E. Coli: One of the Costs of "Cheap" Meat

There was recall of ground beef this week for 40,000 pounds that were found to be contaminated with E. Coli. Fortunately, this recall was made before anyone ate the contaminated meat and suffered the consequences, which can be as severe as death.

The US Department of Agriculture estimates that E. Coli has an annual price tag of around $488, 771, 183 in medical costs, productivity losses, and disutility. These are the human costs of E. Coli here in America.

How many cows were butchered and then ultimately recalled and discarded due to this contamination? According to my research, a butchered cow produces anywhere from 300 to 500 pounds of useable meat, not all of which will be ground. But to keep things simple, for the purposes of this demonstration, let’s say that all of that meat is ground for distribution. That means that anywhere from 80 to 130 cows were destroyed due to this contamination and recall. Their lives needlessly wasted.

Here is another part of the waste: 720,000 gallons (a conservative number, as some estimates have it closer to 1 Billion gallons) is the amount of water needed to raise one steer (from birth to butcher within the factory farm system), multiply that by the number of cows that were destroyed and you have 57,600,000 – 93,600.000 wasted gallons of clean water. I’m not even going to go into the amount of wasted corn (did you know that 80% of all corn grown in the US is used for feedlots and only 20% for human consumption?), waste water produced and other harmful effects on the environment that are inexcusable at any time and much, much more so when the final outcome is not even suitable for human consumption.

Waste compounded by waste, and all of it unnecessary. Why unnecessary? Think back to science class as a kid when you learned all about cows. I don’t remember what grade that was, but I know I was pretty young when I learned that cows have 4 stomachs, they eat GRASS, and chew their cud (regurgitated GRASS) and pass it along progressively to each of it’s four stomachs for proper digestion. It was probably during that same year of science class that we learned that corn is a grain, not a grass. Hmmmm…. I guess what I’m getting at here is that if a 4^th grader knows that cows eat grass and corn ISN’T grass, why is it that we feed millions of cows corn?

You didn’t actually expect me to have an answer for that, did you? Here’s the best I can come up with. After WWII, we had a surplus of corn and a shortage of cheap, readily available food for a lot of people who wanted to eat meat. So, the government began subsidizing corn (yes, giving away your tax-payer dollars to corn farms – not small time farms, but massive farms), feedlots were developed on which cattle were fed corn, cattle fattened faster than on grass, “cheap” meat was created, a taste for “cheap” corn-fed beef was cultivated among consumers. And consequences be damned.

Here’s the problem, since cows weren’t created to eat corn, their digestive systems are not created to digest corn. In other words, those 4 stomachs and the process of chewing cud – designed to digest grass – doesn’t work to digest corn. This causes a very painful condition in cows called acute acidosis. The condition is so painful, that cows will kick at their own bellies to try to stop the pain, if left untreated (by antibiotics, of course), it will lead to a quick death (and is the most common form of death among cows in feedlots). This condition, even if treated, causes lesions in the liver which would be fatal if the cows were allowed to live long enough. To quote another website, “altering cattle feed is not natural, and nature is telling us so.” (http://lettherebebite.com/in-store-guide/meat/beef/)

E. Coli is a bacteria that lives naturally in a cow’s digestive system, cows that eat an appropriate diet of grass, maintain healthy levels of E. Coli in their systems, however, cows that are converted (for fattening up) to a corn based diet lose the natural balance within their bodies. E. Coli is overproduced and excreted. Cows living in feedlots are constantly exposed to their own excrement, and are in most cases, still covered in it when they are butchered. And here comes the really fun part, that excrement ends up in your hamburger and makes you sick. Makes me sick just thinking about it, to tell you the truth.

Buying grass-fed and FINISHED (as many beef producers are now wising up to the fact that consumers are looking for grass-fed beef, they are labeling their meat “grass-fed”. Since most cows start their lives on farmland, this is true that they were grass-fed, but then they are shipped off to a feed lot where they were FINISHED on a corn diet. Labeling is important at the grocery store, don’t be misled. To be certain, get your beef from a local provider who is proud to put the name of his farm on the label!) beef is safer for many reasons. The likely hood of having contaminated meat from this type of environment is almost non-existent. Since their bodies have less E Coli in their systems, it is not excreted from their bodies. Nor are they required to stand in their excrement day in and day out, so they are not covered in it when taken to slaughter. Also, the farmers in this case are producing meat for their families, friends and neighbors and are MUCH more accountable for the final product (after all, if you get sick from their meat, you may very well be knocking on their door to complain in person…. Do you know where the person lives who produces the hamburger that you bought at the grocery store???)

