How much do you really know about the food you buy at our local grocery stores and serve to your family?
Where did it come from? What is in it? Is it safe? Is it healthy? Is it making you sick? Is it making your children sick?
If it's a vegetable, does it even taste like it is suppose to? Really, think about it. Does that tomato really taste like a tomato?
If it is an egg, what kind of conditions is the hen that laid the egg living in? Does she even know what being a hen entails or is she just a egg laying machine that is kept in a tiny cage among thousands of other hens who never see the light of day and most certainly never gets to leave that cage.
What about that package of frozen chicken breast? Convenient isn't it? But is convenience worth the consequences or risks that come with it? Do you really know how that chicken was processed. My guess is that you don't or else you wouldn't be buying it!
Dan the Man and I went to Ft. Collins yesterday to hear Joel Salatin speak at a program, “Change We Can Eat!” a talk on the emancipation of food, which was hosted by the Front Range Permaculture Institute. Joel is a self-described "Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist farmer" who produces high-quality "beyond organic" meats, which are raised using environmentally responsible, ecologically beneficial, sustainable methods. He has written several books which we have read and agree with many of his philosophies and practices. We have based our pastured poultry business on one of his books.
Read more about Joel Salatin here.
Wow, he was fantastic, informative, energizing, knowledgeable, humorous, and encouraging.
There were several things that he discussed, too many for one post. I try to keep these posts short and sweet because I know that we are all "busy" and I don't want to take up too much of your time. The one thing I want to share with you today is what he said about "Opting Out."
Joel says this in the book FOOD, INC: How Industrial Food is Making us Sicker, Fatter and Poorer; And What You Can Do About It edited by Karl Weber "The time has come for people who are ready to challenge the paradigm of factory-produced food and to return to a more natural, wholesome, and sustainable way of eating (and living) to make that declaration to the powers that be, in business and government, that established the existing system and continue to prop it up. It's time to opt out and simply start eating better-right here, right now."
Do you think that there is nothing wrong with our industrialized food system? Watch this clip and tell me there is nothing wrong!
There were several things that he discussed, too many for one post. I try to keep these posts short and sweet because I know that we are all "busy" and I don't want to take up too much of your time. The one thing I want to share with you today is what he said about "Opting Out."
Joel says this in the book FOOD, INC: How Industrial Food is Making us Sicker, Fatter and Poorer; And What You Can Do About It edited by Karl Weber "The time has come for people who are ready to challenge the paradigm of factory-produced food and to return to a more natural, wholesome, and sustainable way of eating (and living) to make that declaration to the powers that be, in business and government, that established the existing system and continue to prop it up. It's time to opt out and simply start eating better-right here, right now."
Do you think that there is nothing wrong with our industrialized food system? Watch this clip and tell me there is nothing wrong!
The Truth About Food, Inc.
Joel gives us four easy, do-able ways to opt out of this industrialized food system and to reclaim our food freedom. I'm just going to touch on them for now, but will elaborate on each one in separate upcoming posts.- Learn to Cook Again
- Buy Local
- Buy What's in Season
- Plant a Garden
If you are interested in this topic, there are several good books that you should read. Here are three of them.
- Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
- The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
- FOOD, INC: How Industrial Food is Making us Sicker, Fatter and Poorer; And What You Can Do About It edited by Karl Weber
Well, that's all I am going to say for now, but I'll be back with more. Stayed tuned.
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