Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

A Year of Food Life

By: Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp

Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp

Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

When Barbara Kingsolver and her family move from suburban Arizona to rural Appalachia, they take on a new challenge: to spend a year on a locally-produced diet, paying close attention to the provenance of all they consume.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle follows the family through the first year of their experiment. They find themselves eager to move away from the typical food scenario of American families: a refrigerator packed with processed, factory-farmed foods transported long distances using nonrenewable fuels. In their search for another way to eat and live, they begin to recover what Kingsolver considers our nation's lost appreciation for farms and the natural processes of food production. Americans spend less of their income on food than has any culture in the history of the world, but they pay dearly in other ways: losing the flavors, diversity, and creative food cultures of earlier times. The environmental costs are also high, and the nutritional sacrifice is undeniable: on our modern industrial food supply, Americans are now raising the first generation of children to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

Part memoir and part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

©2007 Barbara Kingsolver (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Kingsolver has the ear of a journalist and the accuracy of a naturalist." (Publishers Weekly)

Beautiful

Absolutely beautiful book. What an honor to be read to by Barbara Kingsolver herself (and her kinfolk). Having listened to “Lacuna” for the 5th time, and having finished this, I’m on to repeat “Prodigal Summer.” Kingsolver is a master of language and of taking me on journeys that are beautiful, meaningful & transcendent.

Loved this book on every level!

The quality of the writing is exceptional, the author's voice and manner of narrating is delightful, and the content is entertaining as well as informative. I don't know why it took me so long to get around to reading this. A must-read for anyone who cares about food, eating, gardening, farming, caring for our environment, social justice, community, family... There are so many layers to be found here.

A must listen / read

This is a very important book. A story about how it is possible for basic changes in food and attitude to have a profound positive affect on individuals, communities, countries, and the environment. Besides it's a fun listen. Very tasteful and well done, throughout, and the part about turkey sex is a hoot.

This book goes along perfectly with two other excellent audio books that everyone should listen to: Folks This Ain't Normal and The Omnivore's Dilemma.

A Must-Read!!! 💚🌏🌱

This amazing book has become my new bible! It very eloquently illustrates a tangible focus towards what we can each do to truly have a positive impact on the environment and society. I am so happy to have found this book!! 🤗

Worthwhile information in a somewhat sappy format

While the content of the book was important, a more vigorous read would have improved it. An avid lifetime gardener, I finally gained understanding of the local food movement, somewhat. It seems the author did not recommend this except in a minimal way...stating even limited use of local foods would have a big impact on fuel used to transport it from afar. I wonder where she got those numbers?

Captivating story

Loved this book. Very thought provoking and gives you plenty of suggestions on how to make small changes in our lives to reduce the distance to which food travels, how to find it locally all while telling this compelling story.
I think there was some misconception of farming cattle- but im going to let it slide because the rest of the book was absolutely fantastic.

mixed feelings

I think I agree with other reviews that this particular book might be best left to print rather than spoken word.

Likes:
I already knew I liked Barbara Kingsolver's books and her particular viewpoint resonates with me. Her knowledgeable and thoughtful observations were well-stated but not dry. She skillfully and lyrically describes the wonder of watching vegetables and animals grow and ponders the ethics and traditions of our food choices. And EATING! The descriptions of mouth-watering meals made me hungry!

Dislikes:
I personally didn't respond to the contributions of her husband and daughter in this audiobook. I thought their voices interrupted the narrative and imagine that in the printed text these are sidebars - extras that could be skipped over if you already "got it" that you should only buy fair-trade coffee and that meat from supermarkets is from mistreated animals. There is a preachiness here that even I found tedious as much as I might be in agreement with the POV.

I think this book could have stood a lot of editing and found it difficult to finish, even though I appreciated the insight into her family's 'experiment'.

Kingsolver is always good

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an interesting story of a year-long experiment with eating wholesome, locally grown food, eliminating almost all foods coming from another state or region. There is much to be learned from their experiment. This is also a good read. Kingsolver tells a tale well, whatever the tale.

Good Read

I enjoyed listening to this book. While it is entertaining; it is also educational. I didn't realize our food system was in such a state! I will think of this book every time I bite into a hamburger!! And, this summer I will attempt to grow my own heirloom vegetables!

My absolute favorite!

I am 19 minutes away from the end of the book and I am so sad. I want to stay in Barbara Kingsolver's world on the farm and continue learning about eating locally and more responsibly. She is so skilled at expressing her thoughts and masterful at interweaving useful information for all of us.

I highly recommend this audio book. Yes, it is long but I did not even notice.