Another snippet from Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal Vegetable Miracle":

... To the extent that it is understood, this [American] cuisine is widely assumed to be the property of the elite. Granted, in restaurants it can sometimes be pricey, but the do-it-yourself version is not. I am not sure how so many Americans came to believe only our wealthy are capable of honoring a food aesthetic. Anyone who thinks so should have a gander at the kitchens of working-class immigrants from India, Mexico, anywhere really. Cooking at home is cheaper than buying packaged foods or restaurant meals of comparable quality. Cooking good food is mostly a matter of having the palate and the skill. [page 31]

As in my first installment of this series, I am completely down with the author in spirit and intention, but I have a quibble.

To me, the foremost bar is neither palate nor skill. It is willingness to make the effort, which she almost gets to in her next paragraph when she raises "attitude."

Cooking for one's family and oneself has definite, quantifiable benefits — nutritional, relational, financial — but to get them, we'd have to bother, and it's just easier to hit the drive-thru.

Too many Americans think it's the same thing, and if so, they'd rather relax. The thing is, it isn't so.

I'm finally reading "Animal Vegetable Miracle," Barbara Kingsolver's 2007 book in which she and her family eat for a year only with local sources, save for one personal exception each. As I've done with other books, I thought I'd blog along.

So it turns out that when I wrote yesterday about the Jane Brody squib in the Times yesterday, referred there by my friend Ron-the-voracious-reader, I had actually been referred slightly elsewhere, to the mainbar of what Brody wrote. She was reporting the release of a series of reports in the British medical periodical The Lancet that address the growing obesity epidemic.

From my friend Marty Lerner, major domo at the Florida treatment center Milestones In Recovery, I learned of a series of phone support meetings operated within the fellowship of Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous (all 1 hour; all times Eastern):

Monday, 8:30 pm Dial: 858-216-3378; code: 22657

Tuesday, 2 pm Dial: 213-289-0500; code: 22657

Wednesday, 8:30 pm Dial: 858-216-3378; code: 22657

Thursday, 8:30 pm Dial: 858-216-3378; code: 22657

Friday, 11:30 am Dial: 213-289-0500; code: 22657

Saturday, 4 pm Dial: 858-216-3378; code: 22657

Sunday, 10 am (men's), Dial: 858-216-3378; code: 22657

Sunday, 4 pm Dial: 858-216-3378; code: 22657

Audio files of past meetings are also available.

My voracious reading friend, Ron, points toward this morning's squib from Jane Brody of the Times on the public health consequences of the continued rise of obesity in America: By 2020, demographers say, three out of four Americans will be obese or overweight, ands that by 2030, there will be 65 million more in those categories than there were last year.

Though certainly, the current proportion of two out of three is horrendous enough, she says:

Welcome to another installment of “10 Words or Less,” a title that applies both to the questions I ask and the answers I hope to receive. Today’s participant is at the edge of my usual topics, but she does her business at farmers’ markets, and she’s interesting. Please remember: No counting! It’s a goal, not a rule.

Name Patti Small
Age 57
Town Bolton, Mass. 
Business “On The Edge Knife Sharpening.”
How long have you been doing it? “Three years.”
Where is your shop? “I don’t have one.”
Huh? “I go from market to market to market.”
Why? “I live out in Bolton. Who’s going to drive out here to get their knives sharpened?”

I recently heard from “Joan,” whom I’ve met through publication of “Fat Boy Thin Man.” Though she’s quite aware that whatever I can share is limited by my experience and not informed by scientific study, we often settle into mentor/newcomer roles. Here’s a deconstruction of excerpts from her most recent letter, because sometimes our underlying thinking reveals quite a lot that we might not otherwise recognize:

As a freelance writer, I'm a washout, because most of the time, I'm writing only on topics I'm interested in, rather than what pays well. Regardless, please check out my latest story in the Boston Globe, on the subject of locavores.

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is seeking a grassroots advocacy director to work with staff and member organizations to help galvanize support for and advance 2012 farm-bill and other federal policy priorities.

The coalition is alliance of over 80 grassroots organizations that advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and rural communities.

Daycare takes a vacation, so light posting this week. Please come back!