What is that book you are reading?

I am currently reading a book that I am loving- L.oving with a capital L. It's about...something I thought I knew a lot about but apparently, I really don't know much about...FOOD. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the book, but if I don't learn anything else from here until the end, it's been a good book, it's opened my eyes and made me see things I wasn't paying attention to. Things I had no idea even mattered.

So, last weekend you may remember me blogging about this wonderful Italian dinner we had at this restaurant here in Portland. Here is something that I copied from their menu: "The menu, which changes seasonally, is built around a commitment to using natural meats, the freshest seafood, and locally grown fruits and vegetables." The thing about it, was the food really was good, it really was fresh and you could tell. Typically, I'm not a lover of the tomato. Who would, the tomatoes you buy at the store typically, are not juicy, have very little flavor and they have a mealy feel to the pulpy part of the fruit. I had this caprese salad there that night that was delicious. The tomatoes they used were heirloom tomatoes. Click away so you know what I'm talking about. The only reason I knew what they were talking about was I had been doing a little research about rose bushes a while back and that term heirloom kept coming up. So, I checked it out, and since I have noticed it a lot.

Okay, so let me get back to the book I'm reading, that I'm loving. It's called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. My friend Kendra let me borrow her book. At the time she offered it up, I remembered somebody had told me about it...somebody had really liked it...I thought it was one of my sisters, but it wasn't any of them. So, whoever told me about it, thanks. Anyway, Kendra was telling me more about it, and I thought it sounded interesting. I took it home, but didn't start reading it for a month or so. I had other books to read.

At first, you hear what the book is about and you kind of go...hmmm okay???? You know Barbara Kingsolver, right? She wrote: The Poisonwood Bible (a favorite book of mine), Prodigal Summer, The Bean Trees, and several others. Let me quote from the back of the book: "Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial food pipeline to live a rural life-vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat."

While it's not realistic for me, or probably for you, to say I'm only going to eat/feed my family food that I have grown or raised myself, it is an interesting concept. For instance, it's got me investigating CSAs again. Go to this website Local Harvest and check it out. I am thinking about signing up with this farm locally, that grows fruits and veggies. From May-October or November, every week I will take delivery of locally grown produce. Because, as discussed in the book, we are getting produce from all over the world, not only is that bad for the environment, but it's bad for our taste buds too.

I have learned that produce is cultivated (that's not the right farm term, but I think you know what I talking about...I can't think of the word) so that produce is more uniform, withstands transportation better, doesn't mold and mildew as quickly. Taste?? Not even a consideration. Hence the nasty tomatoes, mealy oranges, and juice-less apples I find at the grocery stores all the time. Strawberries for instance. Strawberries are big here in the summer, and boy are they good. I used to think the strawberries from Costco were the best, until I had a locally grown strawberry. No comparison. Do you find it strange that we import and export roughly the same amount of potatoes? Why can't we just keep the potatoes grown in our own country and let (wherever else we import potatoes from) keep theirs? Don't even get me started on meat. That's a whole other blog post.

So, blah blah blah blah. Go read that book, it's a good one, and I want to discuss. I'm not going to go sell my house, and buy a farm or anything, but I think we could all make a few changes. And, don't get worried, it's not as "crunchy" or "granola" as you'd think. It might make you think twice about what we get at Walmart!!