Staff Pick of the Week: BARBARA KINGSOLVER

Originally submitted by: barcode 2x

Extreme, a bit impractical, and altogether inspiring and idealistic, our staff pick of the week is the lovely and brilliant Barbara Kingsolver! Author of [i]The Poisonwood Bible, Animal Vegetable Miracle[/i], and [i]Animal Dreams, [/i]this contemporary novelist has brought politics and ethics into compulsively readable fiction and factual narratives. This recommendation comes with a stern warning, however: this woman's books will change your life permanently and irrevocably. In our continuing series of podcasts on food ethics, Kingsolver's name has come up again and again. In [i]Animal Vegetable Miracle[/i], she documents a year in her family's life eating primarily local and self-grown foods. The ethical questions around eating locally are very tricky. Local foods can be delicious and very good for you, but the boutiquey nature of the market is under scrutiny. Who can afford to eat entirely local? Why are the foods so hard to find? What are the true benefits of eating local, and how can I do it without changing my lifestyle? Kingsolver is in the privileged position to take a year to eat locally, and has a second home to accomodate this choice. So if she is on the extreme end of the food spectrum, where is the middle ground? Kingsolver recognizes that not everyone will be able to live this way, but suggests recipes, tips, and intricate knowledge of the life of our food. She recommends incremental change to create positive life changes in your diet and your environmental footprint. Visit [url]http://www.kingsolver.com[/url] and read more! [img size=160]http://www.a2ethics.org/images/fbfiles/images/home_photo.jpg[/img]