Seven impossible things before breakfast, or is it six?

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver    
Chapter 9: Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast


     In Chapter Nine, "Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast" in Barbara Kingsolver's novel Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (2007), Kingsolver articulates the significance of cooking to the daily life of humans  and connects it to being able to perform difficult tasks or the impossible. The chapter begins with examples expressing how Kingsolver chooses to spend her time in comparison to that of other Americans by depicting the lack of time that most spend cooking or in the kitchen in contrast to the central role that it plays not in only in her life, but in that of her family as well. Kingsolver then transitions to the need to understand food as more that just a product but also a process which leads to an anecdote about the making of cheese, an unusual occurrence in majority of households because it can been seen as more trouble than it's worth. She concludes by continuing the theme that things that are homemade, which may take more time and initially seem like a waste of time, are the ones that are better in the end. Kingsolver continues to differentiate between fast, processed foods and the affect that they have on human life specifically family interactions and food that comes from the kitchen. The audience is people that have any type of interest in organic homemade food instead of food from factories.


Vocabulary:
sublime- to elevate or exalt especially in dignity or honor
quotidian- occurring every day
legions- a very large number
symbiosis- a cooperative relationship
remuneration-payment equivalent for a service, loss, or expense


Tone:
Concerned, Sarcastic


Rhetorical Strategies:
Analogy: " But kitchens where food is cooked and eaten, those were really a good idea. We threw that baby out with the bathwater"(128).
Syntax (telegraphic) - "It really is" (129).
Rhetorical Question :"By taking the faster drive, what did we save?" (130)
Anecdote- "When I went to see Ricki, it was equal parts admiration and curiosity" (132).
Statistical Facts- "Only about 10 percent of Asian Americans can digest milk as adults..."(137).


Discussion Questions:
1. Does Kingsolver believe that homecooking will assist in solving family issues and values?
2. How does Kingsolver's use of sarcasm or satire affect the novel?
3. What could society gain and lose by switching to more organic, healthy foods?


"It's easy for any of us to claim no time for cooking; harder to look at what we're doing instead and why every bit of it is presumed more worthy" (128).