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Monday, November 5, 2007

I'd like a side of beef...

Fast Food Nation came in the mail last week. It has been on my que for some time and it seemed to arrive when I am at the height of disgust with fast foodishness and big business. The thing is, the same issues were taking place in slaughterhouses back in the 1800's. Immigrant workers coming in to work in substandard conditions, producing contaminated products.

When the movie was over, I looked up some ranchers in california that sell their free range, grass-fed, organic beef by the 1/4, 1/2, side and the whole thing. If I am ever in a situation to get a deep freezer, I plan to buy a side or maybe a 1/2 of beef...I don't know if we can eat that much beef in a year. It seems to cut out so much of the arenas for contamination and inethical practices, plus it supports a local rancher. It costs something like 7.50/lb, but you're getting a vareity of cuts that probably range from 4.99/lb to 19.99/lb, so it seems like it would even out.

I've been thinking a lot about reducing, and really eliminating our consumption of meat. We don't eat a whole lot to begin with, and we can't really afford to buy organic. Scott has already agreed that if companies start using cloned animals for meat, we will certainly go vegetarian.
I think the only reason I haven't taken the vegetarian plunge (at least while cooking at home) is that cooking vegetarian can be hard. Generally, you have a lot more ingredients and prep work.


We were talking the other day and even though there are chicken breast recipes I make, none of them are really satisfying...the meat is mostly flavorless unless it is bathed in some type of sauce or has marinated several hours before grilling. I have a couple good whole chicken recipes, but those require brining and really become a long, drawn out process. Certainly not fit for working-mom-week-night-dining. The point is, it will not be hard to say goodbye to chicken. Beef on the other hand...

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