In this segment of Speaking of Faith, host Krista Tippett sat down with author Barbara Kingsolver to discuss her new book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life". Barbara's new book is about the year that her and her family lived only off of food that they could grow or produce themselves. At first, the experiment was difficult because society had conditioned them to believe the task was impossible but it grew easier with time. Also, it helped Barbara focus not on what she had to give up, but on what she did have and how to appreciate it. She did this as an example because the majority of Americans (myself included) do not know where our food comes from, where it is processed, where it is packaged, who handles it, and many other things. This is forcing the local farmer to barely make a living because no one buys locally anymore. Because our food comes from all over, we have to use fossil fuel to transport it which leads to problems with global warming. Americans, according to Barbara, are very wasteful people who throw away so much stuff that could be used without even realizing it. We as americans are very unethical because of how much we waste and because of the ammount we rely on other countries for food.
According to Barbara, another major problem is that women do not enjoy cooking anymore. They think of it as a burden when they could go order food and not have to work for it. Another big issue is the killing of the animals in which the Kingsolver family ate. She prefers to call the killing of the animal the "harvesting" because the animal has reached it's lifeling potential.
Barbara and her family did not do this to be seen as heroes because all of us can do these things by making subtle changes in the way we eat and the way we buy our food. We do not have to be as extreme as Barbara was, but we should be more mindful of where our food comes from and is it supporting a local farmer rather than a corperation in China. This is a very good idea because the local farm needs your money more than the corperation does and also the transportation was much less so not as much global warming taking place. I strongly agree with Barbara's idea because it just makes sense to support the local guy. I have been trying to do this more by watching where I spend my money. This is why I am a core member of the Locally Owned Restaraunt Club because it is something that everybody can do to support the local economy just by making a small choice.