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Average Customer Rating:

How come I didn't notice all the smugness?

Customer Rating:

A few other reviews have drawn attention to Barbara Kingsolver's "smugness", including one person who liked the book but doesn't want her round for dinner. I'm usually really sensitive to people being a bit too pleased with themselves, but I didn't think this book was like that at all. I thought it was touchingly hilarious about the weeks that they ended up just bottling tomatoes for days on end. And I loved all the information about intensive farming, agribusiness seed companies, and terminator genes - like a good article in the Sunday paper. Most of all I found the book really inspiring. It made me pay attention to where my food came from, much more than I already did. I have always tried to eat seasonally and avoided food imports, but I found myself really being intrigued by her model, where you stuff your face with a couple of foodstuffs until you are heartily sick of them, by which time something else is coming into season. It's just such a different way of doing things. I don't know if it'll ever totally catch (back?) on, but my god, she makes a persuasive case.

Mixed Feelings

Customer Rating:

There are many good things in this book, the author urging a more seasonal and local approach to food being the main theme. I can see how inspirational this book can be. However the stumbling block for me was the superior approach the authors took to anyone who did not fit in with what they believed. For instance, the daughter wrote a piece about people who did not eat meat being unable to get proper and complete nutrients. This is nonsense, and what was written sounded like someone else speaking, some one else telling her that being an omnivore was the only right way. It felt almost religious in away - I am right and if you disagree you are wrong. There were also instances in the book where the main author took snide little digs at anyone who was concerned with animal welfare, making quite clear her opinion that anyone who was thus concerned was over emotional and didn't "understand" the realities. Ms Kingsolver's smug and superior attitude put me off a book that had been recommended to me by so many people and I was disappointed because I had a real desire to be inspired. A little respect on her part for those who choose a different way of reaching the same goal wouldn't have gone amiss.

FAB BUT BUY THE HARDBACK !

Customer Rating:

Excellent, informative book - very good at explaining scientific backgounds to issues. (Kingsolver and husband are both scientists.) Not what I was expecting. I probably expected jolly year-in-the-life-of, and that is there, but also so much more. As an example, regarding knowing what veg are in season & when - other books provide plenty of lists, but this explains in a way that makes you understand. Very well written, laugh aloud funny in parts, I just wish I'd bought the hardback because I know I will want to keep it to refer to again, or lend to friends, but also because I found the paperback needed constant pressure to keep it open, especially when reading the inside of the left- hand page. Annoying! For a few extra pounds get the handback - it's worth it.

Yes and No	Customer Rating:
There's little doubt that this book is soaked in fascinating information and powerful ideas, but I couldn't help thinking that Mrs Kingsolver et famille all sound a tad smug - I don't think I could bear to have them round to dinner at mine...

Choose Food to Enhance Life

Customer Rating:

If you read only one book about food in 2008, I suggest you make it this one. Barbara Kingsolver, her husband, Steven Hopp, and her daughter, Camille, present selecting, growing, producing, harvesting, storing, preparing, sharing, and eating food as a way to enhance their own lives and those of others. It's a life-affirming approach that I found quite intriguing. Let me give you a few examples. Ms. Kingsolver decided it would be interesting to breed turkeys as well as raise them. Now, this isn't done very often. Turkeys don't have the necessary equipment and habits to be very good at mating and raising their young so most growers use artificial insemination and incubators. The result is a fascinating story of discovery about turkeys and herself. Her family also decided to almost totally limit themselves to the food they could produce or purchase as locally grown (within about 250 miles) for a year. So you don't eat strawberries in January with that approach unless you freeze some from the summer, have a greenhouse, or live in southern California. This family lives in Virginia so the options are heavily constricted by the limited growing season. As a result, you'll find lots of recipes in the book to use the seasonal bounties of foods that are easy to grow in quantity like zucchini and tomatoes. The book is also informative about food and how it is produced. I realized that I knew many of these things because my dad grew up on a farm and my mom on a ranch. They also grew a lot of our food when we were growing up. But I'm sure my children have no idea about these things. Ms. Kingsolver does a great service by transmitting this increasingly scarce and important information to another generation. My own consciousness about food was raised when I realized that I've been ignoring many wonderful local food choices to supplement my tiny garden. Next spring, I plan to do things much differently. More significantly, this book makes the challenges of the small organic farmer clearer to me. I see that I need to buy more local organic food to help make this offering available and to help those who want to do that kind of work. For those who are concerned about food quality and environmental sustainability, this book contains much valuable information and advice. The book's style is very accessible. There are sidebars written by Professor Hopp and Ms. Camille Kingsolver that give the book a nice change of pace. There are also lots of interesting recipes. Ms. Barbara Kingsolver also uses a narrative style that allows for lots of anecdotes and extended stories. Her pleasant novelist's touch gives the book a warmth and glow that you don't find in many books about food. I was very sorry when the book ended. I could have kept on reading for another five years. Perhaps they will write an update at some point. I hope so!