One omnivore's dilemma

[urbpan]

Why is the great majority of grass-fed meat that is available beef? (Chorus: because cows eat grass!) I've never been much of a beef eating person, even when I ate meat for three meals a day. I just don't think it tastes all that good. Now that I'm considering expanding back into eating some meat (but only meat from animals raised on small farms) I'm looking at listings of grass-pastured meat farms and seeing mostly beef. I'm also seeing that most of the few farms listed that are in Massachusetts are in the distant wilds of the 413 area code (you know, farm country). This means in most cases well over an hours drive to get at these carcasses. No wonder it's so easy for most folks to get "pink in plastic" conventionally grown meat at the supermarket. All the shipping is done for them, and thanks to mass production and corn subsidies, it's actually cheaper!

Still, a nice drive in the country to get chicken from birds that pasture in a rolling floorless henhouse isn't a bad way to spend an afternoon.

It's still easier to call myself a vegetarian than to have to explain the way that I split hairs over meat-eating. I have friends who, if they sensed that I was giving an inch on the whole meat thing, would be all over me to gorge on factory farm (excuse me, "concentrated animal feeding operation") fried pork nibblin's.

Comments

[bdot.livejournal.com]

have you read the book the omnivore's dilemna? it is really good.....

although based on your subject line, i imagine you have.... thanks for the link, btw. i have been trying to find grass fed here in CA and have not had much luck with the sites i have found!

[interfecta.livejournal.com]

I find it simpler to say "I eat mostly plants." That way people don't have anything to get up in arms with, and the many people who've noticed me inspecting ingredient lists have an explanation for my peculiar/healthy habits.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Of course all the farms are out in the wilds of the 413 area code. That's pretty much the only area that still has the open space required to raise grass-fed farm animals. And that space is being developed pretty quickly now too as people move further from the city and commute longer to get to work.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

what about the stafford springs place?

[sydneycat.livejournal.com]

Hi, I've been lurking here for about a week now (someone originally linked to your entry on 'dog vomit slime mold'. I actually saw some yesterday for the first time!

ANYWHO!

I'm out in (413) and have a suggestion...try finding a CSA that either is back east or comes to market out east that does poultry. Here a few other links. I know some of the people who come to our local farmer's market also do CSA's that service the Boston area.
http://www.nofamass.org/programs/csa.php
http://www.localharvest.org/csa.jsp

Good Luck!

[carloshernandez.livejournal.com]

I haven't even thought too much about becoming a vegetarian. I'm not a big fan of beef though, unless it's the excellent beef served at the Cheesecake Factory.

[greenminions.livejournal.com]

Everyone has their own reasons for eating what they do. I wouldn't let others get too much on your case. Really, it isn't their business why you make the choices you do. At least you are trying to do something, unlike so many others around in the world.

[twistedapple.livejournal.com]

"It's still easier to call myself a vegetarian than to have to explain the way that I split hairs over meat-eating. I have friends who, if they sensed that I was giving an inch on the whole meat thing, would be all over me to gorge on factory farm (excuse me, "concentrated animal feeding operation") fried pork nibblin's."

I'm in the same boat! Friends call me a "complicated eater".

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

Some of the 413 meat can be had in 617. I used to buy River Rock Farm meat in Newton but I have not been to that market this year.
http://www.riverrockfarm.com/markets.html http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farm.php?farm=1750

See more beef here: http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2005/07/06/local_beef_hold_the_anxiety?mode=PF

And chicken in Concord:
http://peteandjensbackyardbirds.com/Meatbirdslideshow.aspx

Grass fed lamb is far away in Hardwick but has a CSA in Arlington
Chestnut Farms - http://www.chestnutfarms.org/

Buffalo can be found on the South Shore
Black Eagle Bison Company
P.O. Box 165
South Carver, MA 02366
508-866-2074 Home
blackeaglebison@aol.com

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Ironically, this is my last week working at a farm in the Boston area that does a CSA (but not for meat). I've never signed up for a share because there are way too many vegetables to possibly eat in one.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I don't usually. My one friend respects my boundaries for the most part, but lately she's been saying things like "when you aren't vegetarian any more, I have to take you to (whatever factory farm meat extravaganza)." She's expecting me to grow out of it, I suppose (hey, I'm almost 40, maybe I will!)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Gosh, that first link shows that their goodies are available in my own town's farmer's market! Good link.

