At the end of last year, during my brief stint in a book club, I had the pleasure of reading Barbara Kingsolver's fab book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a Year of Food Life. The book chronicles Kingsolver's attempt to raise and eat only foods that she and her family raised themselves, or were locally grown. In addition, it also talks about the farming industry, the commercialization of food, where our food comes from, the resources that are used to get it to markets, and the nutritional ramifications of food commerce. It really gave me a lot to think about. It made me take a long hard look at my relationship with food, and how much I take for granted.
The book points out how fruits and vegetables being available at the grocery store year-round has made us all lose touch with our agricultural roots (no pun intended). Which is totally true. Sure, I know that oranges are in season in the middle of winter (since we have our own trees), and that Fall is typically "harvest time." But I had no idea when, say, onions should be planted or harvested. I honestly didn't have any idea. I am a typical big city American consumer. Totally out of touch with how nature works, except in the modern, commercialized way. That's not how it should be.
The first chapter of the book talks about asparagus. Now, I've seen asparagus throughout my life. I knew what it looked like, even though I admit I didn't actually eat it regularly until I was an adult. But until I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle I really didn't know much about asparagus. I didn't know that the asparagus we see in grocery stores, the stuff we actually eat, is just ONE DAY'S GROWTH. It's the first little sprout that comes up out of the ground. Asparagus has to be harvested every day. Or else the little triangular bits at the top of the spear start to become little branches. Asparagus, if it's left alone, becomes a lovely ferny little tree with red berries on it. I literally had no idea. I also didn't know that asparagus is really an investment, at least in terms of time. You have to leave asparagus alone for three years after it's planted. You cannot harvest it, because the plant will get depressed and die. It needs time to grow and become well established. Even after it's well established, it's recommended that you only harvest asparagus for a few weeks. Then you need to leave the plant alone to do its thing. It needs to become the ferny thing in order to be happy and thrive. Three years of tending to asparagus before you get anything edible out of it. Now that's dedication!
I admit I'm out of touch with gardening and the concept of food "seasons." In the book, Barbara Kingsolver has a picture of something she calls The Vegetannual. It's an illustration that basically depicts a hypothetical plant that provides all plant foods, from roots to fruits, in sequence. First it puts out fresh leaves, then flowers, then seeds and fruits; in the fall, it plumps up the bigger fruits and stores sugars in its roots for winter. So the first vegetables in the spring will be greens - lettuce, kale, etc - herbs, and garlic; followed by the early stems such as rhubarb, asparagus, and green onions. Then come the "flowers," which include head lettuces, broccoli, and cauliflower. Mid-summer, the seeds and fruits will show up: peas, green beans, raspberries and strawberries, summer squash, tomatoes, cucumbers. Late summer brings the bigger fruits, such as melons, peppers, and corn. Fall is the time for apples, winter squashes, pumpkins, and the tubers such as potatoes and yams. Of course, I'm sure there are adjustments for Southern California weather. But those are the Vegetannal basics.The main thing I took from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is that food has an ethical component to it that I had never really considered. In summer, the oranges are the grocery store are flown in from Australia. Think of all the money and resources it takes to get them here. And, sadly, think of how foods are now raised - often genetically engineered - not so much to have excellent taste, but just to look good at the market and to endure the shipping process. What is that doing to us from a nutritional standpoint? And from a global standpoint? As I endeavor to be have a "greener" lifestyle, I have to consider these things. So, I am trying to eat foods that are in season. I'm trying to start my own garden. And I'm trying to buy more locally rasied foods. These are small changes. But I think they're steps in the right direction!
0 comments: