A Place "Called Home"

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver 

Chapter 1: "Called Home"

             

        In Chapter one, “Called Home” of Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (2007) Kingsolver claims that our nation’s dependence on industrial manufacturing and food consumption are leading to the gradual ignorance of agriculture and farming, obesity, and consumption of fossil fuels. Kingsolver initially starts out her chapter by providing a brief anecdote on the family’s move to the Appalachians. She then integrates detailed facts and examples (including statistics and articles) to explain the U.S. food culture, leading up to the family’s reasoning as to why they decided to rely on seasonal farming and food consumption rather than common industrial manufactured foods, and concludes by using an allusion to compare their dietary plans to “the Zorba diet.” Kingsolver’s purpose is to expose the nation’s food industry in order to persuade readers to realize where their everyday food originates from, while also getting them to understand and appreciate her alternative to industrial food consumption and farming. Her audience is mainly towards adults, as well as chefs, farmers, locavores, and starting organic eaters unaware of the basics of organic eating and farming.

Vocabulary:

•          Frugal- the characterization of one who is not wasteful ; is economically in use or          expenditure
•          Trivial- something that is ordinary and insignificant
•          Petulant- the characterization of one who is impatient and quick to be irritated
•          Chrysanthemums- the genus name of a certain variety of plants
•          Surreptitiously- something obtained or created secretively without authorization
•          Fornicate- voluntary intercourse between two unmarried individuals
•          Notorious- one who is unfavorably known for a particular trait
•          Synergies- a cooperative and combined function/action
•          Epicurean- one who is fond of luxury and sensual pleasures
•          Ubiquitously- something that exists everywhere
•          Halcyon- something or someone calm, peaceful, rich, and happy

Tone: Concerned, Disappointed, Enthusiastic

Rhetorical Strategies:

•  Anecdote: “Too tired to cook, we headed into town for supper...Our waitress was young and chatty... ‘Let’s hope it’s a good long one,’ she said…” (pg. 7-8); “As we gathered our loot onto the counter the sky darkened suddenly…This bleached-blond guardian of gas pumps and snack food was not amused…” (pg.7)
•  Articles: Oily Food- “Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators… (pg. 5); Hungry World- “All these heirloom eggplants and artisan cheeses…(pg.18-19)
•  Allusion: “to make a Leaves of Grass kind of culture…” (pg.4); “We were writing our Dear John letter to a roomie…” (pg. 22); “This was approximately the basis of our plan: the Zorba diet.” (pg. 22)
•  Statistical Facts: “U.S. consumption of ‘added fats’ has increased by one-third since 1975, and our HFCS [High-Fructose Corn Syrup] is up by 1000 percent.” (pg. 14-15); “This is how 70 percent of all our Midwestern agricultural land shifted gradually into single-crop corn or soybean farms…” (pg. 14)
•  Humor: “We were thinking Parmesan meant, not ‘coming from Parma,’ but ‘coming from a green shaker can.’ Did they kick us out for bad taste?” (pg. 4)

Discussion Questions:

• What type of culture does Kingsolver refer to when she makes the allusion to Walt Whitman's novel, Leaves of Grass? (pg. 4)
• What purpose does the use of brief articles throughout the novel serve towards Kingsolver’s overall message?
• How might our nation turn out if everyone were to switch to seasonal sustenance or local farming and food consumption? Would it be possible for our nation to thrive without a heavy dependence on industrial food manufacturing?

 “A food culture is not something that gets sold to people. It arises out of a place, a soil, a climate, a history, a temperament, a collection sense of belonging.”