Uhh, we don't really do that.

Being an ethivore in the DC area was not always easy. Going out with friends was usually the hardest, but it seemed like most restaurants had at least one vegetarian option. I am finding that this is not the case in St. Louis! There is a Midwest ethos here that a meal is not a meal without a hunk of meat. (Not only that, but nonmeat side items are often flavored with meat!)

I met a former professor and friend for lunch a few weeks back, and, by virtue of what’s near my work, we wound up eating at one of those home-style chain restaurants. (I would tell you which one, but I honestly can’t remember… those places all seem the same to me!) There was nothing meatless on the lunch menu, so I ordered a cranberry chicken salad without the chicken. Imagine my surprise when it arrived with bacon! (I guess I hadn’t read the description carefully enough… but, honestly, who puts bacon on a salad with fruit, nuts, and chicken?) I wish the waitress had warned me!

In another example, my husband and I recently took his sister out to dinner. They wanted to go to T.G.I.Friday's. After looking through the menu four times, I found one item without meat. You guessed it: a salad (to which you were really supposed to add chicken at extra cost). When the waiter came to the table and my husband asked him if he had any suggestions for a vegetarian, the waiter looked at us like we had just landed on this planet, and then muttered, “uhh, we don’t really do that.”

I am sure there are some restaurants around here that are more vegetarian-friendly… someone please help me find them!

 Enough about eating out. Nothing compares to fresh-picked vegetables! My mother-in-law has a fantastic green thumb, and we have been the beneficiaries of her garden since arriving back in town.  These delicious tomatoes came from her backyard.

Movie Review: Food, Inc.

Image from http://www.foodincmovie.com/

Food, Inc. takes a sweeping look at all that is wrong with our current food system. The documentary draws on Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation, and both authors narrate parts of the film. While much of the information presented can be found in more detail in these two books, the message is important enough to say over and over again.  And the film genre, with its startling and disturbing images, adds a new dimension to the words. Food, Inc. hits all the major points, in a way that feels a little disjointed at first but becomes more and more compelling.

Food, Inc. examines the consolidation of the industrial food chain and the drive to produce more and more for fewer and larger companies.  I was very impressed that the Vice President of the American Corn Growers Association had a role in the film, explaining how government policy encourages overproduction by subsidizing corn so that it can be produced below the cost of production. He talks about the powerful lobbies of the food companies that have an interest in purchasing corn below the cost of production. The film also draws the connection between subsidizing unhealthy calories (in the form of high fructose corn syrup and other corn derivatives) and the skyrocketing rates of obesity and diabetes in this country. I was gratified to hear Pollan acknowledge that there are those who simply can’t afford to eat well, and that policy change as well as individual action is needed.

The film moves from industrial agriculture to factory farming and the horrific conditions of industrially-raised animals. It talks about the spread of deadly E. Coli in the food system and presents the personal story of the mother of an infant killed by E. Coli in his hamburger. The details of slaughterhouse conditions and lack of oversight by government agencies certainly will make you think twice about where you get your meat. Food, Inc. also shows some alternatives, and Joel Salatin, the “beyond-organic” farmer highlighted in The Omnivore’s Dilemma makes several appearances in the film to show us around his farm and share his wisdom.

While trying to get a broad overview of a problem, its easy for disparate pieces to get lost, but this film does a good job hitting all the major points and holding them together. From NAFTA and immigration to the political ties and influence of the likes of Monsanto, to genetically engineered soybeans and bans on seed-saving, Food, Inc. shows how systematic the problems of the industrial food system are and why high-tec fixes alone won’t fix it.

Even though all of the themes in the film were quite familiar, I enjoyed watching it and hearing some of the major players in the field describe the problems. I even had some “WHAT!?” moments myself, such as learning about a company using ammonia to clean its “meat product” for hamburger filling.

The film ends with easy, powerful suggestions for action and a simple message: “You can change the system.” Food, Inc. is out on DVD now, so pick it up at the movie store, download a discussion guide from the website, and invite your friends. To learn more about the film and what you can do, visit www.foodincmovie.com.

