Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food

Chapter Eight takes some time to discuss the "real" price of food.  A chief complaint about switching from "conventional" food to organic and locally grown food is the perceived higher cost.  The aim of the chapter is to dispel this perception.  The low cost of conventionally grown food is largely a myth, according to the chapter, because the price on the shelf does not convey the hidden costs associated with eating inferior food.  There is the environmental damage of cheaply grown food, and the health risk associated with that.  There is the cost of the farm subsidy, which allows the farmer to sell corn at a rock bottom price.  There is the lack of nutritional value found in low quality food, meaning you have to buy more of it to obtain the same nutrients.

                            

All of this and more is discussed in a recent Time Magazine article which starts off thusly:

Somewhere in Iowa, a pig is being raised in a confined pen, packed in so tightly with other swine that their curly tails have been chopped off so they won't bite one another. To prevent him from getting sick in such close quarters, he is dosed with antibiotics. The waste produced by the pig and his thousands of pen mates on the factory farm where they live goes into manure lagoons that blanket neighboring communities with air pollution and a stomach-churning stench. He's fed on American corn that was grown with the help of government subsidies and millions of tons of chemical fertilizer. When the pig is slaughtered, at about 5 months of age, he'll become sausage or bacon that will sell cheap, feeding an American addiction to meat that has contributed to an obesity epidemic currently afflicting more than two-thirds of the population. And when the rains come, the excess fertilizer that coaxed so much corn from the ground will be washed into the Mississippi River and down into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will help kill fish for miles and miles around. That's the state of your bacon — circa 2009.

The full article can be read here.

-Zachary Brandt

Chapters 8-10 Vocabulary

Melissa Briggs

Commodity (113) - an article of trade or commerce, esp. a product asdistinguished from a service

Economize (115) - to practice economy; avoid waste or extravagance;                                           to manage economically; use sparingly or frugally

Hydroponically (119) -the cultivation of plants by placing the roots in liquid nutrient solutions rather than in soil; soilless growth of plants

OSHA (122) – Occupational Safety and Health Administration; the department of the US government with the responsibility to ensure safety and healthful work environments

Quotidian (124) – daily; usual or customary

Pathological (126) – of or pertaining to pathology; caused by or involving disease; morbid

Affluent (129) -having an abundance of wealth, property, or other materialgoods; prosperous; rich

Alimentary (131) - concerned with the function of nutrition; nutritive

Subservience (131) - serving or acting in a subordinate capacity; subordinate; servile; excessively submissive

Oligarchy (151) - a form of government in which all power is vested in a fewpersons or in a dominant class or clique; government by thefew

Chapter 6-7 Discussion Questions

Luke Mehring

1.            1. Page 91, The Author talks about how 1,152 chickens could fit into a six foot by eight foot room.  How do you think the bird’s quality of life is in these conditions?  Do you think that many people truly know the conditions of these birds?  Why do you think this is and do you think Americans even care if their food is treated humanely or not before they eat it?

2.           2. Page 94-95, Kingsolver talks about how she feels she has corrupted her daughter in this section by telling her she could make more money by selling chicken meat then their eggs.  Why do you think the author feels so conflicted about teaching her daughter this lesion?  Why is it that people can go from cherishing something so highly I their lives to deciding to slaughter it if it gives them something they desire?  Could you kill something that means so much to you for 10 dollars net profit?

3.           3. Page 100, The book talks about how people where the family live, Virginia, do not say thank you when someone gives them a plant.  How do you think this ritual/belief originated?  Even though the elderly neighbor does not say thank you out loud, how does she imply it?  Do you think you could refrain yourself from saying thank you or your welcome in this way? Why or why not?

4.          4.  Page 102, The author tells us, the readers, about how in late spring there is never enough time to get everything done because there is so much home farmers must do to keep their gardens or fields healthy.  How do people who have full time jobs manage to do all of the same work without missing time at their jobs?  Could you work in your garden for hours before and after work when you are already working 8 hours a day?  Why do you think people are so motivated to work hard when a grocery store is just down the block?

Chapter 6 & 7 Vocabulary

Page 86 Eudora Welty: Eudora Welty (1909-2001) was an American author whose book, The Optimist’s Daughter, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973.  Kingsolver mentions her because of a shared sentiment to live in a post office.

