Smith & MacKinnon, The 100-Mile Diet

Why was I not told about this?!?

Somehow I had the impression that Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon's The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating was actually a description of a diet -- or possibly a cookbook with some discussion, I'm not certain which. It sure as hell wasn't this, though: a terrific joint memoir with the occasional recipe, plus tips for local shopping that work for my location here in Victoria, that examines both global commerce and local ground, as well as portraying the strains that long-term relationships habitually go through.

I blame myself, actually. You see, I already knew the writing of both Smith and MacKinnon, having taught essays by each of them last year from Way Out There: The Best of explore magazine: excellent writers, both, so I should have trusted in that.

Here's why I was a sucker for this book:

• I'm not the only cook in this house, but I am the one who experiments.
• I've never had the garden I'd like, but that's because in the last eight years we haven't had two summers in the same house.
• Regardless, I've always grown vegetables, and I've even moved them from one garden to another.
• Local books are breeding on my shelves.
• And who couldn't stand to watch a quality relation between quality individuals falter and (maybe) recover?
  

So I should have known about this book already. I blame myself for making assumptions, though I also blame you for not telling me about it. In case you're not in the know, I say unto you this: Believe the hype. Read the book, regift it, follow its suggestions, learn more on your own. I've become the Ancient Mariner, the way I'm telling people about this book!