The Omnivore's Dilemma
I recently read Michael Pollen's excellent The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. In a nutshell, Pollen presents a through investigation of the U.S. food industry, looking at the industrial farm (primarily corn growing) in the heartland, a small, sun-driven farm on the East Coast and hunting and foraging in the Bay Area. At least for the short-term, and hopefully long-term, the book has impacted my foodie behavior.
I was shocked and alarmed to discover the sheer amount of corn in our food. Eating fresh corn in the summer is really the least of issues with corn: Pollan hypothesizes that the industrialization of corn has dramatically changed the farming industry, severely impacted the very constitution of the food we eat through increased processing, and increased our caloric intake, pinning corn as a factor in America's rising obesity rates. Corn's contribution is not just through partially hydrogenated corn syrup, but a whole host of ingredients that give our food much of its basic character. A good rule of thumb: if the word in the ingredient list is unknown and "scientific", chances are, it's derived from corn. Beyond, we consume corn through most meat and dairy products. Cows are fed corn (despite the fact that bovines are natural grass eaters), chickens eat corn, pigs eat corn, even salmon are being breed to be corn tolerant. I have visions that I am slowly turning into a giant kernel of corn.
I can't live a life devoid of corn. Derivatives from the vegetable is in almost everything, stabilizing it, flavoring it, providing a long shelf life. It's difficult to find high quality meat that hasn't been fed corn; the finest steak houses proudly advertise "corn-fed beef", in part because we have a taste for the marbled fat that corn develops in beef. But I am now scrutinizing labels more so than ever in attempts to avoid processed corn; I even switched to a different brand of yogurt after reading the Tillamock label and discovering the high corn content. I don't want to turn into a corn kernel.
I tend to think of organic as a good choice. Sadly, but born of practicality, the organic food industry has begun to migrate to an industrialized food model. While not as harmful and damaging to the environment as that of the corn industry, it is still disturbing, but really, a fact of life considering the population and mechanics of modern life. I believed that Whole Foods shopping supported small, sustainable, organic farms; the 60 Minutes feature this fall stressed that the company strives to work with family farms. While this may be partially true, the reality is that by shopping at Whole Foods, I'm primarily supporting industrialized organic farms. Something we never consider: the fossil fuel costs of getting the food to Whole Foods is almost equivalent to that used by Safeway, QFC and other stores. The strawberries grown in California need to get to Seattle, somehow.
I wondered if I should stop shopping at Whole Foods, although Richard pointed out "that it's the lesser of two evils". And really, the quality of produce is far better than QFC, so I will remain a Whole Foods customer. But, I have made some conscience decisions about the food I buy. Rather than buying whatever sounds good, I am beginning to look at labels and trying to buy food that is in season and from the Pacific northwest area. And, I signed up for Pioneer Organics, which delivers food to my doorstep grown by local family farms (more on that later).
Pollan discussed becoming vegetarian for a period while researching and writing his book. Despite reading about disturbing practices in the processed meat industry, I am not about to become a vegatarian (and really, after reading the precursor articles to Fast Food Nation several years ago in Rolling Stone and a very excellent December article in the same magazine about industrial pig farms, figured that if I were to go veggie, it would have happened already). Pollan made some excellent arguments for and against the choice, something rarely heard in the debate.
One final point: for years, I've heard many complain about the relative expense of grocery stores like Whole Foods, Vallergas (a local Napa chain) and Andronico's (a Bay Area chain), kind of but not always agreeing. I rarely complain about the cost of groceries, considering the higher quality of produce and food, and improved service of those stores in contrast to Safeway and QFC, to be worth the few extra dollars. I didn't realize that as Americans, the proportion of our relative income dedicated to food has actually decreased, a sobering statistic. Pollen made a very salient point: why should we be cheap and expect that our food be inexpensive? Implicitly, this suggests that we are willing to accept low-cost, highly processed foods of suspect health value, which considering the importance of food as sustenance and pleasure (clearly), we should be demanding and willing to pay for high quality. So as a result, I've decided to forego any of the cheapness that I had surrounding food. I look to buy high quality, in season food grown/harvested locally, as much as possible. I will no longer refuse to buy fruit or vegetables because it's "too expensive".
Learning in action. For dinner a few weeks ago, I bought pork chops at Whole Foods, hoping that the pigs had a nicer life than those at the industrial pig farms. I also purchased kale and sweet potatoes to serve along with (the former broiled with olive oil and salt, the latter braised and mashed), seasonal food that had been grown in the Washington area. And, I didn't balk at the cost of cheese, splurging on Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam triple creme (from the Bay Area, but one of my favorite cheeses which I generally only get for special occasions). The meal was excellent: while the pork was a tad bit overcooked, it tasted good and I loved the "smothered" recipe with bacon and onions. The winter vegetables nicely complimented the pork, tasting, as well, vegetables should taste: fresh.