I am writing from home, sandwiched between a heavily flowering magnolia to my left and a lovely Victorian house to my right that is being bulldozed to shreds, now looking a lot like a spilled can of Potato Stix. I imagine all of the thousands of meals that were served up in that 110 year-old kitchen; many cooked without modern conveniences...like indoor plumbing. Just thought that needed noting.
You don't need me to tell you that everything is political; even the food that we so innocently eat. The Food and Drug Administration, which once upon a time was created to insure consumer safety, now seems to operate as a branch of the wild and wooly industries it was built to protect us from. A notable incident several years ago allowed industrial milk farms to add Bovine Growth Hormone to milk cows in an effort to stimulate milk production. (BGH is banned in Canada and Australia, and limited in the EEU) Organic and non-organic farmers who tried to label their untreated milk 'free of BGH' were forced to jump through incredible hoops and maintain terrific paper trails in an attempt to thwart labeling. Our government protested that farms using BGH feared that their milk would look tainted (p.s.- IT IS!) and consumers would choose the hormone free milk and wreak havoc on the milk industry.
Presently, Creekstone Farms in Kansas is suing the USDA to be allowed to test every head of cattle for Mad Cow Disease. Current government monitored testing reaches only 1% of the American cattle market. Healthy cows are not routinely tested, only downed and dead cattle are checked. Apparently the Feds are afraid of what the testing may reveal about out "healthy" cattle industry. More cows tested would lead to proportionally higher percentage rates of disease and destroy consumer confidence in red meat.
In the 1996 4th generation Montana cattle rancher and dairy farmer Howard F. Lyman wrote a book on his experiences shifting the old-fashioned family farm over to a mass feed operation. I found Mad Cowboy, The Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat a fascinating read and so apparently did La Oprah. Lyman's fellow ranchers didn't, and sued him and Oprah. On an unrelated note, The National Cattleman's Beef Association believes 'the evidence of global warming has been inconclusive at best...'. That must be where George W. gets his scientific data.
I suppose this would be the time in my introduction to out myself as a card carrying 'crazy-person'. I say this because I still have hope that the government isn't privately owned by subversive industries, using the power of democracy to disassemble the free market. 'Hippie' might be a more accurate self-portrayal, although not the daisies-in-the-hair kind of hippie, more of a Black Panther kind of hippie. I'm angry that his great nation doesn't allow us all a hormone-free chicken in every pot, responsible health care and affordable housing. On that note, here is a fab and super easy TURKEY CHILI recipe. The fire roasted tomatoes are the secret ingredient.
The Easiest Turkey Chili
Soundtrack: Har You Percussion Group [Download MP3] (were served breakfast by the Black Panthers...)
* 1/2 lb. organic ground turkey, light meat
* 1/2 lb. organic turkey, dark meat
* 2 28 oz. cans of Muir Glen organic Fire Roasted diced tomatoes
* 1 14.5 oz can of Muir Glen organic Fire Roasted diced tomatoes with medium green chiles
* 1 15 oz. can of black beans, drained
* 1 15 oz can of pinto beans, drained. I use Trader Joe's organic beans, they are pretty cheap and preservative free.
* 1 yellow onion
* several cloves of garlic, chopped
* olive oil
* dried parsley, basil, sea salt
Saute the onion in several tablespoons of olive oil. When the onion is soft add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the ground turkey and cook slowly. Once it is free of raw meat add the tomatoes and beans. Crush dried parsley, basil and salt to taste. Cook this for at least 30 minutes. I cool half of it right away and freeze it. It thaws and reheats perfectly. Grate some cheese, and serve with rice, polenta, or cornbread.
Gee whiz. That cheese comes from the same cows you're so worried about. Howard Lyman, who I agree knows what's what on this stuff, is vegan - not just down on BGH and cannibal cows. But even if you're fine with killing, I'm not sure how turkey's so much better than cow. If bird flu (the danger-to-humans of which is pretty directly related to raising birds for food) doesn't scare the shit out of you, it will be soon enough. (Excuse my rambling comment, but I'm a "crazy person" too.) Save the humans!
Posted by: Jason | April 11, 2006 at 01:47 PM
Yes, save the humans for rendering. We can be used for the gravy.
Posted by: Krys O. | April 11, 2006 at 02:20 PM
The trick is to not think about what you eat. The soundtrack to this comment is Reverend Horton Heat - Eat Steak. Hmmm, I don't have the MP3 here right now, sorry.
Posted by: Lukas | April 11, 2006 at 02:24 PM
Only 1% of cattle is tested for Mad Cow, just like only 5% of those big-ass containers are checked for possible terrorist booty. I am starting to agree with Dave Emory more and more: If the plan is to run the train off the tracks, we're off to a good start...
Posted by: Murcury Vapor | April 11, 2006 at 06:57 PM
Mad Cow and trading partners as the enemy?? or our own Ag department as the industry enemy??
Johannas won't let Creekstone test 100% because he says it would be consistant within the industry for the benifit of exporting US Beef. Yet he let's each Country tell us how and what type of program is necessary to export to each country. Thus we have a very inconsistant program to export beef. Each country gets their own regulation??? What an idiot!!
Also he allows Japanese beef into our country while Japan doesn't allow ours into their country??????????????? What's he thinking???????
Posted by: Mike | April 11, 2006 at 11:36 PM
I recommend reading "Fast Food Nation" for more on this subject. Apparently he has some more books in the works on related topics.I no longer eat beef period unless it's organic, grass-fed beef. I also try to avoid eggs/chicken unless the chickens are grain-fed (they feed chickens dead chickens and their own fecal matter). It makes life tough when you aren't rich and you have a picky three-year old.
Posted by: Elisabeth | April 12, 2006 at 11:47 AM
look at the big picture buddies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masanobu_Fukuoka
http://organic.com.au/books/TheNaturalWayOfFarming/
http://www.greenuniversity.net/Ideas_to_Change_the_World/Fukuoka.htm
http://larryhaftl.com/ffo/
Posted by: Masanobu Fukuoka | April 12, 2006 at 02:35 PM
go vegan!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: james | April 12, 2006 at 10:02 PM
Bovine Growth Hormone? Not anymore...the company behind this (it starts with "M") has already changed the name to hide any negative connections to "hormone" and get around more laws.
BGH may have been banned here in Canada, but not easily. Scientists working on the case had research stolen and 3 even ended up fired afterwards as corporate pressure came to bear on Health Canada.
http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4143
This is only the tip of the iceberg as they genetically modify grain, and then claim royalties on the seed thereafter. They are purchasing grain companies (like Seminis Inc, last year) and are now the largest conventional seed company in the world.
So don't think you are going to be safe with 'grain fed' chickens or other foods. Just have a look on the net and you'll be amazed at what this multinational corp. is up to.
Posted by: jim | April 13, 2006 at 02:57 AM
Another crazy thing our government has decided to do: remove labels from food. Foodmakers are complaining about how hard it is to put different labels on their food depending on the state it's going to (like how California finds cigarettes to be bad for you). So the decision from Congress wasn't to make a single, uniform set of labels based on the state labels. Instead they want to get rid of all state labels. It's passed in the House and is on its way to the Senate. Now if a state wants a label, they'll have to ask the feds to do it.
http://www.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2006/03/22/labels2.html
On the plus side, allergy labels will now be simpler and easier to read http://www.healthcentral.com/newsdetail/408/524635.html
Posted by: Kendall | April 15, 2006 at 06:31 PM
make a single, uniform set of labels based on the state labels. Instead they want to get rid of all state labels.
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