We often use the expression, food for thought. I’m asking you to take some time to think about your food! Think about where it comes from, how it is produced, how it can effect you, and how do your choices effect the world around you?

Inspired By A Day At The Farmer's Market

I had an interesting day today working a booth at a local farmer’s market…. not something that I do on a regular basis. I was very excited to be placed between a booth for Hunter Cattle, a local sustainable farm that produces grass fed and pasture raised beef and pork; and Southern Swiss Dairy, a local dairy that produces milk, cheese, ice cream, and butter. It not only presented me with a great opportunity to do a little grocery shopping, but a chance to see the number of people who stopped to ask why this source of meat and dairy was different, better, and yes, more expensive, than what they are used to buying at the grocery store. And it was wonderful to see the education that was taking place right there at the market.

It was also wonderful to see these two businesses succeeding and being profitable. If a business is praiseworthy, we should do all we can to make it profitable, as well. As consumers, it is with our money that we express our values. What things do you value? What do you want to see more of in this world? What is important to you in your life? However you answer these questions, it is important to apply those values to the products that you buy, the businesses that you patronize, and the companies that you support with consumer dollars.

I have become repeatedly annoyed by the Occupy Wall Street Movement and their claims that they are the 99, not that I disagree, but because they are seeking government intervention for the 99. Here’s the thing, we are the 99%, and we hold the power…. we carry that power around with is in the form of currency, little plastic cards, and check books. We don’t need the government to step in to provide more regulation, we just need to step up and reward companies that operate with integrity by giving them our business; and punish those that act irresponsibly by NOT patronizing them.

The same principle applies to agriculture, reward those that are making responsible decisions regarding sustainable practices and any other practices that we find laudable. If consumers are not willing to pay a higher price for healthier, better quality foods produced in a sustainable and humane manner, then local farmers will never be able to stay in business to provide this valuable service. On the other side of the coin, as long as consumers are flocking to the grocery store to pay bottom dollar on factory farmed meat (meat that is produced in a way that harms the environment, is detrimental to our health, is a drain on the communities in which they exist) then THOSE companies will thrive, grow, continue, and prosper. As the 99, we not only hold the key to our own improvement, we also must accept that we are responsible for our current state (ie, this current economy, leaders that refuse to act on OUR behalf, environmental problems, rampant health problems..ok, I could go on, but I won’t).

I apologize for my little rant, I got a little bit side-tracked in this post. I intended to highlight these two businesses that I feel are such wonderful examples of what I hope to help promote in this process. So, in their own words, here is why Hunter Cattle Company does what it does.

Hunter Cattle Company believes in the healthy benefits of Grassfed Beef, pastured Pork, Free-Range Chickens, and Free-Range Eggs. Our family owned and managed farm is committed to providing the healthiest, best tasting beef, pork, poultry, and eggs for your breakfast, lunch, and dinner plate. We raise and finish our cattle on grass, free to roam and graze. Our pigs are pastured, free to roam and root the way they were intended to. Our chickens get their nutrients from the fields making their meat tasty and the eggs richer than those bought at the grocery store. Our animals receive no added growth hormones, steroids, or antibiotics, and are not subjected to feed lots or cages. Hunter Cattle is committed to the humane treatment of all the animals on our farm, ensuring their health and happiness at all times. We invite you taste the difference! (www.huntercattle.com)

And by the way, I enjoyed some DELICIOUS, farm fresh, pasture raised bacon when I got home.... worth every penny! And since it was pasture raised .... eating a natural diet and free to roam... that bacon actually has healthy benefits including: vitamin E, beta carotene, vitamin C, and even omega 3 fatty acids.

