Local farms. So Pollan proceeds to scare the lunch right out of me, and then tells me there might be hope? Blasphemy. I want to wallow. I want to whine. I want to whip those bovines out of their pens until they revolt against their masters and graze upon their very flesh so they fatten up and I may feast upon them in turn. I want to….eat that delicious beta-carotene filled eggs that sound like eating a little piece of protein filled sunshine.
And I mean it when I say sunshine. Pollan’s description of the Polyface Farm had me hopeful, hungry, and enlightened. It also almost had me sign up for an internship to go put my hands to work up on a farm in Northern Michigan, but who would want these pasty fingers away from the keyboard? Pollan’s reiteration of food from sunlight truly hit home within his “Pastoral Grass” section within The Omnivore’s Dilemma, along with his description of Joel Salatin’s world view and farming system.
How could one not feel so pure, so hard working, so bleeding bloody American, when working on that kind of farm. Constant observance and dedication is needed in order to make sure the chickens/cows don’t over-peck/over-graze their specific little sections of the 500 acre Salatin farm, but in no way is this diligence unrewarded. A healthy mind, a healthy crop, a healthy herd, and a hearty stomach are all benefits of this lifestyle. Dear god, he may make a neo-foodie of me yet.
For the first time in my life I really looked at the labels—I also critiqued those I already knew who did. There was a difference between looking at the label—your nutrition facts, dietary labels, calorie counting, so on and so forth—and knowing if a food is good for you. Sure, this may sound a tad bit asinine, but Pollan opened my eyes: I need to know where my food comes from.
For instance: the café. Oi vey, is there a dozen complaints for every compliment, but that isn’t the point. I wanted to know the story. Did the food come from nearby? Did they grow it “humanely”? Did that even matter? If anything, Joel Salatin taught Pollan that it doesn’t matter how food is killed, but how often the one who is doing the killing is subjected to their role. Yes, I realize the power dynamic here, but we have always been genetically engineered to kill for sustenance, be it the life of a plant or animal. I think Pollan was on to something when he commented that there has been a shift in income from 20% to 10% devoted to food—sustenance has stopped being a priority and has become privilege.
All this typing has given me the urge to get my hands dirty—my hands should be half-way delved into compost and neon-green hot peppers. Maybe I should apply to an internship or something.
-Consciously Carniverous
E. Clark
-Consciously Carniverous
E. Clark
This post makes me smile so much. I too, was really enchanted by the power of Pollens book, I feel like he does an expert job of getting people to jump on the bandwagon of finding our where our food comes from as I wrote about in my blogpost too! Yeah, where does the food int eh caf come from? I wonder? But isn't it interesting that we don't really have control over that aspect of our eating? In my opinion the caf does not provide a "transparent" food experience in my opinion, and it really comes down to that simple idea of transparency as Pollen so artfully discusses. No transparency means food coming from who knows where.... and guess what? That's when the system starts taking advantage of us and it becomes about money rather than sustenance. Shouldn't food be more important that that?
ReplyDeleteZac,
ReplyDeleteNice post! If you ever apply to an internship, let us know :)
I agree--reading this section definitely made me feel hopeful as well. It was definitely a breath of fresh air after the industrial foods section. You articulated pretty much everything I was thinking in this post really well.
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