The Northampton On the Same Page Committee has chosen Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life as the next book for the town to read together as a community this coming fall.
Kingsolver's book is a chronicle of her family's quest to understand where their food came from and to eat as locally as possible throughout a single year. In a personal, conversational voice, she shares with us what she discovers about the connections between food production and energy consumption; about the link between agribusiness and processed foods; and about the economics of global food distribution. She also chronicles her family's attempts to grow as much as possible of their own food. The book is studded with recipes using locally-grown ingredients.
The Northampton On the Same Page Committee, comprised of librarians and booksellers, deliberated for several months before deciding on Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. The book was chosen for a variety of reasons, one being that Barbara Kingsolver has a national reputation as a novelist and a devoted following among Northampton readers for such books as The Bean Trees, Animal Dreams, and The Poisonwood Bible.
But equally compelling was the fact that Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a particularly harmonious fit with many Valley concerns. Time-honored institutions like the Farmers Market and community gardens have always called attention to the bounty of local agriculture. But in the past few years there has been heightened awareness of the energy expenditure involved in transporting food across country or across the ocean. This awareness has led to newer initiatives like CISA, the River Valley Food Coop, community-supported farms like the Food Bank Farm and the Hungry Ghost project to grow local wheat.
In the fall, the book will be the centerpiece of a variety of events and activities beginning in mid-September and extending through mid-October. In addition to several community discussion groups to be held around the city, special events may include food demonstrations featuring local producers, as well as lectures and panel discussions, and trips to local farms. Extra copies of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle are now available at local libraries and independent bookstores, and can be read at leisure over the summer. Events and discussion groups will be announced at summer's end.
If you would like us to keep you posted about the schedule of events as they are planned, please provide your contact information below: