Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Corny

I posted this on my other blog, but I thought it would be appropriate here as well:

I got a book from the library the other day, called The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's all about what is really in our food, and how to make conscious choices about what you're eating. I'm not even a third into it yet and I am disgusted by the political-agricultural industry. Something like 75% of our food comes from corn - mainly from corn-fed animals and processed corn in processed foods (seems like just about every unpronouncable additive in processed foods comes from corn). I have been so horrified by the information in this book about cattle feedlots that I've made a decision to only buy meat and eggs from Kinder's, a local butcher shop that has only grass-grazed beef (no antibiotic shots either, according to the girl I talked to on the phone). I'll check to be sure, but I'm guessing that if they've got grass-fed beef they also have only free-range chicken and therefore free-range eggs as well. This decision is not only, or even mainly, about the mistreatment of the animals on the mass-produced meat farms, but about the quality of the meat. Corn-fed feedlot beef has more saturated fat and less Omega-3 fatty acids. And they wallow around in their own crap all day. Who wants to eat that?

2 comments:

Joel said...

My wife just read this book, and she loved it. She is now more than ever disenchanted with eating any meat whatsoever. We always try to buy our food with a conscience, avoiding safeway and going for local meat counters or the farmers market.

No matter what, the best thing to do is to know where your food comes from, and tell the people you know to do the same.

I hope you enjoyed the book.
-Cooking With Words

Krisi and Adam said...

I got this book on cd but haven't listened to it yet. I guess I need to get that into the car and start listening.