I have devoured several books worth recommending over the last several months and have been meaning to use this forum to review them.
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan was one, What To Eat by Marion Nestle was another and ChefMD's Book of Culinary Medicine by John La Puma was the last. What these books all have in common was their resounding lament for the way Americans are eating or rather .. not eating.
In a nutshell (and I hope to have time to go more in depth on these books at a later date) Americans eat what is marketed to them and what is marketed to them are the things that are the cheapest to produce, often items that are nearly nutritionally devoid (or at least compromised) and lacking in natural, real flavors.
I'm not just referring to prepackaged products, although those are the worst offenders, this scam (and I feel justified in calling it that after reading these three books) spans every aisle of the supermarket.
Our "healthy" foods (fresh produce, meat and dairy) are being affected by corporate giants that are eager to get in on the the "organic" movement.
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan was one, What To Eat by Marion Nestle was another and ChefMD's Book of Culinary Medicine by John La Puma was the last. What these books all have in common was their resounding lament for the way Americans are eating or rather .. not eating.
In a nutshell (and I hope to have time to go more in depth on these books at a later date) Americans eat what is marketed to them and what is marketed to them are the things that are the cheapest to produce, often items that are nearly nutritionally devoid (or at least compromised) and lacking in natural, real flavors.
I'm not just referring to prepackaged products, although those are the worst offenders, this scam (and I feel justified in calling it that after reading these three books) spans every aisle of the supermarket.
Our "healthy" foods (fresh produce, meat and dairy) are being affected by corporate giants that are eager to get in on the the "organic" movement.
Large companies are creating foods that fit the "organic" profile as required by the USDA but are in no way affiliated with the comforting picture of the idyllic, family farm that most consumers have in their minds. The money-saving short-cuts employed by these companies are high in cost when it comes to health (people and animals), the environment and ethics. (Again, hopefully more on this later...)
What prompted me to write tonight was the jolt I received when I navigated to the Daily Blessing Foods website http://www.organic-meat.com/ (they are a local distributor of grass-fed organic meats) and saw this statement posted across the top in red font:
"08/11/08 We wish to say THANK YOU to all of you who have done business with us over the years. We regret to inform you that effective immediately, Daily Blessing is suspending business due to the high cost of fuel and huge shipping charges. We hope to be able to re-open at a later date, but for now, we do not know what the future holds. "
I can tell you what the future holds, if this is any indication.
Eventually consumers will have no choice when it comes to buying locally, from small in-state farms.
What prompted me to write tonight was the jolt I received when I navigated to the Daily Blessing Foods website http://www.organic-meat.com/ (they are a local distributor of grass-fed organic meats) and saw this statement posted across the top in red font:
"08/11/08 We wish to say THANK YOU to all of you who have done business with us over the years. We regret to inform you that effective immediately, Daily Blessing is suspending business due to the high cost of fuel and huge shipping charges. We hope to be able to re-open at a later date, but for now, we do not know what the future holds. "
I can tell you what the future holds, if this is any indication.
Eventually consumers will have no choice when it comes to buying locally, from small in-state farms.
Literally everything will be produced by large conglomerates that have stockholders to worry about before ethics, taste, the environment and health. The quality of their products will suffer as they strive to keep costs as low as possible.
A little tidbit to add credibility to my ranting: A multitude of prevalent health conditions could be prevented by an increase in omega-3 fatty acids in the diets of Americans, right? Everyone that reads or watches the news knows this.
But ... do you know why we are deficient?
A little tidbit to add credibility to my ranting: A multitude of prevalent health conditions could be prevented by an increase in omega-3 fatty acids in the diets of Americans, right? Everyone that reads or watches the news knows this.
But ... do you know why we are deficient?
At one time nearly everything had omega-3 fatty acids naturally occurring in it. Grass-fed beef, poultry, lamb and seafood (algae-fed) should all supply this necessary nutrient.
What happened?
What happened?
Land is expensive (read: grass) ... and corn is not -- so all livestock began being fed corn and the omega-3 fatty acids slowly (but completely) disappeared from our diet.
This is just the tip of the iceberg with regard to a much larger issue and, in the meantime, while you are waiting for me to find the time to review those books I mentioned earlier, why don't you pick one up and read it? -- and let me know your thoughts.
I'd like to leave you with a tip.
Next time you go shopping for salmon and start feeling good about yourself for all of those healthy omega-3 fatty acids you'll be ingesting - you'd better make sure you are buying "wild" .... (http://www.seafoodwatch.org/ backs me up here...)
...the "farmed" salmon are being fed corn.
This is just the tip of the iceberg with regard to a much larger issue and, in the meantime, while you are waiting for me to find the time to review those books I mentioned earlier, why don't you pick one up and read it? -- and let me know your thoughts.
I'd like to leave you with a tip.
Next time you go shopping for salmon and start feeling good about yourself for all of those healthy omega-3 fatty acids you'll be ingesting - you'd better make sure you are buying "wild" .... (http://www.seafoodwatch.org/ backs me up here...)
...the "farmed" salmon are being fed corn.
