There is no longer any doubt but that eating has now become a political act.

After Jamie and Hugh came out as free range since Christmas the original old hen, Delia, has come out firmly on the side of non-organic and battery reared birds.
Ah well. That’s fine by me, I never liked her anyway.
But she is of course only expressing and attitude towards food that is held by a great many people.

My friends Paul and Isabel have sent me a copy of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and this, I think, should be required reading for any one who has the least care about where their food comes from.
There is every chance that it is going to turn me into a gigantic food bore, and I am not even finished it yet.

Barbara Kingsolver, who has written best sellers like The Poisonwood Bible, decides to spend a year in the Appalachians with her husband and two daughters eating only those products which come from a radius of about thirty miles from her house.
The fact that she is a keen vegetable gardener helps.
The book, interlaced with sections by her biologist husband Steve and nutritionist daughter Camille is packed with information as to why we eat the way we do today, and more importantly how we can improve the way we eat tomorrow.
But it is not just full of these facts, it also tells the fascinating and often funny story about how her family adapt to this life (and it give great recipes too).
Find it , buy it, it is possibly the most important book about food you will ever read.