Fiendishness, Farming, Food, Freshness, & Flavor

[VoxClamantis]

I could have posted this series of videos in one of many threads -- the "Health, Food, Drink, and Tobacco" thread, for ex. -- but this goes much, much deeper than just concerns about our food in itself. The topic is industrial farming and what it entails. It touches on: 

• destroyed communities, overturned property values, and negative impacts on the health of those who live near huge industrial farms (see the "Living a Nightmare: Animal Factories in Michigan" video);
   
• animal cruelty (see the "Eggs" video -- a very difficult video for animal-lovers to watch); and
   
• simple nutrition and flavor (see the two-part "Supermarket Secrets" series).

I am really just learning about all this sort of thing, so thought I'd share what I've been learning from...
 
 

 

Living a Nightmare:
Animal Factories in Michigan

Eggs

Supermarket Secrets - Dispatches part 1

Supermarket Secrets - Dispatches part 2

[NewCatholic]

Vox, I for one say BRAVO to your dissemnating information on factory farming. It is quite evil and hides behind a facade of wholesomeness.

I for one very rarely eat meat that hasn't been raised humanely and cleanly (no growth hormones or routine antibiotic dosing, no feed with animal matter in it)  by one of two small family farmers whom I know personally and can vouch for their character and compassion. One is the president of the Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society and the other is an activist against the huge hog confinement facilities. It is so simple when you go out to just have the vegetarian or fish option...although I occasionaly succumb to the temptation to accept the filet set before me and don't fuss about it, I always in clud ein my prayer over the food a plea that the food animal's life be improved radically over what the low standard is.

There is a man in our local Latin Trad church whom I have been told is a passionate and faithful Trad and is also a small family farmer an ardent animal welfare/rights advocate and I am looking forward to meeting him...I will suggest he sample this Forum when I get the chance.

Here are some links to peruse. Also look locally for CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture groups).

Slow Food USA

Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society

A Gentler Way

Humane Farming

Abby Glackin, Catholic Farm Animal Welfare Advocate

Newsweek article on Wolfgang Puck views on animal welfare


CHANGING TASTES

By Wolfgang Puck

Newsweek

May 7, 2007 issue - I've been thinking a lot lately about how it's up to chefs like me to help everyone stay healthy. It's not just about reducing obesity and diabetes, though that's obviously a priority. It's about getting every one of us to eat the right foods. That means buying produce from responsible farmers who grow fruits and vegetables that aren't covered with pesticides or genetically modified. It means getting meat from ranchers who not only shun the use of antibiotics and growth hormones, but also raise their animals humanely in a free-roaming environment.

 

I'm not going soft, or, heaven forbid, vegan. I'm just trying to be more accountable to myself, my customers and to those who are farming responsibly. And if it means being nicer to animals along the way, well, that's a big bonus. Why shouldn't cows and pigs feel sunlight on their backs, grass under their feet? Fish shouldn't be jammed into tanks too full for them to even think about swimming. They should be able to exercise their muscles and feel a current. Yes, they'll be killed for food—but until then, they should have a nice stay on Earth.

 

You might say this is ridiculous. Why does it matter how an animal is reared, since you know from the start that it's going to be slaughtered? But I have had a change of heart. I want to be more outspoken about the treatment of animals. I care that a veal calf—yes, even one that's destined to become wiener schnitzel at one of my Spago restaurants—doesn't live out his days in a crate that's too small for him to stand. As for foie gras, my customers and I can easily live without it.

 

Why did I adopt this new culinary philosophy? I'd been thinking about it for some time when the Humane Society of the United States, a Washington, D.C.-based animal-welfare organization, approached me last year about changing my menu to use ingredients exclusively from humane farmers. And I thought the time was right to make the switch, to lead by example. You might say I've been living this way all my life, from the time I was a young boy in Unterbergen, Austria. We never stocked cans in our pantry. Instead, we ate summer fruit in the summer and winter vegetables when the weather turned cold, just as nature intended. Our chickens were raised to run about the property, and were fed a wholesome diet. Our cows didn't know a thing about bovine growth hormones. And the food tasted better.

