food for thought

So the other book I'm reading right now is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm on chapter 9, which puts me a little less than halfway through it. Here are some brief and random thoughts on the book so far:

1. It's long (352 pages long, to be exact). If you like memoirs, you'll love this book. If you're like me and want to get the point a little faster, it gets tedious at times. That said, the writing style does allow for getting to know the author and her family pretty well, which is fun. They seem like pretty terrific people. I like that they enjoy being and working with one another. I appreciate their realization that something is missing from the average family, although I do wish they knew that something is actually someOne.

2. Kingsolver and her family pour their heart and soul into food: growing, preparing, and eating it. In many ways, mealtime and all it consists of is what they worship. They have found great good in eating locally and healthy and together, which I think is awesome and worth gleaning from. That said, I'm afraid my worship belong exclusively to One, and to be perfectly frank, I could never justify spending as much time as Kingsolver does gardening, growing, and cultivating.

3. Contrary to the author's insinuation at times, I don't think the government should be held responsible for Americans' terrible eating habits or the food industry's deceptive marketing. (I do think the government needs to be challenged on the enormous amount of funding that goes straight into the food industry, but I don't think those funds need to be re-distributed as much as I think they need to go right back into working people's wallets.) People-- men and women-- are intelligent beings and we can bear the blame for our ignorance and lack of self-control.

4. Overall, I really like this book and I'm glad I'm reading it. Kingsolver is candid and at times brutal in her assessment of the average American's relationship to food, but I think she's also right for the most part. There are some excerpts that I want to print out and post in my kitchen, just to keep me on track in my quest to make sure the food I serve my family is true to my desire to give them love and health.

Here is one bit I read today that I liked:

When my generation of women walked away from the kitchen we were escorted down that path by a profiteering industry that knew a tired, vulnerable marketing target when they saw it. "Hey, ladies," it said to us, "go ahead, get liberated. We'll take care of dinner." They threw open the door and we walked into a nutritional crisis and genuinely toxic food supply. If you think toxic is an exaggeration, read the package directions for handling raw chicken from a CAFO. We came a long way, baby, into bad eating habits and collaterally impaired family dynamics.

...When we traded homemaking for careers, we were implicitly promised economic independence and worldly influence. But a devil of a bargain it has turned out to be... We gave up the aroma of warm bread rising, the measured pace of nurturing routines, the creative task of molding our families' tastes and zest for life; we received in exchange the minivan and the Lunchable. (Or worse, convenience-mart hot dogs and latchkey kids.)