Food

Greetings from Tucson where it will, no doubt, be in the low 90s this afternoon...

Although most of my energy is going into wrapping up the semester and getting ready to leave for Canada - one month from today!! - I'm reading a couple of interesting books I wanted to post about. The first is Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, co-authored with her husband, Steven L. Hopp, and eldest daughter, Camille Kingsolver." Of course if you read the book you'll agree that I would be remiss if I didn't mention younger daughter Lily, an active participant in the process.

Kingsolver, who lived in Tucson, for about 25 years, moved with her family to Virginia in 2004. They had spent summers there for a number of years but decide to make the move permanent, partly for reasons of family, partly because the land would enable them to be more self-sufficient in terms of gardening, animal raising, etc.

As P and I make the effort to do more buying only in season, local, organic, talk to 7YO about why it's important, etc. and talk about being able to start a garden in NB, this book was a wonderful read. I find her writing just wonderful, the stories inspiring, and the recipes, well, I look forward to trying some of them!

The second is called, "The Compassionate Carnivore: Or, How to Keep Animals Happy, Save Old Macdonald's Farm, and Still Eat Meat," by Catherine Friend. I picked this up yesterday while at the bookstore with my mother - our idea of a great Mother's Day trek. Anyway, as someone who hasn't eaten lamb or veal in decades and can count on one hand the number of times I've had a hamburger in the last five years, but knows that we may eat more meat if we're trying to eat local, I was intrigued by the premise. Seeing that she farms in Minnesota with her partner of over twenty years, Melissa, made it a done deal. I started it last night and highly recommend it. I don't know that I could ever pat a lamb on it's head and have it for supper that Sunday, but it's well worth reading and thinking about. This morning I checked out her blog, Farm Tales. Even if these issues don't interest you, you ought to take a look just for the photographs!

I've also started, but not yet inished, Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals." And, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation." Schlosser's book was the required first year student summer reading text a number of years ago and it what got me thinking - and acting - more intentionally about food.

So, there you have it. That's what I'm reading.