The Feast Nearby: Book Review

How I lost my job, buried a marriage, and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering, and eating locally (all on $40 a week)

Sometimes when life hands you lemons, you have to make lemonade.

Robin Mather was a food journalist for The Chicago Tribune. Then she was laid off.

At the same time, she was watching her marriage spiral down the drain.

The Feast Nearby is the story of how she pulled through and the radical changes that she made in her life to turn things around.

She Went Back To Her Roots

When things went sour, she ditched Chicago and headed home to rural Michigan. There she learned to make her $40 a week budget work for her.

She remained committed to her own principles of eating local food and eating well too.

The book chronicles her approach over a year. Each day, she cooked 3 meals that met her objectives and her financial constraints.

Local Vs Organic

One of the most interesting points she raises is the idea that local food is often better for the environment than organic food. Food mileage is a major concern if you want to eat an ethical, sustainable diet and turning to local food can make a significant impact on the eco-friendliness of your diet.

Overall

We loved this book. It’s witty, clever and brings us back to the ultimate truth. You can eat well on very little money if you want to.

You can check the latest price of The Feast Nearby: How I lost my job, buried a marriage, and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering, and eating locally by Robin Mather on Amazon below.