Review of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I highly reccommend the book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I had heard about it earlier this summer, and just checked it out of the library. It is about a family who decided to try to eat locally for an entire year, which meant buy only food grown in their neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without. It is "part memoir, part journalistic investigation", and it is fascinating. Although parts can get a little tedious and preachy, it is definitely an education in the US Food industry. It has made me think more consciously about the food choices I make, and made me question my responsibility, not only as a fellow living creature (her take on why she doesn't eat CAFO animals), but as a Christian. We have dominion over the animals, and are given the choice to eat them, but what does that look like? Is it ok to eat animals that have spent their short lives suffering in confinement, eating food they are not meant to eat, including other animals' waste and by products? Or should I be eating animals that have been treated respectfully, given a chance to enjoy the sunshine, grazing, foraging, in their short, but happy life. Yes, God gave us animals to eat, but where is our responsibility? I have to think about this some more, but I feel a definite pull to buy beef and chickens that are not only "free range" (which can be a deceptive title), but "grass finished". It has also made me want to start my own garden, as well as continue in our CSA membership. I need to check out local Farmer's Markets as well. This week, I think I will start my new efforts by buying one of the chickens offered by my CSA, and maybe some eggs.