From the raw to the cooked.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan’s excellent explanation of industrial and organic food production is a must read for anyone concerned about what they eat. It’s more informative than preachy, and although it might not change your diet, it will make you more aware of what makes up the food that lines our supermarket shelves.There are a million tidbits I could quote from the book, many of which would scare or disgust the average consumer, but an example of a more reassuring practice is that of organic box salad makers requiring their employees to wear bright blue bandaids with metal filaments in them so that a metal detector can catch them if they fall off. Nobody wants a bandaid in their salad and it is reassuring to see that the salad makers have taken this to heart.
A favourite quote in The Omnivore’s Dilemma comes from French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss who describes the work of civilization as “…the process of transforming the raw into the cooked…” I have to admit that I loved that notion, a good book is nothing more than a well cooked idea.
Filed under Chris, Food, Non-fiction |5 Responses to “From the raw to the cooked.”
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I’m reading this right now and Joseph is super nervous that I’m going to go all hippie on him in the kitchen. Have to admit I’m now looking into how feasible it would be to at least switch to organically raised meat.
Michelle, I wonder the same thing sometimes. I get really close, till I see the price of organic food. yikes.
I’m not so much concerned about organic as to the way they are fed and raised. The whole feeding corn to cows thing, as innocuous as it sounds, really freaks me out.
If you’re looking for options, Equiterre has an organic meat section and also a list of farms that deliver organic meat in the Montreal region.
Yeah, the corn thing kills me too. I was actually looking into a place where you can go visit the farm and they deliver the meat to a place near my house. I sort of assumed that organically raised beef would be grass fed, no? Something to ask when I visit the farm, I guess.