I did
not know much about this book when I dove head first into it. I had an idea
from the title but that was about it. First off I’d like address that I enjoyed
how they alternated writing chapters, I thought that was a very neat way of
going about this kind of book. Also, being written by two different people this
book was far less biased than I expected. I enjoyed this book primarily because
it was not preachy.
Like
Pollan, Smith and MacKinnon shared their experiences and revealed some
interesting topics and secrets but do so in a fashion that was not pushy or
forceful. The read seemed much more like I was listening to a friend tell me of
his or her adventure. I also enjoyed the recipes that were presented at the
beginning of each chapter (month). I look forward to making December’s Poached
Salmon with Wine Cream Sauce!
One
thing I struggled with when I first started this reading is how much it cost to
eat locally. I was blown away at the $128 grocery bill they first post up. I
thought “I would love to eat local food, but I’m a student and thus am poor.
With a grocery bill like that I’ll be dead in 2 weeks.” Slowly though they
showed me how to reduce that bill while still eating locally. Unfortunately
that only extended my lifespan an extra week at that rate.
I
fully endorse and actually agree with the idea of eating locally, but there has
to be much more support for it to bring prices down because right now local
prices are far too high. Does this seem backwards to anyone? We’re paying twice
the price for something to come 50 km as opposed to something that comes 12,000
km from Chile.
Where is the logic here?
Smith
and MacKinnon both describe the strain on their relationship as a result of
this diet. Petty things seem to get to them such as packing and freezing corn
one October evening. I found that was much of the second half of the book, less
of the diet as we saw in the first half of the book which was not as fun to
read.
One
thing that shocked me was they live beside a salt water body and it takes them
nearly the entire book to figure out how to get salt? That seemed pretty
obvious to me from the beginning. I guess they had other things on their mind
though.
I
didn’t have much to say on this book unfortunately. It was an easy read and
like I mentioned earlier was much like a story I was hearing from a friend. One
line however stood out to me on page 194 and relates to my earlier discussion.
It reads: “My grandfather told me, ‘Someday you’ll have to buy water.’” Sylvester shook his head at the memory. “In the days
coming, only the rich people will be able to afford to eat.” Possibly my
greatest fear.
