Becoming a ‘locovore’ by using local food and only when its seasonal
My poor little head is too full of too many things to do (an exciting dot com project with my beloved, administrative work for our small internet business, a small babe and two little kids on summer holidays to look after, a house to keep in order, tummies to feed, this blog to write AND its so hot!) but I’ve got a tiny moment to share the fantastic book I’ve borrowed from the library.
Barbara Kingsolver’s ‘Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – Our Year of Seasonal Eating’ is an insiprational and educational account of the author and her family’s decision to leave Arizona where the population generally doesn’t know that potatoes grow in the ground and are 100% dependent on the petroleum industry to bring them food to their supermarkets all year round to a farm in Virginia where they spend a year only eating what’s in season and grown locally (their own gardens and those of small local farmers). The kids and the husband all write essays, facts and recipes which are inserted into the main narrative. Its a fantastic read.
It has made me determined to eat less food which has traveled a long way. Food which is grown to be transported thousands of miles is generally bred to travel well and not to taste good, and for each 10 calories provided by a vegetable or animal when eaten many more calories are spent producing it (fertiliser chemicals, insecticides) and transporting it. Each time I put the book down I’m even more fired up to continue our quest to live a simpler life in which food is not just grabbed as a pre-prepared product at the supermarket and wolfed down but instead lovingly planned, grown, shopped for, perpared and enjoyed with no hidden preservatives, flavourings, transfatty oils, or meat from poorly treated animals hiding within.
I’ve learnt so much and am only a third of the way through the book (eg. why hybrid seeds are a bad thing – because they don’t produce viable seeds for next time; making cheese at home is easy and fun with normal pasteurised milk; how supporting local farmers and buying their produce at a farmers market can have a huge impact on the local economy and environment) but the main thing I’m going to try to do more of from now on is resist the temptation to buy food out of season (because it will have been shipped halfway around the world to meet my desire for it) and to buy food produced in the UK, locally if possible from small enterprises rather than the huge food suppliers.
When one decides to be more of a locovore (someone who eats only locally and ethically produced food) one needs to be prepared to be inventive and creative with making dinners with only what is seasonably available (but not hard if you start being a ‘locovore’ in the middle of bountiful summer!) storing some of the glut of fresh foods harvested during July-October helps.
It was only a generation ago that out of season vegetables (shipped by train in ice-boxes from California to colder states) where a rich person’s party-piece, now they have become the norm and so unfortunately have all the questionable processes which bring these flavourless, travel-hardy cousins to our table.
The book is on loan to me from my local library but I’ve just bought myself a copy (a rare thing these days for me to actually buy a book instead of just borrowing it until I’ve read) as I know I will want to use the recipes time and again, lend it to like-minded friends and to re-read for more ideas of what to grow in our garden.
There is an accompanying website written by the family where the recipes can be found.
http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/
July 28th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I just heard about this book the other day. It sounds fascinating! I’ll have to check out the website!
July 28th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I too rather like the idea of buying and eating only locally produced, seasonal fruit and veg. I like even more the idea of growing my own. I worry, though, that if more people begin to follow suit, the poorer farmers in those developing countries who depend heavily upon trade with us will begin to suffer. But being green (and ethical and caring about the bigger picture) is never a straightforward option is it?
July 28th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I love it when a book has such effect on you. The one that hit me like a sledgehammer was “Not on the label” by Felicity Lawrence – I became vegetarian before I’d even finished it. It completely changed the way I see food and my shopping and cooking habits changed beyond recognition due to it. I’d recommend it to anyone who is brave enough to hear the truth about the way our food is reared or grown. Not for the mild hearted.
I’ve passed it onto many friends and had it returned a few times with “I don’t want to know!!” Maybe it’s better to live in ignorance…. I don’t think so!
Wendy
July 29th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Thanks to all for comments so far.
Wendy – did you also read ‘My Year of Meat’ by Ruth L. Ozeki? It made me vegie too but now am a meat eater again but can only stomach eating animals who have had happy times.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
No I haven’t, but now I will. I’ve been vegetarian for four years and could never go back to meat now. I think it’s a mindset more than anything else. The whole family are vegie, and now I cook everything from scratch and ensure, (with two girls, one a teen), that everyones diet’s healthy and balanced – rather than throwing together meat and two veg!
It’s made me far more aware of our diet and has fitted in so nicely with the simple, more frugal lifestyle we try so hard to live. Besides, it’s much easier to grow veg than raise a herd of cows, chickens and pigs – which would ultimately be kept as pets anyway!!
By the way, love your blog and have been working my way through all your recommended sites. Shame I live in Scotland – would love to pop by for a cuppa!
Wendy.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:57 am
My only ‘problem’ with buying only local produce is that there are people ‘out there’ who are dependent on exports for their incomes. Therefore, bananas, oranges, papayas, mangos and other fruits that simply don’t grow locally are still welcome in my house although when it comes to food that can and is produced locally, I stick with that.
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Ackers, I just read the quote you left on my site, it’s fab and gave me a good chuckle!
I too loved this book, I bought it right before I changed my life and is still a great reference for me! There’s another book I’d recommend for you about a family with a young child who begin to make their own food over the course of a year – Living The Good Life by Linda Cockburn. You might enjoy it!
August 9th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I loved this book! It completely changed the way I thought about food and eating. You might also enjoy “Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals” by Michael Pollen.
August 10th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Thanks again all. Food is a mightily political issue. Hard also to combine eaiting frugally with eating locally & organically I’m now finding.
Thanks also to Sharon J for giving me some good reasons to feel less guilty about my banana addiction. As a self-diagnosed coeliac (can’t eat gluten) I often wolf down a banana where others might have a piece of toast, biscuit, slice of something cakey.
xx
August 27th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
[...] is naturally thrifty and also kinder to our environment but ever since finishing the wonderful book ‘Animal, Vegetable, Miracle’ by Barabara Kingsolver I’ve been more aware than I was before about the potentially harmful chemicals used during [...]