This week we did a taste test of milk from a local dairy versus good ol' Trader Joe's milk..this was stemmed from mommy's new reading of a book about agriculture--or should we say the monoculture of our food in the USA.
The author has great ideas, and they are SIMPLE. But sometimes it is the simplest things that are the hardest to do right?
(I highly rec'd reading the book!)
The author has great ideas, and they are SIMPLE. But sometimes it is the simplest things that are the hardest to do right?
(I highly rec'd reading the book!)
Vote with Your Fork
November 28, 2008
"You don't have to wait for Nancy Pelosi or Barack Obama or Collin Peterson to get their act together on this issue. You can act now. There are alternatives. You can vote with your fork." -Michael PollanIn his convesation with Bill Moyers, Michael Pollan stressed that we need to redefine our relationship with food. We need to take a hard look at how America's food policies — trade rules, farm subsidies, and regulation — affect larger issues including global warming, healthcare, and even homeland security. But, stresses Pollan, we needn't wait for policy makers and economic trends to make changes. Below are a few of his suggestions for voting with your fork:
- THINKING: Think of the dollars you spend on food in a different way. You're not just a consumer. You're a producer too. And you can produce another kind of agriculture depending on where you choose to spend your money. Vote with your fork, for a different kind of food.
- SHOPPING: Go to the farmer's market. Get out of the supermarket....You will find that you are supporting local agriculture, 'cause you'll care about the quality of ingredients.
- GROWING: Plant a garden if you've got space. And if you don't, look into a community garden where you might rent a little bit of space.
- COOKING: Simply by starting to cook...you declare your independence from the culture of fast food. As soon as you cook, you start thinking about ingredients. You start thinking about plants and animals, and not the microwave. And you will find that your diet, just by that one simple act, is greatly improved.
- TAKE TIME: I am saying that we do need to invest more time in food. Food is just too important to relegate to these 10-minute corners of our lives... We watch cooking shows like crazy on television. We've turned cooking into a spectator sport. If you would merely invest the time you spend watching cooking shows in actually cooking, we'd find you've got plenty of time to put a meal on the table.
- GLOBAL WARMING AND LOCAL EATING: Why don't we experiment with a meatless Monday in America? Why don't you set the example in the White House? And on Mondays you don't have meat. That's a lot easier to do. You know what that would do to climate change? That's the equivalent of taking 30 million or 40 million cars off the road for a year... In the process of doing it, we will be making a substantial contribution on greenhouse gases, and we will realize that we're not helpless
So here is the test we did...after reading the book, one step I took is buying milk from a local dairy to support my local farmer and dairy, and to also help reduce those greenhouse gases by not supporting the dairy I was buying from where I really didn't know WHERE their milk was coming from! It says where it is distributed but not where the cows are from on some milks. I bought the whole milk variety for both. Trader Joes states its from Southern CA, but does not state the actual dairy info, I am hoping its not out of state.
The Straus comes in a glass bottle which is a lot more GREEN than the plastic or cartons for recycling.
They both ended up tasting similar, the one in the glass bottle was a little more creamier and yellow in color...see Zayden below refusing to taste, but he actually LOVES milk, just was being a cranky pants that night!
I hope that more families adopt the tips listed above, the author isn't giving any unique ideas, they are practical! They are very do-able for our family. WE will continue to support greener living and I am so glad to have found the Straus dairy and so glad that the local markets have it. We certainly can't milk our own cows here in AC, but we will do our best with what we have!
0 comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
