Good Food is Everybody's Business
Over the last 70 years, the beef industry has changed considerably, evolving into an intense, industrial enterprise designed to put as much weight on as many cattle as fast as possible and get the resulting meat to market as quickly as possible. In response to the damaging impact of feedlot production, more and more farmers and ranchers are choosing to return to – and improve upon – traditional methods of raising cattle on grass.
Farmers and ranchers face enormous challenges today, from the drought conditions in the western United States to rising costs of production, regulations, family succession hurdles, and feed availability for livestock. Livestock producers are seeking lasting solutions to these issues.
If asked, most people could not tell you where the meat on their plate came from. In fact, if they wanted to know, it would be darned difficult – if not impossible – to find out. On the other hand, while imagining that the beef cow they will be eating is frolicking on lush green pastures, the average American today does NOT want to meet their dinner while it is still standing.
If you see fudge sauce or marshmallows on the dessert menu, you can bet they’re made from-scratch. No food dyes, corn syrup or hydrogenated oils. Fruit is used when it’s in season and bulk ingredients are organic. No, the sugar’s not local and neither is the chocolate; these are fundamental building blocks of dessert as we know it. I can’t figure a way around that one, but considering everything else we do I’m comfortable with the compromise.
Even as we face globalization (and standardization) of nearly every element of our lives, including the food we eat, there are between 25 and 27 million small and medium independent companies working separately to deliver us diversity and quality. It’s time we recognized the value that these businesses deliver to us, and to our communities.
If you live on the East Coast, West Coast, or Gulf Coast or even the Great Lakes, and if you’ve looked closely at the fish in your local supermarket – regardless of where you live – chances are you’ll find your fish originates from just about anywhere else in the world.
Just the words “Thanksgiving dinner” can strike fear into the hearts of the “kitchen challenged.” After all, there are romantic images of beautiful crispy brown turkeys, delicate pastry, and robust gravies and sauces plastered across the walls in nearly every supermarket, spread throughout those “women’s magazines” (thanks to Oprah and Martha), and flashing on TV.
While Big Fish, Big Food, and Big Business would have you think that you can save nature by eating factory food, we have a better solution. Protect our wild salmon fisheries by eating more wild fish!