Homemade Chicken Stock

One of the things that I’m discovering through this process of abstaining from factory farmed meat (and products) is that I lose access to pretty much all convenience food items (like chicken broth, canned soup, packaged gravy mixes, and of course, prepackaged meals). Having to make things from scratch isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. But it does require some planning and a little extra time. On the plus side, it is very cost-effective, you can control the amount of fat and sodium content, there are no preservatives or unwanted chemicals (have you seen the news about potentially cancer-causing agents that are present in all commercially canned foods?), and – oh yes- in most cases, it is much more delicious!

Today, I am making a large pot of chicken/vegetable stock to be frozen and used at a later time. I am making the stock from the water that I used to boil two chicken breasts (for today’s meals). Since the meat products that I am buying are significantly higher per pound than their factory farmed counterparts, it’s very important to get as much value and as many uses from the meat as possible. In other words, I’m buying less meat and not letting any of it go to waste (keeping my meat budget very much in-line with what it was before).

Using the same water in which I cooked the chicken (I needed to add more water in order to fill a large pot), I added onion (quartered), a clove of garlic (halved), two carrots (halved), several celery stalks including the leaves (I use the stalks in the center of the bunch that are small and have the most leaves still intact), course fresh-ground pepper, salt, and I use fresh cilantro (just a small handful), you can use any fresh herbs that you prefer or have on hand. Just bring to a rapid boil over high heat, reduce heat, cover and simmer on low heat for a good long while (I always simmer mine for at least an hour, sometimes more if I forget that it’s going). Be sure to taste it and season additionally, if needed. Once it’s ready, pour through a strainer into a pitcher or large bowl, refrigerate or allow broth to come to room temperature, then portion out for later use. I freeze mine in popsicle molds that I have, but you could use ice trays or even zip lock bags. If you use the molds or ice trays, just remove once broth is frozen and place in freezer bags for storage.

Voila! Homemade stock ready to use whenever you need it.

Resources

Here are some resources that I think you might find useful if you are interested in making some small changes of your own. I’ve purposefully kept the list short and to the point. This is a great place to start without getting too overwhelmed by too much information. I know from my own personal experience on this journey, that finding enough information is not the problem, sorting through it and finding what is relevant can be a very daunting and time consuming endeavor. So, that’s what I’m for! These are sites that I find to be very informative, but also very user-friendly. You can peruse them at your leisure and find some useful information without considerable effort on your part! ;)

Finding Local Alternatives to Factory Farmed Meat

www.eatwild.com Eat wild is a great resource for finding local farmers that embrace sustainable practices and have grass fed (and finished), organic, humane, and /or free-range meat and dairy products. In addition, the website provides a lot of great information about the health benefits of finding alternatives to factory farmed meat. If you are unsure of the reasons for looking for alternatives to factory farmed meat, start here: www.eatwild.com/basics.html

Joining a Movement (Maybe you can’t change the world alone, but that’s what other people are for!)

www.slowfoodusa.org Slow Food USA is an organization that is “part of a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members in over 150 countries, which links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment”. The website is a great source of information about local food providers, but it also offers the opportunity to get involved. Slow Food membership dollars are used to help fund campaigns “to create change locally and to push for national changes to the policies and practices that shape our food system”.

Most of the meat in this country is produced by a very small number of huge corporations. Those corporations spend millions to lobby Congress to keep laws and policies that work in their favor. If we want things to change in favor of the consumer, we must work together and combine our own smaller resources to have our voices and concerns heard and taken seriously by Congress.

www.farm-dreams.com Farm Dreams is a brand new social networking site that had 600 new members on the first day that it launched. It’s a great resource (and one that will get better with time) for anyone interested in gardening, homesteading, farming, disaster preparedness, or just doing and making things for yourself. You can interact with others of similar interests and learn and share knowledge with a community of people. So, it’s a great site to join if you think that you are alone in your desire to restore quality and integrity to our food systems.

Restoring the Planet: Starting with Your Own Backyard

www.backyardnature.net/compost.htm This was the most straightforward backyard composting site that I have found. Composting is one of those things that seems simple enough until you try to research it on the web… then information overload makes it suddenly complicated. The rest of the site has some interesting information about your own backyard.

www.motherearthnews.com This is a really great all-around informative site for anyone interested in getting away from overly processed foods and goods and possibly doing more things for yourself. The website can be a little frustrating, though, if you have something specific you are interested in researching, but there is a lot of great information there (when you can find it!).

