Product Description

Like many great adventures, the 100-mile diet began with a memorable feast. Stranded in their off-the-grid summer cottage in the Canadian wilderness with unexpected guests, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon turned to the land around them. They caught a trout, picked mushrooms, and mulled apples from an abandoned orchard with rose hips in wine. The meal was truly satisfying; every ingredient had a story, a direct line they could trace from the soil to their forks. The experience raised a question: Was it possible to eat this way in their everyday lives?

Back in the city, they began to research the origins of the items that stocked the shelves of their local supermarket. They were shocked to discover that a typical ingredient in a North American meal travels roughly the distance between Boulder, Colorado, and New York City before it reaches the plate. Like so many people, Smith and MacKinnon were trying to live more lightly on the planet; meanwhile, their “SUV diet” was producing greenhouse gases and smog at an unparalleled rate. So they decided on an experiment: For one year they would eat only food produced within 100 miles of their Vancouver home.

It wouldn’t be easy. Stepping outside the industrial food system, Smith and MacKinnon found themselves relying on World War II–era cookbooks and maverick farmers who refused to play by the rules of a global economy. What began as a struggle slowly transformed into one of the deepest pleasures of their lives. For the first time they felt connected to the people and the places that sustain them.

For Smith and MacKinnon, the 100-mile diet became a journey whose destination was, simply, home. From the satisfaction of pulling their own crop of garlic out of the earth to pitched battles over canning tomatoes, Plenty is about eating locally and thinking globally.

The authors’ food-focused experiment questions globalization, monoculture, the oil economy, environmental collapse, and the tattering threads of community. Thought-provoking and inspiring, Plenty offers more than a way of eating. In the end, it’s a new way of looking at the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124959 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-24
• Released on: 2007-04-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Over a meal of fish, potatoes, and wild mushrooms foraged outside their cabin in British Columbia, the authors of this charmingly eccentric memoir decide to embark on a year of eating food grown within 100 miles of their Vancouver apartment. Thus begins an exploration of the foodways of the Pacific northwest, along which the authors, both professional writers, learn to can their own vegetables, grow their own herbs, search out local wheat silos and brew jars of blueberry jam. They also lose weight, bicker and down hefty quantities of white wine from local vineyards. Their engaging narrative is sprinkled with thought-provoking reportage, such as a UK study that shows the time people spend shopping the supermarket-driving, parking and wandering the aisles-is "nearly equal to that spent preparing food from scratch twenty years ago." Though their tone can wax preachy, the wisdom of their advice is obvious, and the deliciousness of their bounty is tantalizing-if local eating means a sandwich full of peppers, fried mushrooms, and "delectably oozing goat cheese," their efforts appear justified.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Smith and MacKinnon revolt against the industrial model of food distribution and determine to spend a year eating nothing raised or cultivated beyond a 100-mile radius of their British Columbia home. They seek not just health benefits and fuel efficiencies but they also want to reconnect with small, local growers, millers, fishermen, and ranchers to create a community where the consumer knows both where the food comes from and who has produced it. British Columbia, with its Marine West Coast climate, its rivers full of salmon, and its proximity to the sea, offers unique opportunities to pursue this resolve. Along the way, the authors learn a lot about nutrition and uncommon varieties of fruits, vegetables, and herbs, and all the data is shared with the reader. Satisfying all their family's hungers proves daunting but scarcely impossible. Entries for each month conclude with a recipe reflecting use of seasonal ingredients. Knoblauch, Mark
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
This very human and often humorous adventure about two people eating food grown within a short distance of their home is surprising, delightful, and even shocking. If you’ve only talked about eating locally but never given yourself definitions—especially strict ones—to follow, I assure you that your farmers’ market will never again look the same. Nothing you eat will look the same! This inspiring and enlightening book will give you plenty to chew on.”
—Deborah Madison, author of Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets

“Plenty posits a brilliant, improbable, and finally deliciously noble notion of connecting to the world by striving first to understand what’s underfoot. Beautifully written and lovingly paced, it is at once a lonely and uplifting tale of deep respect between two people, their community, and our earth. Plenty will change your life even if you never could or would try this at home.”
—Danny Meyer, author of Setting the Table

“A funny, warm, and seductive account of how we might live better—better for this earth, better for the community, better for our bellies!”
—Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future

“Engaging, thoughtful…packed with natural, historical and personal detail.”--Liesel Schillinger, The New York Times
“Succeeds because Smith and MacKinnon don’t give a ____about being normal. Locavorism isn’t normal—that’s the point—and they fly their freak flag with bemused pride, giving themselves over to the mania that infects the newly converted….One imagines Kingsolver at home on her sturdy homestead shaking her head and clucking at those ‘trendy’ kids, but they’re the ones I’d rather have dinner with.”--Martha Bayne, ...

Customer Reviews

Best Memoir I've Read
I thought "Plenty" was a fantastic book. I had downloaded and read their journal from online before the book came out and loved it. The book was frosting on the cake with its primary data and documentation which support their (and our) efforts to relocalize our eating. Alisa and James' search for local food echos our own in an efforts to personally relocalize in a town that doesn't have much insight into what's happening in the world. Ya done good, kids! You go!

They needed a Wife!
This was enjoyable, but not as good as Animal,Vegtable,.. the biggest lesson, they needed a wife to shop, cook and preserve food, it was almost a full time job. This came as a big surprise, and was not addressed directly in the book. I think they expected just a little more local shopping effort. As the year progressed they got needed attention for writing careers.
Please do not can or preserve any food using their advice, and their ancient cookbook. Please buy and follow the directions of Ball canning. I felt they came very close to food/potamine posioning due to careless food handling.
I grew tired of all their personal problems, can anyone write a book without throwing in all their personal garbage? none of which advanced the book.
I am a locavore, bake all my own bread, have four chickens and a small greenspace for veggies and my 76 year old mom and I can/freeze some food in the fall.I live in the city, and I will not spend 17$ for salad greens. Food is a local issue and its a job/work,,, one many Americans have forgotten about. The book did not address the longterm issue of how much work it is to grow, find , cook ,pereserve food. After all they were only in it for a year of publicity.

Two excellent writers tell a personal and informing tale
Even if you want to eat at McDonald's every day and your idea of eating local is only going to Costcos within 20 miles, you will enjoy this book (and you might even gain from some reflection inspired by the book). The authors are very gifted and share personal and interesting events and reflections in a narrative that is a page-turner. Kudos for that alone. Their dedication to their 100 mile pledge, and their tenacity and smarts at following it, while growing through a challenging patch in their personal relationship, is admirable and makes for compelling reading. Some pages do wax preachy, but only a few. Sometimes James overdoes the metaphors, and he makes a wry nod to this possibility late in the book when he admits that maybe sometimes a walnut is just a walnut. Now and then the two come off as a little precious, but nothing wrong with that -- better a real picture than an altered one. Interestingly, until the book gave cues of their age, I thought they were in their late 40s or so -- the early chapters are written in the voices of people who have lived awhile. On the one hand, I assume there is a maturity and depth in these 30 somethings that I should have had at that age; on the other hand, I do hope they lighten up sometimes. The takeway, however, is that this is a terrific read.