Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally
by: Alisa Smith, J.B. Mackinnon
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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.
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.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - When you would kill for some wheat flour!
In Plenty, authors Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon tell their story of living for a year eating only foods produced within 100 miles of their home in Vancouver.This book is also published as Plenty: Eating Locally On The 100 Mile Diet; and The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating.
I think they are all the same.Regardless, I read the "Plenty: Eating Locally On The 100 Mile Diet" version.
So two vegetarian writer/journalists get the bug to eat locally.Gone is olive oil ... Read More
Rating: 
- 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!
Rating: 
-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 addresseddirectly in the book. I think they expected just a little morelocal 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 ... Read More
Rating: - 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 ... Read More
Rating: - Satisfying to Stomach and Soul
Makes you hungry for REAL food
Opens a new world, hidden away for too long
Beautiful and truthful
Essential for here and now and the future of our food supply
Tasty & worth reading!!
- When you would kill for some wheat flour!In Plenty, authors Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon tell their story of living for a year eating only foods produced within 100 miles of their home in Vancouver.This book is also published as Plenty: Eating Locally On The 100 Mile Diet; and The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating.
I think they are all the same.Regardless, I read the "Plenty: Eating Locally On The 100 Mile Diet" version.
So two vegetarian writer/journalists get the bug to eat locally.Gone is olive oil ... Read More
- Best Memoir I've ReadI 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 addresseddirectly in the book. I think they expected just a little morelocal 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 ... Read More
- Two excellent writers tell a personal and informing taleEven 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 ... Read More
- Satisfying to Stomach and Soul Makes you hungry for REAL food
Opens a new world, hidden away for too long
Beautiful and truthful
Essential for here and now and the future of our food supply
Tasty & worth reading!!