I’m currently researching backyard beekeeping. When I’ve finished my homework on the subject… I’ll pass along the resources and information that I find to be the most useful.

I hope these resources are helpful to you. If you have any that you would like to share, please do so!

Industrial Revolution Revolutionizes Agriculture. Is that a good thing???

A factory farm, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “a large industrialized farm; especially: a farm on which large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost”. Factory farming came about as an extension of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution, as it’s name implies, revolutionized industry by not only introducing machinery to do jobs that had been done by hand; but also through the study of efficiency. So along with wonderful and time/energy (and therefore) cost saving inventions like Eli Whitney’s cotton gin and Singer’s sewing machine, there were also progressive thinkers like Adam Smith promoting ideas like “division of labor” and the “invisible hand” (a rather obscure analogy for a pretty basic idea that as one pursues his own gain, he in turn –inadvertently or not- promotes the greater good of society; or in other words, a business that is interested in being profitable, in turn provides a needed product, thereby improving the good of all – which is all well and good and except for a little thing that economists like to call, negative externalities. More on that at a later date.).

These inventions and ideas were highly successful in revolutionizing and improving production. Mass production of items became possible and this brought about a number of positive changes. I’ll continue on my theme of cotton and the sewing machine…. suddenly fabric and clothing became much more affordable, much more available, and much LESS troublesome to the housewife who could buy clothing that was ready made as opposed to having to make it herself. Fabulous! Life changing! Truly revolutionary! With machines capable of mass production, and by dividing and specializing labor; people no longer needed to be self-sufficient. Instead of spending all of their time and energy doing EVERYTHING that was needed to run a household, they were able to specialize in an area of trade and buy or barter for the other things that were needed.

Fast-forward about a hundred years and someone had the bright idea to apply these same principles to agriculture. The factory farm was born. Seems very logical (and in many ways it is); if it worked in transforming the production of textiles and clothing why not corn and bacon? Instead of thousands of little farms that each grew corn, beans, cotton, and cabbage (for instance) and raised 20 or 30 pigs, a hundred head of cattle (some for milking, some for eating), and chickens (again some for laying eggs and some for eating); there should be fewer farms that SPECIALIZE. These farms would just raise pigs, or cows, or chickens, or just plant corn, or wheat, or cabbage. Sounds reasonable, right? Specialization means that each farm would be an expert in the individual product that it raised, the production could be made more efficient, more concise, more economical. It would increase the profit for the farm, and by seeking to improve it’s own profit, these farms would bring greater good to everyone else – more affordable, more accessible, just plain MORE meat for everyone to enjoy. That’s good, right?

Here’s the problem: cows and pigs aren’t textiles, chickens and corn aren’t shirts, water and soil aren’t conveyer belts or cogs in a piece of machinery. Plants and animals are (albeit in much different ways) living things, not inanimate objects. Plants and animals require healthy soil and healthy water and clean air and sunshine to really thrive and grow. Specialized farms lead to a massive depletion of natural resources and an over abundance of specific wastes. There is a natural balance in nature that must be respected regardless of how “inefficient” it may seem. And by ignoring that balance and seeking efficiency at all costs we are beginning to pay the very high price of factory farming.

I could spend a lot of time painting for you (with words of course…. I’m not exactly an artist with paint and brush!) a very ugly picture of factory farming (and I pretty much will over the next few weeks), but for now, let me take a moment to paint a picture of a farm that is in step with the balance of nature as God intended it to work.

It’s sort of like the chicken and the egg…. I’m not sure which comes first because it’s more of a cycle (made up of other cycles) than a straight line, but I’ll start with the ground water and work my way up. Deep below the surface of the earth is a water source that is pure and clean, this water source feeds springs, wells, streams, providing one of the essentials for life - plant, animal, and human. (And then, of course, we all remember the cycle of water as it is evaporated from the surface of the earth to the atmosphere where it forms clouds and produces precipitation, which in turn falls to the earth, renews the soil, is filtered through the ground and returned to the water table.)

