An Eye Opening Read! Ch. 1-4 of Animal Vegetable Miracle

To tell the truth I was not that excited about reading this book. I had just bought the third Steig Larson book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, and could not wait to delve into its juicy plot. But after reading the first few pages, I realized how interesting this book truly is and that Steig Larson could wait a week or two. In Chapter 1, there is a little blurb on the increasing intake of fossil food because of the agribusinesses' control of the food industry. I could not believe what I was reading; every citizen is consuming 400 gallons of oil per year. That is A TON of gas! Further on in the book, the author elaborates about how easy it is to reduce this amount considerably by buying as many food products from local farms as possible.

Another interesting point was the dissapearing knowledge of food in todays society. It is unimportant to know when a vegetable is "in season". In our food culture, every thing is "in season" all the time; all we have to do is head down to the Kroger and buy it. But Kingsolver makes an excellent point. Where does this food come from? "If you find yourself eating a watermelon in April count back three months imagine a place warm enough in January for this plant to launch its destiny." (pg 65) Certainly nowhere close to Georgia. I had never thought of food this way and this opened my eyes to the amount of gas burned by that one watermelon.