Opting out of mass-market meat
Just one more item... an interesting article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/20/FDG7LL5N221.DTL
Excerpt:
They're just a few of the growing number of farmers and ranchers who are experiencing a surge in demand from consumers anxious to find good meat, humanely raised by people whose ranches they can visit and practices they can see first-hand, unlike mass-market meat.
And it's not just beef. Like Chez Panisse-inspired chefs before them, discerning eaters are scouring the countryside for local sources of pastured pork, lamb and chickens and their eggs.
These meats are almost impossible to find in stores. Until recently, farmers' markets have been a main source for home cooks, but supplies aren't reliable. And a quirk of federal law makes it much easier for ranchers and farmers to sell shares of whole animals directly to consumers.
This is my next plan... I'm going to start bulk-ordering my beef and chicken. I found a few California farmers who will ship cuts of meat for the freezer. Grass fed beef (and chicken and eggs) is a zillion times healthier than the crap you buy at the store these days -- because most cows and chickens in factory farms are fed corn and soy (I even heard they give them stale doughnuts and other garbage). Plus it tastes so much better.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/20/FDG7LL5N221.DTL
Excerpt:
They're just a few of the growing number of farmers and ranchers who are experiencing a surge in demand from consumers anxious to find good meat, humanely raised by people whose ranches they can visit and practices they can see first-hand, unlike mass-market meat.
And it's not just beef. Like Chez Panisse-inspired chefs before them, discerning eaters are scouring the countryside for local sources of pastured pork, lamb and chickens and their eggs.
These meats are almost impossible to find in stores. Until recently, farmers' markets have been a main source for home cooks, but supplies aren't reliable. And a quirk of federal law makes it much easier for ranchers and farmers to sell shares of whole animals directly to consumers.
This is my next plan... I'm going to start bulk-ordering my beef and chicken. I found a few California farmers who will ship cuts of meat for the freezer. Grass fed beef (and chicken and eggs) is a zillion times healthier than the crap you buy at the store these days -- because most cows and chickens in factory farms are fed corn and soy (I even heard they give them stale doughnuts and other garbage). Plus it tastes so much better.