Healthy soil is the next layer and it’s cycle looks something this: providing a “home” and nutrients for plants, these plants in turn provide nutrients to animals which then “deposit” nutrients back into the earth, plants also re-deposit nutrients back into the soil. A healthy soil needs a variety of plants and animals all of which take and then deposit different nutrients. Healthy soil also requires plants to help prevent erosion of the topsoil by wind and water.

Plants come next. They feed on nutrients from soil to help them grow; in return, they release nutrients back into the soil, usually when the plants die and decay or after harvest when the remainder of the unused plant is tilled back into the soil. A variety of plants creates a healthier soil, which in turn creates healthier plants. Cattle and other livestock eat the plants and in turn deposit nutrients back into the soil, which in turn provides nutrients to the plants (see the whole cycle pattern repeating itself here?).

Then comes the animals, which thrive on clean water and healthy plants. And as before mentioned, they also contribute to a healthy cycle of receiving and returning nutrients from and to the ground. Again, for a healthy cycle to exist, the number of animals must be limited and varied. One species will deplete the same nutrients and over-saturate with an abundance of the same waste (which then takes a “deposit” of nutrients from a beneficial amount to an amount that becomes basically toxic).

So, when all of these cycles work together (along with earthworms, insects, birds, bees, and about a gazillion other smaller cycles), there is a natural rhythm of fertilization, pest control, nutrition, and – well – LIFE! And when you go mucking around with these cycles and try to remove them and SPECIALIZE them and put them into their own separate little corners, you screw up the whole process. (Oh, and by the way... just ask the pigs from the farm pictured above how they special they feel!) I’m not a scientist and I don’t pretend to be one. But I don’t think you have to be one to look at the world and begin to see how things make sense and how they don’t make sense. It only makes sense that if you remove a part of the cycle, you are removing a cog from the machinery… things will fall apart. And they certainly have.

I think we are only beginning to understand the problems that we created for ourselves with the implementation of factory farming. And we are running around trying to come up with ways to FIX these problems that WE created. And every time we FIX one of these problems, we CREATE another problem, which then has to be FIXED. Instead of fixing, we need to go about RESTORING. Restoring the disrupted cycles, restoring our earth, restoring dignity to the animals that we use for food, restoring the integrity of our food and our methods of production. Restoring health to our water, our earth, and to ourselves.

In the next few weeks, I will go into more specifics about the problems that we have created and the ways that we are trying to fix those problems, and how we are really just creating more problems to be fixed at a later date! J And if that’s not confusing enough, I’ll also explore ways we can begin (little by little) to bring about restoration. I use the word, we, because “we” truly are responsible, all of us. Whether we are consumers, producers, or bystanders; this is our world and WE (all of we) are responsible for it.

Caring for Earth and Animals: A Biblical Perspective

The book of Genesis provides a description of the creation of the universe. God began by creating the earth; creating light; separating land from sea and darkness from light; he created the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies; he created the vegetation that covered the earth. Then God turned his attention to the creatures of the earth and mankind, as described below.
24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31a God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
Genesis 1: 24-31

To summarize, God created all living creatures with the breath of life and he gave them every green plant for food. He also gave mankind its first mandate: “Be Fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over living creature that moves on the ground.” You will notice, however, that it was not God’s intention that man should use his creatures for food. In the perfect world that was Eden, man and beast alike were given “every green plant for food”.

I have heard people use this very scripture to justify mistreatment of this planet and the animals that call it home. “Mankind should subdue the earth, it is ours to use, we are the supreme beings on the planet, it was created for our use!” These views distort the words of this scripture to give credence to an attitude that is not in line with the character of God.
The Message translation puts it this way (italisis added for emphasis):
God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth."
God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature.
He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
"Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."
Genesis 1: 26-28

Other translations use words like “reign”, “rule”, and “govern” to describe Mankind’s relation to the rest of creation. In short, God did make mankind superior to the rest of creation, however, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”(Luke 12:48) With mankind’s superiority to other creatures, comes increased responsibility for those creatures and the earth that we share. The beasts of the field were not given the same level of intelligence and powers of reasoning that humans possess, as such, it is our responsibility to see that they are cared for, protected, and provided for. It is not a matter of animal rights, it is a matter of human responsibility!

