When I found out that Fifty Shades of Grey had outsold the Harry Potter series, I knew the author E. L. James had found a way to get people's attention. I downloaded a preview chapter online. In case you are one of the six people left who hasn't read it, the young heroine literally falls into the office of a business tycoon. He gloats that if he were to sell his company, over twenty thousand people would be struggling to pay their mortgages “after a month or so.” He hints at expensive hobbies.
Anna, the heroine, laps it up:
“You sound like the ultimate consumer.”
“I am.”
Ghahh! Here was the enemy I’ve been fighting all my adult life. I was shocked. Shocked! So I read more.
Fifty Shades of Grey is full of disgusting and often illegal behavior. Conspicuous consumption. Violence and intimidation toward employees. Even nepotism!
Yes, it’s a page turner with plenty of kinky sex and laughably overwrought writing. But what I found disturbing was the behavior to others, outside the bedroom. Even Anna, when she gets a chance, imagines herself as a “gladiatrix” during her first meeting with their beautiful architect.
I knew I had to write a book that was supposed to be funny, one that fights leather with laughter. A romance for the 99%.
Fifty Weeks of Green: Romance & Recipes is my love letter to you, dear fellow activist, and to our communities and our planet. I hope it gives you a laugh, a flutter, and the inspiration to cook something delicious. Better yet, use it as a tool to cross the Blue-State/Red-State divide. Lend it to your cousin or your neighbor who doesn't want to talk politics, but who might be willing try Steamed Collards in Lime-Peanut Sauce or Don't-Settle Apple Walnut Crumble.
My heroine, Sophia Verde, is a forty-something political staffer who's just been laid off. She stumbles into the market booth of a hot farmer, looks up, and thinks rrrrrr! She spends the next year learning to cook and to love a man who becomes her partner, not her master.
Every day, we get a chance to vote with our forks for a better world. If you don't like corporate monopolies, don't buy food from them. Want to improve the working conditions and reduce the rate of birth defects for farm workers? Work for better legislation and enforcement, of course. But also eat more organic and sustainably grown food. Horrified by factory farming and the industrial abuse of animals? Introduce your friends to delicious, plant-based recipes.
Eating right can also make you more ready for playtime, without paying a toll to Big Pharma. Think turnips, not testosterone patches for a safe and satisfying Valentine's Day frolic. Tragically, many men are paying $300 to $400 a month for low-T therapy that doubles or tripling their risk of heart attacks. That's enough money to cover the entire grocery bill for two adults using my Wildly Affordable Organic green plan. Plenty of research and my own experience show that eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains helps you feel energetic and healthy. That's beautiful!
Happy Valentine's Day!