Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I recently read Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. This book is a memoir of a year in Barbara's life during which she and her family only ate locally grown foods, most of which they grew themselves on a small farm in Virginia. In addition to being beautifully written, Kingsolver's memoir is full of information. Each chapter ends with several recipes that use seasonal vegetables. Interleaved within the chapters are short essays written by Kingsolver's husband, Steven Hopp, which describe issues about current farming practices in the United States. Finally, AVM has a wonderful website  with a recipe archive and links to many resources to help you eat locally and support sustainable farming, such as local harvest.

Here is one of my favorite images from AVM:

Since reading Kingsolver's book, I decided to try to eat as locally and sustainably as I could. I have given up eating all meat that comes from large animal feeding operations such as CAFOs. Animals living in CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) are forced to live in cramped conditions where they have minimal mobility and are force-fed unnatural foods including corn and slop made from parts of other farm animals, including cows. Cows are ruminators - they use a neutral pH digestive organ that is full of microbes to digest all the grasses they eat. There are several advantages of cows eating grass. From the perspective of the grass, cows can spread, plant, and fertilize seeds. Cows also prevent other plant species from invading the grass' territory, especially bushes and trees that block sunlight. From the perspective of the cow, grass provides a form of nutrition that cows can uniquely benefit from due to their designated digestive system. From the perspective of people, cows turn arid land into meat. Still, farmers discovered that feeding cows corn can make them grow at a much faster rate so they are ready for slaughter sooner. The problem is, cows aren't designed to digest corn. The rumen produces a huge amount of gas normally since the microbes inside ferment the food that passes through. With corn, there is not enough fiber mixed in with the starch, so the rumen can get clogged and stop working. Furthermore, the corn acidifies the rumen and can cause acidosis, which is uncomfortable and can even cause death (see "Power Steer" Michael Pollan, NYT Magazine, 2002). In addition to cutting CAFO meat out of my diet, I also started getting a weekly CSA box which is full of seasonal vegetables from a local farm.

Along with learning about local and sustainable farming practices, I also like to cook and take pictures. I plan to keep updating with recipes and pictures documenting my experiences in the kitchen. For now, here is a photograph I took on our recent trip to the grand canyon.
- L

Cedar Ridge, Grand Canyon, AZ