Finding Your Thanksgiving Turkey

With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, it's time to start thinking about where you're going to get your bird. Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the bounty of the earth and enjoy the company of family and friends, so it is a great time to think about making food choices that support health, animal welfare, and the environment.  Instead of just heading to the supermarket for a factory-farmed turkey, why not connect with a local farmer to find a bird that has been raised sustainably and treated well?

You might also consider buying a "heritage" turkey.  99% of turkeys raised in the U.S. are of one breed, the "Broadbreasted White," which has been bred to suit industrial agriculture with its unusually large breasts.  The Food and Agriculture Organization says that these birds are unable to reproduce naturally and would die out within a generation without artificial insemination conducted by humans.  Without genetic diversity, the turkey population is also susceptible to being wiped out by disease.  Heritage turkey farmers are trying to bolster genetic diversity by raising various traditional turkey breeds, such as the Beltsville Small White, the Jersey Buff, the Narragansett, and the White Midget.

Here are some resources for finding your perfect holiday turkey:

Local Harvest allows you to search the Turkey Shop for organic, pastured, and heritage turkeys for pickup or delivery from local farms.

Using the advanced search option on the Eat Well Guide, you can search for turkeys with various characteristics (pasture raised, organic, vegetarian-fed) and find farms, stores, and butchers near you.

In the Midwest, you can find heritage turkeys from the Good Shepherd Turkey Ranch Consortium, made up of several farms in Kansas and Iowa.

 A turkey that has been raised sustainably and treated humanely not only looks and tastes better but also, as the centerpiece of your Thanksgiving meal, can be a great conversation starter to introduce family and friends to the idea of being an "ethivore."

Book Review: The Omnivore's Dilemma

Pollan, Michael, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (New York: The Penguin Press, 2006, 450 pp.)

Image courtesy of MichaelPollan.com

    “What should we have for dinner?,” the book begins.  No, this is not a diet book, filled with new taboos and panaceas.  Michael Pollan’s engrossing book Omnivore’s Dilemma tackles the question of what to eat in a more philosophical, but eminently practical, way.  The title of the book is taken from psychologist Paul Rozin’s work on food selection in humans and animals.  The “omnivore’s dilemma” is that, while omnivores can take advantage of many varied food sources, this also means that they must make choices about which things to eat, some of which could harm or kill them.  Enter the contemporary American omnivore.  With food fads revolutionizing the way Americans eat every few years, Pollan asks what we should be eating.  To answer this question, he decides that he first must learn what we are eating, which he does by tracing the food chains of a small number of meals from their original sources to the table. Why ask what we should be eating, or even what we are eating?  Pollan says, “How and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world- and what is to become of it.”

    The book provides a compelling “natural history” of four meals: the “industrial,” “industrial organic,” “beyond organic,” and “neo-Paleolithic.”  Pollan begins his inquiry with the largest and most prevalent food chain in America, the industrial, represented at mealtime by a McDonald’s lunch consumed in the car.  Working from the source, Pollan reveals how corn has permeated every corner of the standard contemporary food supply: It is processed into myriad forms of food product (like most of the McDonald’s meal), fed to meat and dairy animals on industrial feedlots, and burned as ethanol in fuel tanks.  After exposing many sordid details about the industrial food chain, Pollan asks if organic food provides a way around this petroleum-guzzling, environment-depleting, animal-torturing, obesity-inducing nightmare.  In researching and preparing an organic meal from ingredients purchased at Whole Foods, Pollan discovers that “organic” has been co-opted to a great extent by the industrial logic of modern society, producing the oxymoronic “industrial organic” business that suffers from many of the same problems as the industrial food chain.  He finds some hope, however, on Joel Salatin’s “beyond organic” farm, which raises animals in a symbiotic relationship based on their natural predilections, allowing the enterprise to function almost as a closed loop.  The underlying message of Polyface Farm is “think local,” and even as Pollan sings its praise he wonders how “beyond organic” could serve the needs of urban society.  Finally, Pollan makes “the perfect meal,” in a “neo-Paleolithic” endeavor of hunting, gathering, and growing everything on the table.  He calls the meal “perfect” because it is made in full consciousness of and with full responsibility for everything that went into producing it.  This final exercise allowed Pollan to grapple with many ethical questions of the way we eat, including the morality of killing animals.  While he recognizes that hunting/ gathering is not a viable way to feed ourselves in the contemporary world, he thinks the lessons of the experience can lead us to more ethically conscious food selection.

