Unprocessed by Megan Kimble

I added Unprocessed to my library queue because I liked the idea of eating unprocessed. Kimble did it while trying to live a normal life. She did't move to a farm or start a garden on her terrace. So I wanted to see how she did it, living her normal life. Overall, I enjoyed Unprocessed and gained some good knowledge from it.

Kimble lives in Tuscon, Az, works part time and is a student part time. As a single woman, she has some time to devote to food making (baking bread, making chocolate, making plant-based milks). She has no rush to get meals on the table other than her own hungry stomach and no need to create full meals for just herself. I did find the information she found out (how milk is made, how flour is made) illuminating and have incorporated that knowledge into how I shop and cook. Sometimes her unhurried, casual way of making food drove me nuts. I don't have that kind of time. Grr.

Also Kimble is a young white woman with an upper middle class background. In the last chapter she does the SNAP challenge. This chapter alone changed the way I saw Kimble. She acknowledged that she had never been hungry or worried that she wouldn't eat. She went grocery shopping in a lower income neighborhood and watched families struggle to decide what to buy. I know that sometimes cost comes before health and often you choose the cheapest option, not the most nutritious. I wish that more of the conversation I heard about changing our food systems wasn't from white people. I think there are a lot of other voices out there I'm not hearing. I'll continue to look.

Overall Unprocessed gave me a lot to think about. I'll  be making some changes to what I buy and attempt to buy more locally. I'll also be looking for ways to continue the conversation and include more people. Others who shared their thoughts on Unprocessed: Walking On Travels, Living Upp, and A Black Girl's Guide To Weight Loss.
This is my sixth read for the Foodies Read Challenge.