There are those who would like for us to believe that we are hardly different from apes and that humans are just one more animal among all the animals of the earth. This is a lie, in fact, a dangerous lie. It is a lie that absolves mankind of its God given responsibility toward the rest of His creation. If we are no different (read, no better) than the apes, then we can be not be held any more responsible for the earth and its inhabitants than the apes. Would you hold the ape responsible for caring for the environment? Or protecting endangered species? It is precisely because we are created in God’s image and because we were given a specific mandate to be good stewards that we should be responsible to and toward our fellow beings.

Respecting animals does not diminish the status of mankind, it elevates it. God’s word is full of examples of how much God values His creation. The Bible says that a sparrow does not fall of which God is not mindful. Think about that for a second. A sparrow. One of the most plentiful birds on the planet. A small, unremarkable bird. Yet, not one sparrow dies without God noticing it. If God cares that much about each of His creatures, shouldn’t those of us created in His image, created to be like Him, be just as concerned? It’s one of our “jobs” as people. And if God cares that much about a sparrow, how much more do you think He cares about people (His creation that is most reflective of Himself).

God’s first choice was that people and animals live off the earth’s vegetation. The food chain, as we know it, was not part of God’s original plan. I think this speaks volumes about the character of God and the love he has for all his creation. He looked down on a world where bloodshed was a not a necessary function of life and he was pleased. It was only after sin entered the world that the shedding of blood became necessary. The Bible does not clearly state how this transition occurred, but it is clear that at some point, even the animals began to behave differently. And, in fact, it was not until after the flood that God gave mankind permission to use animals as a food source.

Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables.
Genesis 9: 1-3

Now that I have laid out the reason for it, here is my opinion. I have a really hard time believing that God could possibly look down and be pleased with our current practices of “raising” meat. The God who notices the passing of a sparrow must also see the unnecessary suffering of countless farm animals. The God who created life cannot be pleased with standard industry practices of sending all male chicks (half of all chickens hatched) down a conveyer belt to into a chipper where they meet a horrible death. If it turns MY stomach and I am created in HIS likeness, I can only imagine how He must feel about it.

And before it is brought to my attention, I fully acknowledge that there are greater atrocities in the world. Abortion is horrible, genocide is horrible, massive famine is horrible, child abuse is horrible, starvation is horrible, homelessness is horrible. All of these things (and countless more) are wrong and bring grief to our Creator. However, this is my calling, this is my passion, this is where my heart is, this is what I am equipped to do.

I also believe that elevating the value of life for farm animals (all animals), in turn, elevates the value of human life! If we can learn to have compassion for pigs and cows and chickens and turkeys, if we can begin to understand that EACH of God’s creatures has value, if we can teach our children to respect and honor and cherish the lives of animals; how much more will we (as a society) cherish, honor, respect, value, uphold the lives of our fellow human beings. When we degrade the value of these animals that we raise for food, when we treat them like objects instead of living, breathing, sentient beings; we are, in effect, devaluing all life and the Creator that grants it.

Additionally, I believe (and have seen some pretty strong scientific evidence that supports that belief) that our current use of factory farming methods has seriously adverse effects for human life as well. I guess it comes back to that whole reaping what you sow thing.

Animals Were Harmed in the Making of Chocolate? Talk about a moral dilemma!

Today completes the first week of my new “put my money where my mouth is” lifestyle change. Some things went quite as I expected, but I also encountered a few oops-hadn’t-really-thought-that-one-through moments.