Quick Guide to Consumer Food Labels for Meat, Dairy, and Eggs

Several people have asked me how I decide what meat and eggs to buy when I chose to eat these things.  It can be extremely hard to sort out exactly what you’re getting when buying meat, dairy, and eggs, even when products are labeled with heartwarming terms like “cage-free” and “naturally raised.”  I think the best way to know what you’re getting is to go to local farmers’ markets (or better yet, farms!) and actually talk to the people raising the animals.  However, life gets busy and it’s usually much easier to run to the grocery store to grab something.  At the store, I personally try to look for meat that is “Certified Human Raised and Handled,” which you can find in some grocery stores like Whole Foods, and even occasionally in more mainstream stores.  (Find stores that carry the label here, or call your local grocery store and express interest.)  Other than that, I just try to find meat or eggs with the best available combination of labels.  You also often can find information about a particular company online.  For instance, I have been buying local, USDA organic, cage-free eggs from Organic Valley after reviewing the standards explained on their website (not exactly independent verification, but better than nothing).  Finding ethically produced meat, dairy, and eggs is anything but a straightforward process, but arming yourself with as much information can make it that much easier to find food with which you’re comfortable.

Here is a quick guide to frequently used terms:

Antibiotic-free: No USDA standard.  Animals raised without any administration of antibiotics.  Labeled by manufacturer; no independent verification.

Cage-free: No USDA standard.  Animals are raised without cages, but may still be confined in crowded conditions without access to the outdoors.

Certified Human Raised and Handled®: An independent label developed by the 501(c)3 nonprofit Humane Farm Animal Care.  The standards include, “nutritious diet without antibiotics, or hormones, animals raised with shelter, resting areas, sufficient space and the ability to engage in natural behaviors.”  All farms using the label are inspected yearly.

Free-range or free-roaming: Animals allowed to roam in pasture.  Labeled by manufacturer; no independent verification.

Fresh: USDA standards say “fresh” poultry can’t be cooled below 26 degrees Fahrenheit.  Although this is below freezing, the USDA standard for “frozen” poultry is 0 degrees Fahrenheit and below.  Regulated by the USDA.  No USDA standard for other meat or dairy.

Grass-fed: USDA standard for meat but not dairy cattle.  After weaning from milk, animals must consume only grass or forage.  During the growing season, they must have continual access to pasture; In the off-season they must be fed harvested grass or forage.  May still be given hormones or antibiotics.  If the product carries a “USDA Process Verified” shield, the USDA has physically inspected farms from which the meat originated.

Hormone-free: No synthetic hormones administered.  Federal law prohibits any administration of synthetic hormones to hogs and poultry but allows it for beef and dairy cattle. Labeled by manufacturer; no independent verification.

Irradiated/ Treated With Irradiation: Exposed to ionizing radiation, chemically altered from its natural state.  Whole irradiated foods are required to carry one of these labels and the “radura” symbol but processed foods and spices are not.  The USDA inspects plants for safety, but products are labeled by manufacturer; no independent verification.

Natural: USDA standards say that “natural” meat and poultry can’t contain artificial ingredients, including colors, flavors, or preservatives and should be processed minimally.  However, there are no requirements for how the animals were raised, what they ate, and whether they received antibiotics or hormones.  Labeled by manufacturer; no independent verification.

Naturally raised: USDA standards say the animals can’t be given antibiotics, growth promoters, or feed with animal by-products.  They may still be raised in factory farm conditions. Labeled by manufacturer; no independent verification.