 

This year, Spago turns 25. I am proud of how my 90-seat restaurant in L.A. evolved into a vast food company serving more than 10 million customers each year. But it's not the past quarter-century that's on my mind. It's how I will manage my company for the next 25 years that's consuming me. So here's what I promise to do for a second act. In all of my restaurants, catering businesses, licensed foods and takeout establishments, I'm committed to using organic ingredients and humanely raised meats and fish. By the end of the year, all of the chicken I buy, even for my Wolfgang Puck frozen pizzas, will have been raised cage-free. The veal on my Spago menu is now free-range. To make certain things stay above-board, I've hired someone who will police my purveyors. I want to ensure that everything labeled organic really is, and that no veal calf that finds its way into my kitchen lived its life chained inside a box.

 

And it won't stop with the food. Our society is too reliant on disposable packaging that sits for eternity in a landfill. I drive through the streets of Beverly Hills and can't help but notice that this city has the largest garbage cans I've ever seen. It's not that bad people live in Beverly Hills, it's just that the more affluent a society we are, the more we tend to throw away. By the end of the year, I'll replace all of my plastic to-go bags with recycled paper, and I'll use more environmentally friendly containers.

I'm hoping other chefs will follow suit. If I can get my foods from responsible ranchers and farmers and feed millions of people each year—and not raise prices—then chefs who cook for smaller audiences can do this, too. And one by one, we'll all benefit. The way I see it, our future will be filled with more chefs and fewer doctors.

[QuisUtDeus]

If most people saw modern "farms" they would go vegan in 30 seconds.

Debeaking.  Gack.

[PangeLinguaGloriosi]

I went vegetarian after seeing the "Meet Your Meat" video. It's put out by PETA, and narrated by one of the Baldwins. It covers the worst of the factory farming abuses: http://www.goveg.com/factoryFarming.asp

Since then, I made the decision that if I couldn't kill it myself, I won't eat it.

I'm pretty good at taking on soybeans. Those carrots better watch out, too.

[CatholicAgrarian]

http://www.westonaprice.org/

Probably you are already familiar with the Weston A Price Foundation, but if not, here's the link. You can order Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions cookbook from there. Also, read the articles online about the soy industry.  They're very much against a diet that substitutes soy for meat.

If you're looking for meat you can raise yourself and you don't have adequate space for sheep or cows, try rabbits. They breed like you wouldn't believe and taste great. Breaking their little necks before the butchering is the hardest part, but they are very easy animal to skin and prepare.

[Sophia]

I wish very much that I could buy meat, milk, and produce from small farms, organically fed, etc., but with many mouths to feed, it is impossible financially.  If I only had myself to cook for, it would be rather easy. 

[PangeLinguaGloriosi]

Actually, my preferred primary protein is sold under the brand name Quorn, which uses mycoprotein (mmm! fungus!) instead of soy. I've fed it to non-vegetarians, and they couldn't tell the difference between it and meat.

For myself, I simply cannot bring myself to end a life just so I can eat something that there are a lot of alternatives to.

[CatholicAgrarian]

I've fed it to non-vegetarians, and they couldn't tell the difference between it and meat.

You mean it tastes like ground beef? I can't imagine they could make it taste like a medium rare T-Bone.

[NewCatholic]

I wish very much that I could buy meat, milk, and produce from small farms, organically fed, etc., but with many mouths to feed, it is impossible financially.  If I only had myself to cook for, it would be rather easy. 
 
Don't give up hope, it's not all Whole Foods prices.

For produce, check for a local Community Gardens project, we have them here in 5 spots all over town, all you provide is the labor  and some of the seeds/seedlings and get all the produce. My daughter in Indian is in one there, she has a toddler and works full-time as does her DH.  Or some CSA groups (CSA=Community Supported Agriculture) give price reductions for labor or have sliding scale fees for low income/huge family folks.

For meat & milk/dairy, check for co-ops that you can trade volunteer hours for price reductions, manyof them do that and being co-ops, kids can help too, thus getting some home school curriculum on small buiness management etc. 

[CatholicAgrarian]

I wish very much that I could buy meat, milk, and produce from small farms, organically fed, etc., but with many mouths to feed, it is impossible financially.  If I only had myself to cook for, it would be rather easy.  

In Nourishing Traditions there are lots of great tips on how to make good food stretch. Boiling bones to make nutrient dense broth is an example. The problem with the food industry is that the price we pay in the supermarket doesn't reflect the real cost of the food. These videos give a better picture of what the real cost is. Its very frustrating to think that many families have no alternative.

Here's a site that may help someone grow vegetables in limited space.