Fundamentally, good eats comes from what is good to eat. As I become more educated about what it is we eat I find myself geauxing through this transition of not just how it is my food is prepared, but rather how it is my food is grown. I used to be ignorant to my food source as such I was a slave to the simple flavors of the day by eating mostly sugar, salt, and starch. Those three primary ingredients are in almost everything we eat. I am a meat eater, I am far from the definition of vegetarian or even vegans but looking at issues like Salmonella and E. coli outbreaks you gotta start looking at just why. I do not want to get on a spin that evokes why it is the agricultural society is there, that is for the FSA. I would like to know who here consciously makes an effort to see out produce and meats that are sourced and dieted locally. Do you use farmers markets? Do you even use co ops? DO you use the same pig farmer your daddy use to use? All of this I remember as a kid. We would often geaux to friends farms and score of what was in season and in variety. Moved to bigger cities and got away from that and relied on what the supermarket had to offer. Well the supermarket has changed and you almost will never catch me in one other then items like aspirin or toilet paper. All of my meats come from the farmers market. None of the meat I purchase travels over 100 miles from the farm. I have relationships with the farmers and I know what is in the meat. The chicken I purchase is pasture raised with no hormones and no antibiotics. I do pay 4.00 a pound but after only adding salt, I have never had a better chicken. I know if my pork is fed apple or is it has been on a diet of greens. My beef is purely green fed with very little grain supplemented. Sometimes the meat can taste gamy and often that is contributed to the diet. I just try to figure out what is there. I buy only produce that is local and in season. Wow, when you do that, your diet is forever changing. Never the same ol big mac attack. I am not a total prude, I will at least twice a week drive through a taco bell and have a 5 layer burrito cause that sh!t is good but for the most part, my energy level is always up. So where do you get your groceries and do you know where they come from or, for that matter, do you even care? If you do not care, do you even know what is in the food you eat? This message is somehow approved by Ted Nugent, I think...
Well, I'm just too busy to go to specialty meat markets, farmers markets, artisan bakeries, and such in pursuit of the 19th century pre-industrial diet. I do think its healthier without the pesticides and processing and it many cases tastes significantly better. But expense and hassle are factors that I consider. I buy organic garden vegetables, now that they are available in most big supermarkets and not so expensive as they once were. I buy only whole grain products, again because it is easy and cheap today. I don't get too finicky about meat. I avoid cheapest-possible-foreign-source places like Wal-Mart, but I buy good cuts of meat and the chicken that is available good supermarkets. The markup for organic beef is kind of high. I buy fish locally because it is affordable and widely available and so much of the frozen seafood is foreign farm-raised and loaded with antibiotics. I do pay the price for organic milk, although it has come down, too. Organic milk just tastes better to me. Significantly so. It is also super-pasturized and keeps longer. But I can get bananas all year round and I really don't care where they come from. A peanut is a peanut. A lemon is a lemon.
I believe this would be the consensus for many and I agree, it can be a hassle. I watched Food, Inc last year and got a birds eye for what geaux's into the manufacture for our edibles and I was like floored at what big food has done to what geaux's on our plates. My biggest concern is with quality and the local farmer that works hard to provide that quality. I started to visit the farmers market (three blocks away) and what I found is there is an equal partnership with a majority of the local chefs. They are beginning to bridge the crop to kitchen mentality with showcasing new ways for how things normally removed from the diet can be enhanced. You see, I am all about good eats and food that can be enjoyed, all of us are. I used to think organic was this long list of bland and what Bengal B says, "flakes, fruits, and nuts". Once I was shown what a great farmer can do with his head I was amazed at the difference. Not preachin here just that I am curious what is geauxing on in other geographical areas and is there at least a small percentage who do share those values. Supermarkets are coming around, it is good business if for anything but the numbers grow every time something labeled local crosses the scanner. What I am seeing here is that local farmers are being outpaced by the demand. I think if that continues to grow then obviously the prices will fall, making the hassle a little bit less and add more room for consideration.
You are in the forefront of a serious, serious movement in this Country... I am on board with what you speak of, But it ain't easy..Lucky to have a few good Markets around me. Mostly am concerned about the Proteins...Our Meat supply is horribly mismanaged. Not enough inspectors- and alot of 'em turn their heads...Not like it used to be.
I firmly believe in using nothing but the best ingredients...like Martha Stewart and Julia Child do.... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uigxYElYXM[/media]
One of the funniest Julia Child spoofs ever, Steve in light of your avatar, you will be able to relate: Bing Video: Saturday Night Live: The French Chef
for the most part i agree with all of this. michael pollan says you shouldnt eat stuff that your grandma wouldnt recognize. i agree with that. she wouldnt recognize hot pockets. also i agree with the idea that man has evolved while eating mostly plants and only the occasional chunk of meat. so we are meant to exist on whole foods, mainly plants, and much less food than we think. i dont care about organic that much, but i definitely think we should eat local produce and almost no processed foods. i dont stick to this, myself, i love fast food too much. but i should.
Most anthropologists think that our cranial capacity started increasing away from ape-sized when hominids began to be omnivorous. The addition of that much protein to the diet was significant in human evolution. It allowed humans to receive good nutrition relatively easily compared to gathering and allowed them to leave the fruited forests behind and seek their fortunes on the savannah. They no longer had to forage their entire days away in search of morsels. They could make a kill, satisfy their hunger and have opportunity left for creativity, toolmaking, social interaction . . . and imagination. I disagree with my vegan colleague who insists that all apes are naturally vegetarian. Humans are naturally omniverous.
i definitely agree with that. but i dunno if we evolved eating meat at the rate we do now, particularly red meat. clearly we are meant to eat meat. but as of now we are just crazy with it.
