The folks over at Salon.com have published an interview with Barbara Kingsolver about her latest book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. It sounds like an interesting read, as it chronicles the year Kingsolver and her family spent eating only the food that they grew on their farm in Virginia. (Virginia!!)
I hope to read AVM soon, as part of my ongoing flirtation with supporting local agriculture and eating seasonally. These have been goals of mine for awhile, but I seem to be making slow progress. For one thing, I'm still not quite sure which fruits & vegetables are supposed to be eaten in each season. With most produce now available year-round in the grocery store, there is a learning curve in understanding when each item actually has its natural harvest at which point during the year. (Though my Mennonite cookbook, Simply In Season, does help school me on this matter, so I'm slowly learning.)
My first introduction to eating seasonally came a few years back via Lauren Winner's book, Mudhouse Sabbath. As a Jewish convert to Christianity, Winner discusses elements of Judaism that she has adopted as disciplines in her Christian life. While ruminating on the concept of kosher, and the Jewish idea of infusing even the mundane act of eating with holiness, Winner suggests eating seasonally as one way for Christians to similarly capture this daily sense of reverence. Eating certain foods at specific times of the year can help us reflect on creation and our Creator, and give thanks for the specific blessings He gives at appointed seasons.
While eating squash in the fall and kale in the winter, I can marvel at how God provides for me during each season of my life. While waiting for summer to bring strawberries, I am reminded of waiting on the Lord and how His timing is always good.
"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope." (Psalm 130:5, NIV)
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