Page 89 Poults: a poult is a young turkey, but the term can be applied to other species of general poultry.  In the context of the book on page 89, the word happens to refer to baby turkeys.

Page 90 Lethargy: Lethargy is a state of fatigue or torpor.  Amusingly, the word has a plural form: lethargies, but I’m not sure how one acquires multiple lethargies.  The word is used to describe how meat animals are bred to be lethargically docile.

Page 94 Equines: Equine is usually used as an adjective to describe something that is similar or related to a horse.  However, here the word is used in the form of a noun as a synonym for ‘horses’.

Page 96 Wyandottes: Wyandotte is a breed of chicken that Kingsolver mentions but fails to describe.  Wyandottes lay brown eggs, are medium sized, and prefer free range.  They are kept for their meat, eggs, and as show birds.

Page 96 Orpingtons: Like the Wyandotte above, the Orpington is a breed of chicken that is mentioned, but inadequately described for my curiosity.  Orpingtons are named after the town of Orpington, England.  They are large, maternal, and lay 200 eggs a year.  Due to their popularity as show birds, their ability to lay more than 300 eggs a year has largely been bred out of them in favor of looks.

Page 96 Araucanas: Unlike the previously mentioned chicken breeds, the book does give one detail about the Araucana; the fact that they “lay pretty green eggs.”  In addition to their unusual egg color, Araucanas are also notable for being rumpless (lacking a tail) and for having tufts of feathers near their years rather like a pair of side burns.

Page 100 Genteel Fête:  Genteel means refined or polite.  A Fête is a French word for celebration or party.  The phrase is used in the book to describe Mother’s Day.

Page 101 Proletarian:  Proletarian is the adjective form of the noun proletariat.  The proletariat is the class of society that does not own any land, but is more generally used to describe the working class of society.  The term is most famously used in The Communist Manifesto, which is probably why Kingsolver uses it to personify a Russian breed of tomato.

Page 101 Languid:  Languid means lethargic or slow moving, and is used in the book to personify a tomato in contrast to the proletarian tomato described in the same paragraph.

-Zachary Brandt

Interesting article

Joe Weirich

http://www.mindpub.com/art395.htm

Today’s article is of importance to the reading for chapters 6 and 7 because it further demonstrates the need for a positive mealtime experience. The subject of this article is a woman who did not have a positive family mealtime as a child and the results where negative. Actually affecting her career and social life as an adult, her problem is very common in today’s society, where the family gathering around the dinner table is diminishing.  Contrary to the example in the article, the author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has a strong and positive relationship with her family and their lives revolve around food and family togetherness. In both chapters 6 and 7 the family in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle demonstrates how food is a great social bridge for immediate family members as well as extended family and friends and helps maintain positive relationships. Both chapters are also juxtaposed perfectly to emphasize how food love has no age barriers.

Chapters 6-7 Graphic Organizer

11/24/10

Melissa Briggs

Barbara and her daughter Lily have decided to raise poultry for the family; Barbara will raise Bourbon Red Turkeys, and Lily decided to raise Partridge Rocks Chickens. Lily had told her mom that she wanted a horse and her mother told Lily that if she could come with $500, or half the price of an Equestrian horse, her mom would match Lily’s profit so she could finally have a horse. Before the discussion of a horse Lily was only going to raise chickens to sell the eggs but realized that if she sold the meat also, she could raise the money for a horse a lot faster. By raising the turkeys and chickens, it teaches both daughters about the difference between pets and food. It also taught Lily to work for something that she wants, instead of having everything given to her.

Summary 6 & 7

These chapters described the experiences the mother and daughter had raising their turkeys and chickens respectively. They both got attached because they raised the animals themselves from chicks and babies. However, the daughter ultimately decided to sell her chickens for slaughter to save the money to buy herself a horse. The mother then had a 50th birthday party and had many people attend. At the party they only served food grown or raised by themselves or nearby farmers.

This section was written in a pretty simple manner. It reads more like a story than a lecture when telling us to eat locally. It shows the benefits and how to manage raising and growing your own animals and plants to eat and how much of a difference it makes on the environment. I liked the writing style because it tells good stories and seems pretty personal to the author. I liked the informal but informative tone.

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