It’s that time of year again…pumpkin spiced lattes, apple cider donuts…and One Book, One Chicago! Chicago Public Library recently unveiled their pick for this season’s program. The 27th selection…drumroll please…is…
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver!
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a nonfiction piece that tells the story about a family who chooses to eat only food grown and produced locally — for a full year. The book highlights the family’s challenges and triumphs during a season of planting, weeding, harvesting and preserving. Readers learn more about the food industry, the science behind food and growing, and will even pick up a few seasonal recipes along the way.
“This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew . . . and of how our family was changed by our first year of deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank the water, and breathed the air.”
Based on this selection, One Book, One Chicago will explore a central theme —“Eat Think Grow” – with citywide programming focused on cultural cuisine, cooking, eating, sustainability and urban farming, taking place October 2016 through May 2017. One Book, One Chicago is supported with grant funding to the Library Foundation from The Chicago Community Trust and BMO Harris Bank. We thank them kindly for keeping this beloved program running year over year.
As is customary with One Book, One Chicago, the program brings together many Chicago organizations and institutions to provide a robust and diverse experience. The book really is “just the beginning”.
Some of the One Book programs we’re looking forward to include Coffee Roasting Basics and Intro to Beer Brewing from The Pursuit Supply Co. EverThrive Illinois will bring their Cooking Matters workshops to select branch locations where we’ll learn how to purchase healthy food on a budget along with recipes to try at home.
Author Leanne Brown will discuss her book Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day, and Emily Paster teaches us five ways to preserve from canning to freezing to drying our foods.
There will be walking tours led by historian and urbanologist, Max Grinnell, taking us through Chicago’s culinary past, and film screenings of Food Patriots featuring people from all walks of life who are trying to change the way Americans eat and buy food.
Visit onebookonechicago.com for more information including a list of events that kick off October 1. Don’t miss the author discussion with Barbara Kingsolver coming in the spring of 2017!
