Mark Bittman on "What's wrong with what we eat"

In this video Mark Bittman, a famous cookbook author and journalist for the NY Times, recommends reducing our meat consumption by at least 50%, and raising our consumption of plants. Basically he recommends increasing our investment in food, by increasing home cooking and reducing junk food. He briefly summarizes the extreme makeover of food from 100 years ago to today. This video is a great introductory into understanding the food that we eat.

Greenwood Farms

I took a day trip today out to Greenwood Farms, a small family farm near Rolla, Missouri (about 2 hours southwest of St. Louis). They raise sheep (above), Jersey dairy cows (below), beef cattle (bottom), and pigs. Their Amish neighbor raises chickens for them also. They raise their animals mostly on grass, with a little extra grain supplements (for the dairy cows to make sure they get enough nutrients for producing milk.) They bottle-feed calves and lambs when necessary.
If you are looking for a meat provider that values keeping his animals healthy and well-cared-for, then this is the place to go. They were very happy to answer any questions we had about how they raise their animals. They will be selling their meat and raw milk in person at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market this summer at very reasonable prices. Also, they sell their meat to a few restaurants in town; Niche was the one they mentioned.

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A little card I made to advertise the blog.

Which steak tastes best?

In this Slate article Mark Schatzker sets up a study to see which steak tastes the best. He describes the qualities of beef that may affect the taste such as aging process, hormones, and marbling. Find out which steak won! 

You'll eat it, and you'll like it!

As Americans celebrated New Year's by tearing into a juicy steak or enjoying several alcoholic beverages, this time next year they might be in for a surprise about their culinary hedonism. Recently, the US Food and Drug Association surprised few when it announced animal byproducts, mainly meat and dairy, can be sold to consumers without any notification that it was the byproduct of laboratory cloning. There are many arguments against selling and consuming animal byproducts but the most fact-based is comparing the genetic composition of the cloned animals to their 'organic' counterparts.
"In 2002, researchers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, reported that the genomes of cloned mice are compromised. In analyzing more than 10,000 liver and placenta cells of cloned mice, they discovered that about 4% of genes function abnormally. The abnormalities do not arise from mutations in the genes but from changes in the normal activation or expression of certain genes." (source)

For any carnivore/omnivore out there, this is just one of a long list of reasons why you should take steps to eliminate meat from your diet.

article by John O.

Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler

This article from the New York Times by Mark Bittman discusses the costs of meat production and the possibility for reducing production or creating a healthier system of production. I didn't find the article mindblowing, but there were a few good data examples such as
An estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation.

And some nice info-graphics for graphic art nerds such as myself:

I do have a few issues with the article because of statements such as, "And would the world not be a better place were some of the grain we use to grow meat directed instead to feed our fellow human beings?". Although has it's heart in the right place, it is not considering all of the facts: The world produces more than enough food for all of the earth's population. Also, he mentions that increasing production of grain-fed cattle increases the need for grain production. In the Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan suggested that highly subsidized excess corn production was a cause for feeding livestock with grain rather than with their natural food source grass, because the meat could be produced more cheaply* on less land. In other words, excessive amounts of corn created excessive amounts of cheap livestock not the other way around.

Read the article here for yourself.

* - cheaply is a relative term that doesn't include cost of subsidies or environmental costs