Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Local Food Movement

Back in February I was taking a road trip to Death Valley and used the long hours in the car to listen to Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. If you haven't read it, you should.

Kingsolver moves her family from the Southwest to a rural farm in the Appalachian mountains with the goal to only eat for a year what they can produce on their land or buy from their neighbors. Sure, this may sound easy for a writer/academic couple with the luxury of taking a year to devote to such a cause but even they are faced with the daunting tasks of having to kill their farm animals (sorry, all you vegetarians) and improvising favorite recipes when key ingredients are no where to be found.

To her credit, this is not an easy thing to do. Even in Southern California, with a year-round growing season, it is maddeningly hard to find a wide variety of local food. If I fail to make it to the Farmer's Market, I usually find about three "local" options from the Whole Foods produce aisles (disclaimer: there are usually greater options for conventional foods vs. organic). I've asked the produce boys to pass on my disdain about the matter to the management. It would help if they heard it from more people. It's all about DEMAND they tell me.

But more than just the movement to buy local, Kingsolver reminds us of the relationship we have with food. That it's seasonal, that it requires someone's hands to get dirty, that it's messy, and that the variety of seeds and crops we can use are are a true art form. When our relationship to food is reduced to packaged, sanitized, and color-injected food that is shipped thousands of miles before ending up on our supermarket shelves, it's easy to forget our connection to food. I'm convinced if we could all have gardens, we would have a greater appreciation for the food that we consume. I'll let you know when I find a way to convert my LA balcany to a mini-garden.

Some facts I borrowed:

• Each item served in an American meal has traveled an average of 1500 miles before it reaches the dinner table
• After automobiles food production ranks at the second-biggest consumer of fossil fuels. Americans consume about 400 gallons of oil per citizen per year directly related to eating.
• Almost 75% of all antibiotics used in the United States today are used by Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations – 1152 chickens can fit into a 6 X 8 foot room
• If all the products with corn and soy included in them were removed from your grocery store the shelves would be next to empty – even packaging is now made from corn starch
• Over 70% of the Midwestern United States farmland now only produces commercial soybean and corn