Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Old MacDonald Ate Some Grass-Pastured Free-Range Beef

My mom sent me this cartoon last week. I love it! How many people these days connect their food with where it comes from? How many see the conditions that their dairy cows live in, or view the confines of their omelette's crowded chickens?

Whenever I hear that the only answer to the horrible horrible ills of factory farming is vegetarianism, I want to scream. It's not an either-or equation: it's not eat meat and support CAFO-raised, GMO-infested unhealthy inhumane meat production or never eat meat again. I've looked my hamburger in the eye, and it looked like a happy grass-munching cow.

On the flip-side, when I see people starting to eat Paleo that are not concerned with where their meat comes from or what their meat was eating when it was alive, I feel like they're only getting half the picture. If your cow ate grain, your hamburger is not the same as mine. Period.

I feel a big post coming on about why I'm no longer a vegetarian, but that will have to wait for another day.

8 comments:

cherelli said...

Absolutely, I agree. We get our meat sent down from an Amish community in Peace River...and I know their animals are happy :) And once a year Brett goes fishing offshore for our halibut and salmon...yum.

Amanda@runninghood said...

so important to be aware of where our food comes from and WHAT we are putting down our pipes! I have so many things to improve on! Thanks for your comment of congrats! Nice to hear from you. I think I'm going to try out a swim workout tonight since I'm still not running and I feel a first triathlon in the works for this summer perhaps! Any suggestions?

Anonymous said...

when I can, I eat grass fed beef and organic chicken. As I've gotten more intimate with my food sources, I've found I care more about the sources of my meats...good post!

Tracy said...

Amen. I wish we could shout this message from the rooftops and have people hear it!

Laurel said...

reading this and other blogs like it overwhelms me with the amount of changes I want to make... I need to remember that all changes, even small ones, add up to something important. I keep telling myself I can't do it all at once (no freezer for buying a bulk amount of beef, no land for gardening, no storage for home canning) but I can still do other things and it's good to have a goal to work towards one baby-step at a time.

Dena Joan said...

Love this post and can not wait to read more on the subject. I just converted back to 99% vegetarianism in April. I still eat the occasional burger, steak, etc. However I will not PURCHASE/cook meat unless it is free range/grass fed/oranic/(and preferably) LOCALLY & SUSTAINABLY raised.

It's not an easy task but it is so, so, so important. Sorry for the CAPS, I'm just really passionate about this lately. I look forward to reading the post when you write it. If it jives with me, maybe you could do a guest post on the subject over at my blog? I've been really wanting to broach this topic with my readers, but I'm drawing blanks/lack all the facts/knowledge.

xo,
Dena

Patricialynn said...

We are trying to move towards a diet that has less meat in it. It's hard sometimes, but we're getting there.

Dan Mannion said...

I totally agree. The taste of properly-raised meat is always better than that of "conventionally-raised" meat. Same with the dairy. I just wish it was easier to get hold of.