Organic:  See USDA certified organic.

Pasture-raised or pastured: No USDA standard.  Animals raised on pasture, eating grass or native plants.  No indication of how much of its life an animal lived on pasture.

rBGH-free or rBST-free: Synthetic growth hormones not given to dairy cattle.  Due to pressure from Monsanto, products labeled “rBGH or rBST-free” now also must carry a disclaimer saying that the FDA has said there is no significant difference between this and milk produced with the hormone.  The FDA relied on Monsanto to study the health effects of its own genetically engineered growth hormone.

USDA certified organic: USDA standards disallow use of antibiotics, synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, genetic engineering, irradiation, or sewage sludge.  Animals feed 100% organic feed without growth hormones or animal byproducts.  Ruminant animals have continual access to the outdoors, but chickens may be confined.

Two great places to learn more about these and other consumer labels are GreenerChoices.org’s Eco-label Index and Food & Water Watch’s article “How Much Do Labels Really Tell You?”

If you have additional advice or thoughts to share, leave a comment!

Watch for a future post about selecting seafood!

What-a-vore?

About a year and a half ago, I read Rethinking the Meat Guzzler in the New York Times and decided it was time for a change.  I, of course, had had a brush with vegetarianism in college, after reading Peter Singer in one of my philosophy classes and watching a video of cruel factory farm practices.  However, I never quite got to the point of acting on my discomfort.  But something was different this time, and my moment of dissonance prompted me to write the "Eating Animals" post reproduced below.  After writing this as a note on Facebook, many of my friends responded with encouragement and suggestions.

So, that was the beginning of my journey.  Since that time, I’ve been continually trying to define exactly what my commitment means.  Is eating eggs okay when the laying hens have just as bad or arguably worse lives than the chickens raised for meat?  What are the implications of eating tofu "chicken" nuggets and TVP "beef" crumbles every night?  As I’ve tried to answer these and so many more questions for myself, I’ve come to understand myself as what I’m calling an “ethivore” rather than a traditional vegetarian.

For me (at this point at least) this means:

• I rarely eat any meat or seafood at all.
• When I do, I assure that the animal in question was raised/ caught and slaughtered in a way that was humane and not overly harmful to the natural environment.
• I don’t eat red meat at all.
• I don’t generally eat eggs if I can avoid it, but I will still eat things baked by others that contain eggs (for reasons I will blog about later). When I buy eggs myself, I make sure they’re cage-free.  I’ve also been experimenting with vegan baking.
• I also try to be mindful of other ethical considerations when I choose food: Was it grown or raised without pesticides, genetic modification, growth hormones, or excessive antibiotics?  Was it grown locally? With fair treatment of farm labor? Bought at a fair price? Packaged minimally and in reusable or recyclable materials? This is a lot to think about, and I’m still trying to improve my awareness and decision-making in these areas.

As I write this blog, I’ll be expanding on these ideas and the implications of everyday food choices, as well as sharing some of the ways that I try to make it easy and delicious to follow my heart.  If you have a similar story, resources to share, or particular question for me, please respond in the comments section!

Thanks,

Megan

Eating Animals

I have decided that it is out of sheer laziness and an unwillingness to seriously consider the implications for action of my beliefs that I have never made a commitment to go completely vegetarian before. I know the arguments made on both sides inside and out, and for me this decision is based on (1) the horribly unethical treatment of animals in feed lots and cage farms around the country, (2) the devastating environmental impacts of said lots/farms, and (3) the fact that so much agricultural land that could be used to grow food crops is used for animal feed (meaning far less food production per acre of agricultural land). As someone who puts spiders outside rather than kill them and who worries about the environment and the underfed global poor, I cannot justify playing a part in the system of animal consumption as it stands in this country. It is unacceptable for me to eat meat simply because it is more convenient. So, I am making a commitment right now to try to bring my actions in line with my beliefs. I hope if you are reading this note, you will offer me support, encouragement, and any resources you may have to make this transition easier. Thank you, friends!