After bit of a holiday hiatus, I've returned to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. To be quite honest it was just the hectic nature of Advent/Christmas that deferred my reading, it was also knowing that reading this book was probably going to do one of two things, if not both, 1) Seriously change what and when I eat produce. 2) Give me a serious guilt complex about eating things that are out of season (and a possible third consequence of screwing up my desire to cook based on seasonal restrictions). Now, the book definitely does not hide the fact that one has to make sacrifices to eat more consciously and to cut out much of the fuel used in transporting, say Peruvian pears to California (or other such voyages), but they (the whole family collaborated in the book writing) also underscore how much better the eating experience is when one is not dieting/feasting on "mealy, juiceless, rock-hard, and refusing to ripen" food. With that, tienen razon. Nevertheless, the challenge of what I knew I would find in this book had me finding a multitude of other things to do.
But this morning, embarking on the post-season return of Sabbath and a desire to be challenged in my faith (I'll address how it relates to faith in a bit, or another post, or sometime...) and to live what I believe has led me to re-enter Barbara's garden. It's a lot to digest (no pun intended), it's a serious raising of consciousness, and it's hard to say no to a pineapple in the middle of winter when you want fresh fruit and it's only a couple of bucks...but it's not the season...so, I need to buck up and get ready for some life changes.
I figure I'll post a little at a time for you to nibble on as well. Maybe it won't transform your kitchen or your pantry, but maybe it will affect your consumer consciousness...or maybe it just give you more fodder for an anti-liberal rant...who knows?!
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