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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
This was my first nonfiction barbara kingsolver, and it was a pleasure to read. The book explores each season and the foods that are a part of it.Her husband and daughter also play roles in the book with a teenager perspective/ receipes and enviromental research. Reading this will give a new perspective of where and what one eats and enviromental responsibility.
I seem to have read all of the major food books out over the last couple of years. The best was Omnivore's Dilemma, but this one was pretty good too. Not too much new territory here, but an interesting personal viewpoint.
I love this book. I pick it p periodically and read little sips as though it were a fine wine. Her writing is excellent and the topic is inspiring. It's the end of October now and I'm reading about her month of November in this "locavore" project. She makes me long for Thanksgiving.
I really liked this book. It made me rethink my food purchases. I buy organic, but I will choose local in-season produce over not-in-season that has come from California. I also realized that I took for granted all of the food that we grew on our farm. I HATED putting up produce, especially corn, but I now realize how lucky I was to have had fresh-from-the-field corn. I have never been able to eat canned vegetables because I was spoiled by having the real thing (well, from the freezer, but it was from our farm) all year round. I wish I could grow my own vegetables. One of these days...
Good book. Long though. Very interesting experiment. Lacks some human interest though
This book is important. It shows how to eat with the seasons, and why locavore eating is important environmentally, medically, and to our communities. It helps the reader think through all sorts of food choices, and shows the dark side of the winter tomato (as if we couldn't taste that for ourselves).
However the smug, holier than thou attitudes turned me off--and we've subscribed to the CSA for years so are inclined to agree with the Kingsolver family. Her strident tone gets in the way of her thinking sometimes. God, this book was so annoying it was a struggle to finish it in time for book group.
However the smug, holier than thou attitudes turned me off--and we've subscribed to the CSA for years so are inclined to agree with the Kingsolver family. Her strident tone gets in the way of her thinking sometimes. God, this book was so annoying it was a struggle to finish it in time for book group.
So do so feel guilty for reading this book while munching away on potato chips, mini marshmallows, and multiple cans of soda? Not really, but the desire to eat better and to begin locally sourcing food options was born. Though book does weigh in on various political and social issues, it never gets too bogged down or overly heavy handed. The recipes and insights from Camille are wonderful, some of my favorite sections of the book. Lucy is a scene stealer! A definite reference book to be added to a gardener’s reference library.
Book of the season for sure. Barbara Kingsolver never misses. I wanted to start being more mindful of food, of taking bigger steps. This book answered all my questions about food, climate / political anxiety, motherhood, and what it means to have a connection to the land. Questions I was not expected to get answered here. I don't have the means to do the same as the family has, and this is recognized, but I hope to carry the spirit with me in my urban food journey!!!
Three and a half stars rounded up to four just because I think Barbara Kingsolver is an amazing writer and I admire her as a human. I learned a lot from this book and enjoyed the chronicle of the life of this family eating only local for a year. Some of her stories really stayed with me and I found myself for example ruminating on the process of "harvesting" turkeys, and the story of her daughter deciding to sell "only the mean ones" of her chickens for meat. But sometimes it was a bit boring and it was ALWAYS preachy. It really could have been just a long article or at least a much shorter book.