Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Kingsolver makes the argument that the process of cooking good food is worth the time involved for health as well as spiritual reasons. She acknowledges the societal shift that has made everyone busier and reduced the amount of free time available to devote to cooking. As she says: “I have no argument with convenience, on principle” (125). She also acknowledges that there are people who truly have neither the time nor the resources to cook. And that “most U.S. citizens don’t have room in their lives to grow food or even see it growing” (126).

However, she argues that most other people, including those with demanding jobs, can make time to cook. She supports the idea that “working people’s cooking, of course, will develop an efficiency ethic” but that home cooked meals are still infinitely healthier and cheaper per serving than so-called “fast-food” (128).

This idea that saving time by not cooking doesn’t save anything in the long run—and can-do serious damage by shortening lifespans—plays out in the second half of the chapter. Here, Kingsolver describes her experience learning to make her own cheese. For many, this might seem time-consuming with little reward, but the author argues for the benefits of taking the time to learn to make cheese, especially in a household with lactose intolerants.