Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - too good to be true?
publication date: Jan 2, 2008
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author/source: Fiona Beckett
One of my best Christmas presents this year came from my daughter, Jo: a book called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by an American novelist, Barbara Kingsolver. It’s an vivid account of a year she and her family spent on their farm trying to support themselves as much as possible from home grown produce, sourcing the rest from other local farmers. For the twelve months they conducted the experiment they denied themselves all the foods we normally take for granted these days - out of season strawberries from Spain (or, in Kingsolver’s case, Florida or California) flown in asparagus from Peru, prawns from the Indian Ocean . . . It was a wholly admirable experiment.
From time to time though I found myself getting irritated with the book, beautifully written though it is. Kingsolver’s husband Steven and daughters Camille and Lily all apparently embraced the experiment with equal fervour (Camille even contributes her own recipes). Did they never argue? Did no-one sneak out for some out of season, unhealthy produce? How come every crop planted seems to have been a success?. The only recorded failure at the point I’ve reached two thirds of the way through the book - and it can hardly be called a failure - is a glut of tomatoes and even then the Kingsolver clan set happily to work freezing and canning them. They sound almost too good to be true.
I can’t help but feel it must have helped that Kingsolver is a successful novelist, and her husband an academic. This kind of experiment needs the cushion of a regular income. Yet despite my gripes the message is a persuasive one and a worthy resolution at the start of a new year. That eating the food that's on your doorstep is a worthwhile thing to do.
It’s a lot easier of course in some places than others. Where I live in Bristol there are flourishing local food shops and regular farmers’ markets. But even if you live in a supermarket-dominated area like my former home town of St Albans you can still take small steps to change the way you shop and eat.
We used to buy our veg, for example, at the local garden centre which also grew its own crops. I had the option of going to a local butcher and baker for my meat and bread, and to an Italian deli for my pasta and parmesan. There were small ethnic shops nearby that sourced fresh herbs and spices at a fraction of the price of the supermarket down the road (even though that was a Morrisons) I probably spent 50% of the amount we spent on food in local shops.
If you're on a budget you may be making these choices anyway. A lot of the foods that are imported or out of season aren’t cheap. And supermarket shopping tempts you to spend more than you need. But if you aren’t it’s well worth thinking about the way you shop for food. You won’t be alone. According to a new survey conducted by the research company YouGov on behalf of Good Earth organic teas, a quarter of us now try to buy local produce and a third want to try and ensure what we buy doesn’t go to waste.
I’ll be giving you more tips about buying local during the coming months - and if you have some to share do pass them on to other visitors to the site in the feedback section below.
And when Animal, Vegetable, Miracle comes out in paperback, as I’m sure it will, buy yourself a copy. Just keep reminding yourself they can’t be that perfect!
