Barbara Kingsolver's Life

The Somewhat Unrealistic Lives of Barbara Kingsolver and Her Family

In chapter one of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver decides to move her family from Tucson, Arizona to Virginia to live their lives as Locavores (People who only eat what they grow, whether it be meat or something that grows from the earth. They also eat locally grown foods). Kingsolver wants us, as her readers, to start thinking about where the food we are eating is actually coming from. When it comes down to it, most people just don't know what they are putting in their bodies. Though Kingsolver and her husband make some great points in this chapter, one thing that isn't particularly appealing about Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Kingsolver's husband, Steven L. Hopp, writes an excerpt in chapter one about oily foods. He points out some very disturbing facts about how much oil that we as Americans, put in our refrigerators every year. "Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars. We are consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen" (5). Hopp really makes the reader think about how much oil we consume by comparing it to how much we put in our cars. But even though Hopp sticks to the facts, later in the chapter, Kingsolver goes into her opinion. In the process of expressing her opinion, she comes off as making an assumption about kids in general. Kingsolver goes on asking multiple question about farming, agriculture, and food. She then states: "...Approximately none of our children, could answer any of those questions, let alone all. This knowledge has vanished from our culture" (9). Although this may be partially true of this generation of children, it is not completely true. Their children out there who could answer these question without a problem, whether they be farmer’s children or just taking an agriculture class in school. Kingsolver doesn't even acknowledge the fact that some schools still offer agriculture classes that children of this generation choose to take. She doesn’t say
In the first chapter, Kingsolver makes a great point about the food being imported to Arizona. From where? Nobody knows. "Virtually every unit consumed there moves into town in a refrigerated module from somewhere far away" (3). This is an amazing fact because this is exactly the point she is trying to get across in this first chapter. How is one supposed to know what they are putting in their body when it comes from "Somewhere far away"? But, what Kingsolver doesn't mention is that not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to just start their lives over in a different place altogether. There are people who have jobs they can't leave. There are people who have families that they can't uproot for the sole purpose of living as a Locavore. There are people who aren't fortunate enough to have a farm in some other state. There are a lot of people who just cannot afford to grow their own food. It could also be as simple as not caring or not wanting to live that lifestyle. It could be any number of endless reasons that people can't live the way Kingsolver and her family are choosing to live. Whatever the reason is, sometimes it just cannot be done.

Most people have lives that require all the attention that it would take to grow their own food and meat. This might not be the case for Kingsolver and her family, but most people have very demanding lives that