apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We've been reading out loud to each other and our 4 month old son. So far, my husband and I are tickled by Kingsolver's ideas & her writing. We also enjoy the essays by her daughter Camille. I am currently studying to be a Registered Dietitian and I think that we should teach agriculture and nutrition in schools. Some schools are already doing this with the Edible School Yard and similar programs. I think that understanding where our food comes from and why our bodies work better when we eat good food should be common knowledge. I certainly wish I had learned more about these subjects as a kid. However, I disagree on the point that Americans' don't have their own food culture. What exactly is Thanksgiving, for example? The majority of traditional Thanksgiving dishes are made from foods that are native to the Americas, so would that make an American food culture?

The trouble with the idea of an "American" food culture is that it's too big.... it's hard to compare it to Italy or Spain. There are lots of great regional cuisines here (southern food, soul food, new england) that can't be reduced down to just "American." That said, I do love the idea of getting Americans more in touch with where their food comes from! For me, it's been a real culture shock moving to Vermont from Boston. Here, we get eggs and honey from co-workers, our next door neighbor has an organic farm, and we just got our Thanksgiving turkey from a small farm down the road. Growing your own food is so much more of a way of life here, and much more respected, too!

I am reading Chapter 3 now. Every page evokes food memories. I have lived in Asia, NV, CA, CO and KS. I have grown or helped my mother grow food in CA, CO and KS.

I am raising my daughter in southern California, where my daughter does not know the seasonality of food. I am trying to raise a little bit of food on a 4'x8' vegetable bed, but land and sunshine are enormously expensive.

(Housing is vertical where land is dear and my neighborhood has a population density of 21,000-22,000 people per square mile. I can walk to a supermarket and two small ethnic markets, in under 5 minutes.)

http://badmomgoodmom.blogspot.com/2007/04/house-and-garden.html

There was a famous gardening article about the $4000 (or some astronomical figure) tomato. I don't want to calculate how much this strawberry cost. That is besides the point. We grow food so Iris feels a connection to the food chain.

Our local health district is building a vegetable garden at all the public elementary schools in the district. They hope that, if the kids help grow the vegetables, they will also eat them. All kids will participate. I find that a very hopeful sign.

We do have an unique north American cuisine. It is called fusion or, sometimes, Californian. My eurasian family eats it every night.

Grace2,
I think it's fantastic that you are teaching your daughter about agriculture and food. I really wish it had been a required subject when I was going through school.

My parents have always had an abundant garden (my mom was raised on a farm) and I'm ashamed at how little I know -- especially as I make my way through this book. Although it does inspire me to learn more.

I agree with you about the California/fusion cuisine -- although I think I see what Barbara Kingsolver means: If we do have a cuisine it doesn't seem to be ingrained in our culture the way Italian food, for example, is ingrained in the Italian culture?

I have to say that I have LOVED the book so far. It is very relaxed and not too preachy.
I do think that agriculture should be taught in schools. So many kids today have no idea about how things grow and where it all comes from. I even find myself not thinking about it many times, BUT we have a huge garden and are striving to make more and more of our food our home grown variety.
The way Kingsolver drives home the local food movement is so great! She doesn't make you feel guilty, but just educates you and helps you to realize the consequences.
Ironically, we went to a talk on organic foods last night and I kept whispering to my husband...that's in the book, that's in the book! Such a great read and I'm only a couple chapters in.

My subway commute must be too long, because I'm already halfway through...

I think that Kingsolver's point about no American food culture isn't that we don't have food traditions, like Thanksgiving, but that we don't have a food culture that celebrates the local foods available to us. Obviously, with the US being so geographically diverse, that means that the actual food we eat would depend on our location, but she seems to be advocating that the practice of cooking, eating and appreciating locally produced/grown food itself could become our food culture, whatever that food may be based on our local climate.

The example given above of "fusion" cuisine proves her point; it is the opposite of local cuisine; it takes a variety foods from different regions and combines them into one dish.

