Spring Break
Localvores chew on Kingsolver's new book
Andrea Glaessner
Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: Local News
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The book tells the story of the author and her family, who committed to living and sustaining off their own farm and local food in Virginia for one year. There were exceptions, of course, like dried fruit, turmeric and coffee, which were ordered from fair trade organizations working with growers in Africa, Asia and South America. But the message in the book is that eating local food, not organic, vegan or vegetarian, is the best way to be healthy and green in a world where rising oil prices are pressuring individuals and communities to become increasingly sustainable and self-reliant.
That message was the common thread that brought farmers, students, vegetarians, Kingsolver-followers and farmer's market "groupies" together to discuss the book and ideas about living locally in Vermont.
The discussion began with an introduction by Kristin Bolton - the organizer for Ilsey book discussions - of the discussion moderators, Michelle McCauley, associate professor of Psychology, and Jay Leshinsky, the adviser to the College's organic garden. After a few welcoming words, the leaders handed off the discussion to the members of the group, inviting everyone to introduce themselves and a particular piece of the book they felt was important.
It was clear from the introductions that the range of interest in local food was vast. Bay Hammond, a founding member of the Addison County Relocalization Network (ACoRN), read the book not only to "learn about the journeys of other families living locally" but also to discuss Addison County's own rising local food movement. In particular, Hammond announced that ACoRN had recently put up a Web site that gets local farms in touch with local customers electronically. According to Hammond, the Web site allows customers to order locally-grown food online which would then be delivered weekly to the lawn in front of American Flatbread.
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