Thursday, May 13, 2010

Food For Thought

I had the privilege of growing up on a lush and verdant farm in Upstate New York.
Lush and verdant makes it sound kind of magical when actually it was a little bit lonely and removed although it is lovely. =) My Father raised beef cattle. We never owned much more than 20 and often owned less than 10. It was small but provided for the needs of our family and also added income! 
Anyways, I remember when I was around 10 we went camping with our dear friends the Ingrams at their family's lakehouse and some of their relatives came to dinner. My family had brought the hamburger meat b/c you know, we lived on a farm! The woman, (I forget her exact relation!) sat down next to me and said, 
"So this is what grass-fed beef tastes like?" 
And I looked at her sideways all the while thinking
...*doesn't all beef taste like this? don't all cows eat grass!??!*
.....and said, "Yep." 
You know...in truly eloquent 10 yr old form and went right back to eating my burger. 
And it wasn't until today that I realized that green-grass eating and roaming cattle ARE NOT the norm.  
I knew in theory that all cows don't hale from the idyllic pastures of upstate New York but 
I never really *thought* about it. 
Enter the movie, Food.Inc. 
Which I watched today.
Spending part of the time covering my eyes, crying, and all of the time *thinking* about what I'm eating and what I'm feeding my children.
So do your friendly bloggy-friend a favor and watch it. 
And think.
I've been working up to a change for a while now and am starting this week--at the local farmer's market (where you can buy grass fed beef, free-range chicken/eggs, and local produce)--and this summer with my own small garden.
 So won't you watch it? 
And since I can't resist a deal, (tee hee!) you can actually watch it instantly on Netflix. Which, if you sign up through Swagbucks you can earn 750 bucks for your account (that's one and a half Amazon cards people!! =). Also the first month is free--so it's like they're *paying you* to watch this movie. You can't beat it =)

5 comments:

Megan and Company said...

That's a good one, for sure!

So many easy things we can do too. We've cut out a ton of processed snacks and food and the kids haven't noticed the difference.

It is amazing how *easy* it can be to replace canned/jarred/bagged stuff with homemade, and it tastes so much better.

Megan and Company said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Devin said...

Did you happen to catch this as my fb status a couple of times?

We watched about 3 weeks ago. IN sane, is it not?

I too, had to cover my eyes in spots. Genetically modified chicken? Uh, no thank you.

We are doing the same thing over here. I've already gotten a source of grass fed, pastured beef, and a local supermarket does carry organic produce (though I will be glad when the farmer's market comes to town!) and we have a large garden as well. Corn, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, zucchini, pumpkins, herbs. Mmmmmmmmm.

It's a MUCH better way to eat. So glad you took time to see the movie. I wish more people would!

Also, there is a site that I would love to share with you--google "Kitchen Stewardship blog" and you will find a wonderful blog dedicated to REAL food, which is a concept that I didn't really know much about until recently. Even before I watched Food Inc. I was reading her blog, and it is fascinating. She has so much info, and links a LOT during each post so you can look up a lot of other things she has written about. As a matter of fact, she just did a post a few days ago regarding CAFO's and such. She is usually very good to take a look at both sides of the argument as well.

Very, very good post--hope it inspires more people! We could change the way America eats, if people would just BE AWARE of what is going on.

JerseyGranny said...

AGREED! This has been my battle cry for many years. Why do you think our children (especially girls) are *maturing* so early in life? Think hormone additives. It's just awful what is happening to us and the animals.

SarahV said...

i watched that a few months ago. definitely an eye opener. i had no idea! we had already cut out most processed food over here but it's the meat that has been hard to change. so. expensive. i hope more people can watch and become aware. important stuff.