I think when you look at cultures with real local food traditions, you're looking at regions with multiple generations who have a personal connection to the land where food is grown. In a very real sense, virtually all Americans are newcomers to our land and don't know what to expect in terms of local foods. We're the perfect audience for industrialized food production because we don't know any better; we don't know what our local region ought to be providing for us. And once we're given any food we want at any time, we come to expect it.

Regarding teaching agriculture in schools, I'm all for it. I'm not sure in an urban setting the actual techniques of agriculture need to be taught, but certainly we should be teaching kids where food comes from, and broadly how it is produced.

I'm a science teacher and teach a senior elective in controversial issues in science. This semester I've been teaching about climate change and agribusiness. We've been discussing agriculture for several weeks, and the students know virtually nothing about the provenance of their food. I showed them the video "The Future of Food" and they were shocked at the big-business, anti-environmental practices of corporate farming. I've been reading them selections from this book as I've been reading it, and they're really into it. One statement in particular that stood out to them came from the sidebar on p. 5: "If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That's not gallons, but barrels."

This sentiment connects both of the major themes of the class (climate change and agriculture). Having read it, my students have been inspired to try to get our cafeteria to commit to providing one meal per week from local sources. We're going to see what we can do towards making this happen in the next few weeks. They are really interested in spreading the word to their peers; they clearly think that this is an issue that young people are not, but should be, aware of.

I'm struggling with the "food culture" thing too. I guess I tend to agree that industrialized nations tend to lose some of their food culture. Britain was the first nation to industrialize and they're certainly not known for vibrant cuisine.

At the same time, America has an abundance of natural resources and farmland, and a beautiful mix of ethnic people bringing their countries' food traditions to America.

In my little slice of California, food culture is a mix of farmer's markets, taco stands, yuppie comfort food, lots of ethnic foods/Asian markets, and much more. It's not as local as it should be, but it's rich.

Just because a country is large and diverse doesn't mean it can't have a food culture. India and China are perfect examples. However, America's history - the focus on capitalism and convenience, and the devaluing of farming - do come to bear on the foods we find ourselves eating today.

Regarding nutrition being taught in schools:
America is so far away form this, it's not even funny. Because of government subsidies, school cafeterias serve the worst processed food - tater tots, processed pizza, grade F hamburger meat, Twinkies, soda, etc. If good nutrition was taught in class, students would face major cognitive dissonance when it came time for lunch; or they would rise up and start asking why salads and other healthy foods are shoved aside to make way for cheap, processed crap in the cafeteria. The latter situation would be amazing and it's happening in a few places, but it needs to become the norm. And the necessary step is for the government to shift subsidies away from corn and beef and toward healthier, seasonal foods. A healthy food culture begins in a nation's schools.

I'm chimming in a bit late, but I did read the first chapter and am so very excited to read the rest of the book. There were so many exciting points and facts presented in the first chapter, it was almost overwhelming (and I mean that in a good way).

I have no doubt that agriculture should be a mandatory subject in schools. While reading, writing, and arithmetic are all well and good, you need to have courses like art, home ec, and agriculture to understand and embrace the world outside of the school walls. Just how far the American food system has slipped in roughly 100 years is something every citizen should be ashamed of.

Hmmmm, while I think America, like any other country deserves it's own food culture, it will be tougher for us to develop one due to the simple fact that we are made up over a variety of native cultures already. We all know what Italian and Chinese food is, and we know a lot about their culture, country, language, and looks, but when you think of America, the first thing that probably comes to mind is burgers and fries ... that's not much of a food culture, huh!?

I am also chimming in a bit late, however, I am on vacation and I'm speeding through the book!

I do believe that part of a school semester or even a full semester should be dedicated to agriculture. I know in NYC there is an influx of public satellite schools that offer concentrations in environmental studies, teaching, fashion or whatever the students have a passion for. Offering a course or two in agriculture, sustainable living etc. would be perfect within the teenage years since they are exposed to many mainstream trends that have surfaced (i.e. Farm Aid on Roosevelt Island, Live Earth Concert). Taking it up a notch and offering it in schools would be great. I know CENYC (www.cenyc.org) has a program with a few schools in the area - a great start.