Annualism

For the month of October, the CBC Book Club has been talking about books about food. You can review the different entries here.

Hannah Sung posted an entry earlier this week that discussed the trend of annualism, when a journalist or blogger does something for a year. In the case of Julia Powell, she cooked her way through all the recipes in Julia Child's, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Barbara Kingsolver, author of The Poisonwood Bible, attempts to eat only locally grown food for one year in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.

The trend is not limited to food: A.J. Jacobs read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z, Charla and Brad Muller tried to have sex every day for 101 days, Colin Beavan and Michelle Conlin stopped generating waste for a year when they gave up buying anything new or disposable.

Sung questions whether these efforts are exhibits of stunt journalism or genuine attempts to achieve goals. They certainly do garner attention.

What shall I do? 365 days of avocados? Give up wheat for a year? Make everything from scratch? Eat like a French person?

The possibilities are endless.

To weigh in on the CBC discussion of annualism, you can leave a comment here.