(although they list beef, turkey, lamb--probably my 3 least favorite meats)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I'm 2/3 of the way through it.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I like that--I'll probably start using that phrasing. For a short while I said "I don't eat animals, but I eat their bodily fluids!" Too confusing and disgusting for most people.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

We could take a field trip, maybe visit dad?

[g-weir.livejournal.com]

re: the omnivore's dilemma. One farmer the author spoke with said he never needed to buy chicken feed because he simply turned the laying hens loose on a field just vacated by the cattle. The hens would eat all that cows left behind and that was enough.

Turning hundreds of chickens loose in a field is just so against all my poultry experience (Norfolk Aggie class of '87) that the thought of doing so staggers me. I mean, they might come back to the hen-house and they might not. Also, pretty much everything that eats other things eats chickens, and while it's true that most urban predators are nocturnal there's still room for a stray coyote or fox to get in there and cause havoc.

I'm sure the guys does what he says he does and I'm certain that it works for him but he must be using different chickens than the dozens of breeds I've been around.

--G

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

Browse around
http://www.farmfresh.org/food/foodcategory.php?foodtype=6&zip=02101 for more meat options.

Cyndi Barnes sells fish at the Brookline Market.

Lexington has fish and organic chickens.


(Can you tell I love farmer's markets? My cousin lives on a dairy farm on the NH border so local food is a important issue for me.)

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

that's what i was thinking.

[bdot.livejournal.com]

enjoy it! it has actually changed the way that i eat! hopefully i will get a lot healthier.

[miz-geek.livejournal.com]

If you're driving out to CT, you could try Creamery Brook Bison in Brooklyn (their web page is the .net version, not .com) I haven't been, but I see them mentioned a lot. And I'd bet you could find some stuff in Vermont, too (I know my parents mentioned going on a tour of a beefalo farm).

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Thanks again!
(I didn't include fish on my list of least favorite meats because I hate it so much I push it out of my mind.)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the chickens were in a floorless, wheeled henhouse. He said they waited three days after pasturing the cows and then they'd roll the henhouse over to that area. Hundreds of chickens loose is a recipe for lost chickens. His neighbors would have trees full of the things.

[bicoastal.livejournal.com]

Um, so which meat do you like? Just chicken?

[bicoastal.livejournal.com]

I visited my CSA's chickens, which are indeed out in a mobile field (no roof, but fenced with movable fence). How do they do it?

They live with a dog. A huge, white, scary dog that ignores the chickens he lives to defend. He was raised with chickens. Looks like a Kuvasc (sp?). There's also a full-time guy (immigrant, of course) who camps out there too most days and nights.

[charmenders.livejournal.com]

If you do buy beef from your local farmers, make sure the cows were eating grass from the beginning to the very end. Grass-fed doesn't signify much as grass-finished does.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Homer: What about ham? or pork chops? or bacon?
Lisa: Dad! those all come from the same animal!
Homer (mocking): Sure, Lisa, a Magical, Wonderful animal!

No, seriously, pigs taste the best. But actually, I realized not too long ago that I didn't really care about meat unless it was cured or heavily seasoned--bacon, various sausages.

Chicken is okay, but it's bland--that's what people mean when they say a meat tastes like chicken: it doesn't taste like anything, but it feels like meat in my mouth. I like duck, too. Tonight I tried frog legs. It tasted like chicken.

[urb-banal.livejournal.com]

ummm, don't you have any butchers that sell organic meat? or is organic not grass fed? what does organic mean, besides that I can have a burger on a gluten free bun and sleep easy at night?

As for my diet I just say, "I've had cancer twice, I eat what I think isn't going to kill me..." And for "friends" who try to convince me otherwise... well, actually I have no friends...*limps off to suck thumb*

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Organic meat means that the animals are fed certified organic feed, which usually means the same kind of processed cornmeal stuff that factory farms feed, just made from organic (which means no petroleum derived pesticides etc.) ingredients. Organic meat animals can be raised in any conditions (including non-humane) and are more than likely raised indoors.

Grass-pasturing is often a whole farm system, where several different species are rotated on pasture land. Processed feed is used to supplement the chicken's feed, but much less of it, as the chickens feed on weeds and insects (which makes them and their eggs taste better). There is usually much less waste and pollution involved in a grass-pasturing farm.

[bellelvsbeast.livejournal.com]

Hmm...makes sense...but I don't care what they feed the animals, I still don't want to eat them...it's about how they are killed to me, not what they are fed. Also how they are housed before being killed...

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Same with me. Grass-pastured animals are, by definition, kept in outdoor enclosures. Killing them is always done the same--hard to change that, with the usda's strict regulations of slaughterhouses.