Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

[mesdtudentmom]

So I'm just finishing up Animal, Veg, Miracle and absolutely love it. In fact, I'm trying to delay the ending because I've grown so fond of reading it. I've read other similar books (all of Michael Pollan) but would appreciate if someone could suggest similar titles that they enjoyed. Many thanks!

[annettemarie]

I've moved this out to the main book forum.

[AuntNi]

I'm subbing to this, because I absolutely loved that book!

[beanma]

Have you read Eat, Pray, Love? I've been meaning to myself, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. Have heard great things about it.

Wanted to add, Fast Food Nation, if you haven't read it, is great, too, but a little harder hitting than Animal Vegetable Miracle .

[Biscuits & Gravy]

LOVED AVM. I suggested it for my book club and we read it. I love that it changed the lives of everyone else in the club in regards to food. They all were inspired to look at how and what they eat differently. These were all pretty mainstream people who may not have ever picked it up on their own, and then they passed it along to others. :

[jennyfah]

Oh, I love Barbara Kingsolver, and I loved "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle."

Have you read "Slow Food Nation" or "Slow Food Revolution" by Carlo Petrini?

"The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution" by Alice Waters looks wonderful. I'll have to get that next. I think it's mostly a cookbook, but she seems to have added notes about many things that would make it special.

[beanma]

There's also a book called "Plenty" by a couple who did the 100 mile diet.

[jighead]

Between AVM and Pollan's books, our lives have changed for the better. If you like the socio-economic facets of these books, check out Bill McKibben's Deep Economy and Sandor Katz's The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. If you like the pastoral, simple living aspects, read anything by Gene Logsdon.

If you want to spend more time in the garden and kitchen, the More with Less and Simply in Season cookbooks are good. How to Grow More Vegetables by Jeavons, any of Elliot Coleman's works, Gaia's Garden and Introduction to Permaculture are very inspiring for starting gardens and reducing waste around your home.

[Pinoikoi]

I finished Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer last summer and I really liked it.. not a true story like Animal, Vegetable, but in a similar vain in that there are families trying to make their farms work environmentally..

but then I am a Kingsolver fan.. I have also read Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven, but they are more girl against the world with some political edges to them..

[JTA Mom]

This is what I LOVE about books like AVM: it challenges common assumptions. It's interesting how what is considered 'common sense' in regards to being ethical in one aspect (veggie, organic, etc) turns out to not be the case. In some aspects, it can be even worse. Just because something 'seems' better doesn't mean it is. I feel that shattering myths is as good thing, especially if it causes people to think deeper about solutions to complex problems. It's easy to say 'be veg to save the environment/animals', it's much harder to say 'in areas of rich farmland it makes more sense to be primarily veg, etc' kwim? It also challenges people to be less picky about food. It's hard to be picky eating seasonally. During the winter, it's root veggies or nothing. No strawberries or asparagus in December. lol

Ami