Wellesley Reads Together: Second Time Around

Four years ago, when I first read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in the dead of winter when nothing was growing except my longing for spring, I found Kingsolver’s family’s experiment interesting, but not compelling enough to make any major changes in my family’s way of eating. Regardless of the strength of the Kingsolver clan’s arguments, as a busy family of five, we didn’t have the time to grow our own ingredients, much less preserve them. Our backyard garden had provided us with delicious herbs and rather interesting looking tomatoes, but these were nice to haves, not a primary food source for our family—particularly in January. While we did purchase organic foods when the process yielded familiar, enticing, and reasonably priced items, adding locally sourced to our criteria seemed like too much of an undertaking.

Knowing that Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was one of this year’s Wellesley Reads Together selections, as we set off for a trip to Tuscany this past summer, I tossed my tattered copy into my suitcase along with a blank notebook—what writer ever travels without some vehicle for recording her observations? In my first journal entry I asked myself: “What will I come to realize from this trip?” Within a few days an answer began to surface.

Surrounded by terraced hills, thoughtfully planted with vineyards heavy with grapes and olive groves, the fruits of which will be harvested in November, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle took on a new relevance. As we savored five course meals prepared with simple and fresh local (nostrale) ingredients that were pared with brilliant local wines, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle began to have a new, personal context for me.

Tuscan chefs are obsessed with freshness and quality. One local chef said: the finished food you prepare can never be better than the quality of the stuff you put in. Fortunately, much of Tuscany has retained its agricultural focus and so it isn’t hard to gather the freshest of ingredients daily.

A typical meal might start with antipasta, perhaps a selection of locally cured meats, sheep’s milk cheeses (peconno), and crostini, followed by pasta made fresh that morning. A meat or fish dish, depending upon how close you are to the coast, would likely comprise the secondo course (which is technically the third course if you’re counting). A seasonal salad or vegetable may then be enjoyed before topping the meal off with dessert—generally fresh fruit or gelato. Bread is always featured, often drizzled with olive oil made from the most recent pressing, or covered with bruschetta, of which vine-ripened tomatoes are a primary ingredient.

It didn’t take us long to realize that Kingsolver was right: once you’ve tasted just-picked fruits and vegetables, it’s hard to go back. Daily trips to Florence’s Mercato Centrale where there were seemingly endless varieties of fresh pasta, meat, poultry, salami, mushrooms, and cheese made eating local seem quite simple and accessible. But how much work would it take to source fresh, local ingredients upon our return?

I set out to answer that question. With notebook in hand, I tracked down several farms and farmers’ markets located close to Wellesley. In the four years since I had originally read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, many more grocery stores, restaurants, and even food delivery services had begun to offer locally produced items.

A sampling of what I uncovered follows. Have any additions? Please do share.

Farmers’ Markets:

Framingham Village Green, Thursdays, 12:30-5:30

Natick Center Farmers Market, Saturdays, 9:00-1:00

Waltham, Main at Moody Street, Saturdays, 9:30-2:30

Local Farms with Markets:

Allendale Farm, Brookline

Blue Heron Organic Farm, Lincoln

Codman Community Farm, Lincoln

Dover Farm, Dover

Dowse Orchards, Sherborn

Hansons Farm, Framingham