the simple joys of fresh fruit or the first greens of the season. They learned, emotionally not just intellectually, that our food connects us to the earth and that holds true whether the food comes from your windowsill, a small farmer, or a giant farm.
The main thing I have taken from the book is to just think about my food, where it comes from, and what its production method may be denying me. I am not going to start only eating food that comes from within 100 miles, but I am going to take distance into account when given the choice. I am not going to stop buying lemons, but I am going to acknowledge that a strawberry shipped from California is less tasty than one picked fresh and ripe in Marysville. Mainly, I am going to acknowledge that our food production system is not without real social and environmental cost and try to take that cost into account when I am looking at price differences.
bridge_enginerd's review against another edition
5.0
I laughed out loud a lot while reading this book...but also felt the unsettling creep of guilt entering my belly. This should be required reading for everybody!
salmonread's review against another edition
3.0
excellent plane reading - consumed this on round trip flight newark to atlanta. makes me want to get a plot in a community garden even though i don't know how to garden. also makes me even more excited for the CSA season to begin. also makes me miss my friends in vancouver.
mcsayegh's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting to see how an urban couple goes local, but maybe a little too much information about their personal lives....
shiny_raccoon's review against another edition
4.0
I love this genre of a challenge for a year. And I love the issues surrounding food. I LOVED it.