Cooking and Composing

Here are today’s Wonderful Words:

To many urban people the idea of growing your food must seem as plausible as writing and conducting your own symphonies for your personal listening pleasure. If that is your case, think of the agricultural parts of the story as a music appreciation course for food—acquainting yourself with the composers and conductors can improve the quality of your experience. 

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver, page 10

Background

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle tells the story of a family that moves to a farm in Virginia and spends the year eating only local food, most of which they grew or raised.These sentences are an appeal to the reader—an attempt to make the foreign familiar.

What makes it wonderful?

I have the distinct advantage of growing up in rural America and spending my young adult years in urban America.

I grew up in a town in Upstate New York with only a few thousand people. We had a garden in the backyard, chickens in the barn, and a couple cows in a small pasture. My classmates grew up on farms. My mom took me and my siblings to dairy barns so we could see where milk was made. 

I’m far from a farmer, but I’ve eaten plenty of food that my family—or our neighbors—raised.

After college I moved to one of the biggest cities in the world. I ate New York bagels, New York pizza, and New York street meat from my favorite Halal carts. 

Among millions of people, there wasn’t a single chicken, cow, or tomato plant to be found.

My experience is unique. Most people haven’t lived both of these lives, and that is exactly why these words are so wonderful. They bridge the gap between experience and ignorance.

Let's get technical

Kingsolver uses two techniques to make her writing approachable for readers.

First, a simile, where she compares growing your food to composing a symphony. A simile is basically a fancy word for a comparison, when the comparison uses the words “like” or “as.” 

Then she uses an analogy. This book is to food what a music appreciation course is to symphonies. Think of it less as a how-to guide and more as a tour guide. You aren’t using it to plant, harvest, prep, and cook the food. You’re using it to appreciate the process. 

And for someone from the city—someone who feels like food production is foreign—those simple sentences make the story less strange. They make it more approachable.

The best way to capture a reader’s attention is to meet them where they are. If you’re writing a book about gardening, but you believe it’s valuable to non-gardeners too, it’s your job to convince them. A simple comparison with a simile or analogy is one way to do it.

Happy writing, 

Joe