Journal #3

Chapters 11-15

We found it intriguing how eating food from all around the world is not just an American phenomenon.  We have exported this bad habit of ours to every continent and the trend has taken hold.  Even in areas thought of as culinary capitals, fast food restaurants like McDonalds have popped up.  In Quebec, while many people try and do live off purely locally food as much as they can, it gets very cold in the winter and it is near impossible to not import food.  For example, in February when almost nothing grows in most of Canada, they import broccoli from South America and California.  They do manage to preserve things like apples, so they can be enjoyed year round.  They even use specific species of apple trees so the apples they grow are able to be better preserved.  We think this is fascinating because we always thought that the different types of apples are just for different taste when you eat them.  It never occurred to us that they could breed apples to be better at being preserved.

‘Zucchini Larceny’ is possibly the funniest chapter by this point in the book.  Unlike previous chapters where half of the material is taken up by dry explanations of the how’s and whys of the chapter’s subject matter, ‘Zucchini Larceny’ is almost entirely occupied by the stories themselves.  The two main events in this chapter are the coming of age of the chickens, and the first harvest of zucchini.  The zucchini storyline can be summed up by the claim that July is the only time of year when country folk lock their car doors to stop people from putting squash in the front seat.  The overabundance of the vegetable leaves the family’s kitchen full with seemingly nothing but the monstrous vegetables.  The story of the chickens is no less amusing.  Having come of age, the roosters begin to displace the most awkward attempts to mate that the author has ever witnessed (including high school teenagers).  The roosters also start to display a foul temperament which encourages Lily to name the birds, something the family had hesitated to do for fear of growing attached to birds, which would ultimately be slaughtered and eaten.  That fear is alleviated when the author learns that Lily has named the roosters Mr. Thanksgiving, Mr. Sausage, Mr. Dinner, and Sushi.

We think it would improve the book if the author spent a few chapters talking about something a little different from her usual template. For example maybe the politics or economic drives behind agriculture, though she does mention it a few times, she never goes in depth with those topics. Her rather minimal variety of topics seems to become boring during this part of the book, but then again it is hard for the author to travel away from the main topics.

The way the book is written is starting to get a little repetitive. At the beginning we really liked it, however, the more that we read, the more we realize that just about every chapter sticks to the same format. Kingsolver describes the flavor, texture, origin, history, or traditions surrounding some fruit, vegetable, or herb. She will then talk about an event in her life such as a family gathering and the food involved in it, including where it came from, its flavor, what it looks like, etc. The author uses a very long, flowing, descriptive type of writing style. Sometimes the most interesting part of the chapter is the essay from her husband Steven. He often elaborates more on certain subjects that Barbara just mentions, such as the National Animal Identification System in chapter eleven.

                This book seems like it would be most fit to be read by people who are involved in agriculture of food industry themselves, such as grocers, farmers, organic enthusiasts, or politicians who decide the laws for said industry and people. Also, we think anyone who is into cooking or family gatherings would definitely enjoy this book. Lots of mothers could identify with this book because of the connection she has with her daughters, how she cooks and provides for the family (no sexism intended), and the book is written in a more feminine voice. The author also mentions many life lessons that she teaches her younger daughter Lily, such as raising some chickens solely to be slaughtered for money, and that they are not pets.