You see, ideally, I do not want to support the mainstream dairy industry, because said industry engages in a number of practices that I find especially disturbing. For instance, in order for cows to continuously lactate, they must be pregnant on a fairly regular basis. Because of this, calves are often an unwanted byproduct of the dairy industry. Like most byproducts, these calves are often disposed of; in some pretty horrible ways, no less. Now, to be clear, I’m not accusing every dairy in the industry to partake in this practice, but it is common enough to be cause for concern. Not to mention, the accepted practice within the industry of using growth hormones and antibiotics. Anyway, suffice it to say for the moment that “regular” dairy products are on my “try not to buy” list. No big deal, my plan was to buy organic from the supermarket until I can find a local supplier of milk and cheese. See, it’s all about making incremental changes, choosing good options when better or best are not available.
But here is the REAL kicker… oddly enough - milk chocolate is made with milk!!!!!!!! What??? I didn’t think about that one when I decided to go get all principled about my food….no chocolate? I’m still working on this one. I have a plan to begin a letter writing campaign to chocolate manufacturers urging them to put pressure on the dairy industry to clean up their act! ☺ I figure I’ll wait until the next time I’m suffering from PMS and denying myself chocolate, that way I can come up with a letter that they might take seriously!

I’m not entirely certain that I can give up chocolate cold turkey, but it did make me think….. have you ever stopped to consider that animals could very well have been harmed in the process of making something so perfectly harmless as a chocolate bar? That low-wage workers could have been exposed to health risks (from toxic fumes often found in high concentrations within the confines of industrialized farming operations) while going about their daily jobs at a dairy to produce a key ingredient of your favorite chocolaty morsel?

I don’t bring these things up to make you feel guilty about eating chocolate, but to make an important point. It’s all a part of that whole “Facing Your Food” thing (hey, that would make a great name for a blog!) Choices we make every single day matter. Whether we agree with these practices or not, our consumer dollars are going to support them. So, we have a responsibility to hold manufacturers responsible for the choices that they are making. To realize that the production of something as benign as a piece of chocolate could be having a negative impact on our environment, our health, and animal welfare is a pretty profound realization.

But, back to other things. It was a little surprising to me that I spent less on groceries and food this week then I generally do. Even though I did spend more on organic dairy products, I did not purchase any meat and ate out much less. I did not eat any meat for five days and didn’t miss it once…. (Well, ok… there was that one time when everyone ordered breakfast at work and I REALLY wanted some bacon). I enjoyed my veggie sub from Subway® and vegetable lo mein from the Chinese restaurant. At home, I ate a lot of vegetables, black beans, rice, sweet potatoes… generally found myself making healthier choices since I wasn’t filling up on large portions of meat at every meal. Yesterday, I cooked with ground deer meat (good thing about living in rural Georgia is that I know plenty of people who hunt).

Next week, I plan to get a package of humanely raised chicken, at $9/lb, it doesn’t come cheap, but using it sparingly and filling up on low cost items like rice, beans, and seasonal vegetables… it can be squeezed into even a tight budget. I plan to make some chicken stock and freeze it in ice cubes for use in cooking as needed. When paying a premium price for a quality product, it's important to get the most use out of as possible. I've been using this particular brand of chicken for a while now (can't remember the name at the moment, but will try to post that information later), but was surprised the first time I cooked it by how much more flavorful it was than the chicken I had become accustomed to from the grocery store (can you say tasteless?). The chicken breasts are also much smaller than the Dolly Parton birds you are likely to find in most of the poultry section. But the most disturbing difference that I noticed immediately was how GOOD it smelled when I simply boiled it; in contrast to that strange chemical smell that "regular" chicken from the grocery store always seems to emit. All of these differences are part of why it's so important to me to change my own eating habits and to share this information with others. To quote a report of the PEW Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production: "Food animals that are treated well and provided with at least minimum accommodation of their natural behaviors and physical needs are healthier and safer for human consumption." (I would urge you to read this report in full, it is not terribly long and easy to skim for the highlights. http://www.ncifap.org/reports/)

Here is my "recipe" (I use this term loosely as things like using measuring devices or making something the same way twice seem to be concepts that elude me) for the Meatless Tacos pictured above.
Heat 2 cans of black beans (minus the liquid) in a pan with sauteed garlic (or onion if you prefer) and diced fresh jalepenos, season with chili and cumin powder to taste. Once bubbling, turn down and cook over low heat for about 20 mins. Serve in taco shells, flour tortillas, or take corn tortillas and pass them through a hot oil bath, turning once (tortillas should be pliable, but almost crisp). I top them with chopped avacado, tomato, jalepeno, chopped fresh cilantro (a must!!!), olives, and a dollup of sour cream.

More to come on that letter writing campaign at a later date....