While I was home this summer, my dad and I watched "Food, Inc.," a documentary about the food industry and how it has gone from being a primarily farm based culture to a factory industry. First, you should know that I love meat. A burrito is not a burrito without carne asada and Thanksgiving is not a feast without the turkey, but "Food, Inc." opened my eyes to the ugly truth of where our food really comes from.
Most chickens are raised in dark coops with very little room to walk around. They, along with cows and pigs, are fed diets consisting mostly of corn so as to fatten them quickly. I understand the economics of most of these practices, but placing animals in close corridors increases the likelihood of diseases and the diets which are not what the animals have evolved on leave them deficient in nutrients which we benefit from when we eat them. Did you know that grass fed beef has significantly more omega 3 fatty acids than corn fed beef. Omega 3 fatty acids have been found to lower the risk of certain chronic diseases, and they are crucial to brain function. Deficiencies in omega 3 fatty acids can cause depression. With the oil spill in the Gulf Coast limiting our seafood options, we need to find ways of getting omega 3 fatty acids in other ways - choosing grass fed beef over the regular stuff I know you're eating is a great start.
I also read Barbara Kingsolver's book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." It is an account of her family's attempt to grow all of their own food for an entire year. What they could not grow themselves (ex. wheat), they purchased locally. I was particularly influenced by this book because Kingsolver's oldest daughter was close to my age and she knew so much more about where her food came from than I do. Most of our food travels farther than the average person does. This uses barrels of oil that pollutes our environment. I love mangoes, but why would I eat a fruit from Mexico when we have amazing peaches and apples growing right here in the Midwest? It's going to be hard for me to give up my guilty pleasures, but if it means saving the world, I'll do it in a second.
Since I decided to only eat "happy" meat (3 weeks ago) I have stuck mostly to vegetarian options. I did eat some beef and a little bit of chicken because they were things that my friends had made for me, and I may be opinionated, but I am certainly not rude. I am also making a point to buy most of my produce at the farmer's markets in Chicago - there are multiple markets Tuesday through Sunday.
I do miss beef. I really want a steak burrito, but where am I going to find an environmentally/health conscious taqueria? Chipotle of course. Apparently, Chipotle purchases 100% of its chicken and pork and 85% of its beef from "family farms." I'm still not exactly sure what that means because their website is not very clear, but it certainly sounds good. unfortunately, 85% family farm beef is not quite good enough for me, so I suppose I'm back to chicken...ugh.
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