Politics vs conscience

New footage was released today from an undercover camera in a pig factory farm in Iowa:

Company’s Farm Practices in Question After Video Is Released

First of all: what is wrong with these people? Who can callously throw a piglet? And encourage others to do so? Who can justify cutting tails and castrating pigs without painkillers? How can someone make a career of doctoring animals and claim that a gestation crate is humane?

Secondly: how can one’s political allegiances override one’s basic human sensibility? The bill-supporting politicians are supporting animal abuse. The article says the politicians did not watch the video. Perhaps the way to think the abuse isn’t so bad is to ignore it, pretend it’s not real, stay in a state of denial by not looking at the proof. Disgusting.

On a brighter note, at least some of the grocers are doing the right thing and suspending shipments from the company that distributes pork from the offending farm. Kudos to Safeway and Kroger.

Chipotle does more, again

In the news today:

Chipotle to double its use of local produce

Chipotle says it will increase use of local produce

Chipotle expects to use more than 10 million pounds of locally-grown produce this year, instead of the previously-forecast 5 million pounds. The restaurant is already the leading restaurant company in serving naturally-raised meat.

Defeat for Big Corn?

News from the NRDC blog: Senate votes overwhelmingly to end corn ethanol subsidies

  • The amendment will end three decades of subsidies to the corn ethanol industry and save taxpayers several billion dollars.
  • The VEETC (Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit) [cost] taxpayers $6 billion this year alone and [gave] almost nothing in return in domestic ethanol production or industry jobs above and beyond what is already mandated by the Renewable Fuel Standard
  • [The VEETC] comes at the expense of developing the new and cleaner advanced biofuels we need to create jobs, increase our energy security and address global warming.

We wanted to see if Michael Pollan had written anything recently about ethanol subsidies, and read this article from 2006:

http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/the-great-yellow-hope/

  • The way we grow corn in this country consumes tremendous quantities of fossil fuel: Every bushel of corn grown in America has consumed the equivalent of between a third and a half gallon of gasoline.
    • Corn receives more synthetic fertilizer than any other crop, and that fertilizer is made from fossil fuels — mostly natural gas.
    • Corn also receives more pesticide than any other crop, and most of that pesticide is made from petroleum.
    • To plow or disc the cornfields, plant the seed, spray the corn and harvest it takes large amounts of diesel fuel
    • To dry the corn after harvest requires natural gas.
  • Distill[ing] the corn into ethanol, an energy-intensive process that requires still more fossil fuel. Estimates vary, but they range from two-thirds to nine-tenths of a gallon of oil to produce a single gallon of ethanol. (The more generous number does not count all the energy costs of growing the corn.) Some estimates are still more dismal, suggesting it may actually take more than a gallon of fossil fuel to produce a gallon of our putative alternative to fossil fuel.
  • According to the Wall Street Journal, it will cost U.S. taxpayers $120 for every barrel of oil saved by making ethanol.
  • The federal government offers a tax break of 54 cents for every gallon of ethanol produced
  • At the same time, the government protects domestic ethanol producers by imposing a tariff of 54 cents a gallon on imported ethanol
  • Ethanol is just the latest chapter in a long, sorry history of clever and profitable schemes to dispose of surplus corn: there was corn liquor in the 19th century; feedlot meat starting in the 1950’s and, since 1980, high fructose corn syrup.

This all reminds us of a t-shirt we saw recently: http://www.goodjoe.com/Store/Product.aspx?id=66. It’s not clear from the creator’s description if she is making a statement about the large quantity of corn products found in the composition of the average American body…

 

 

Chinese animal activism on the rise

Animal treatment awareness is increasing among Chinese citizens:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-06/19/c_13937814.htm

Activists are pushing for the passage of the China Animal Protection Law, which has been languishing in the legislature for almost 2 years. The law would be China’s first comprehensive animal welfare law, and would include protections for food animals.

A heightened awareness of animal rights illustrates a cultural shift in China. From AFP:

“Compared with their parents’ or grandparents’ generations whose only concern was putting food on the table, the younger generations have the luxury of thinking more of other so-called ‘unessential’ things such as travel and companion animals,” said Li.

“When I was back in China in the 1980s, ‘animal protection’, ‘animal welfare’ and ‘compassion for non-human individuals’ were never phrases in China. Today, all these terms are known to many over there,” he added.

“The younger generation shall be a mighty force against animal cruelty in China.”

The Carnist Viewpoint

An interesting read from a “carnist”:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2077750,00.html

The author admits he is a meat lover, but stresses the importance of choosing humanely-treated meat and animal products.

We skimmed through some of the comments… most of the commenters were fired up: either “how dare you tell me not to eat meat!” or “how dare you take livestock abuse so lightly!” Obviously not everyone is as motivated as Haute Pasture readers to seek out humane products; the average American probably doesn’t think about the animals at all as he or she is ordering a burger from the drive-thru. We view an article like this as a positive thing, that may get the average Joe to wake up and start taking baby steps toward being a more responsible consumer.

Brookville Restaurant

Last night we had a fantastic dinner at Brookville Restaurant in downtown Charlottesville. Brookville is dedicated to using local (within 100 miles of the restaurant), seasonal food, and the resulting dishes are delicious. One thing we particularly appreciate is the indication on the menu of foods that are not local–and there aren’t many. See the (poorly-lit, taken with a no-flash iPhone) photo below for the “Not a Local Product” note:

Highlights from Brookville’s blog:

  • “So I believe that there are many responsibilities that come along with owning a small business. The two most important are supporting your local community and giving money to those who are doing research to make the world a better place.”
  • “I strongly believe that the animals we eat must be cared for and live in the best possible conditions. That means chickens should be required to have pasture grazing time and not kept in huge houses that become a breeding pool for animal disease.”

Support local farmers by patronizing the restaurants who buy from them!

Whole Foods Meat

We braved the insanity at the shiny new Whole Foods in Charlottesville today. A security guard was directing traffic in the parking lot, and the place was a zoo, but it was beautiful. We have a couple posts planned around Whole Foods, but in the meantime, we’ll just say we were very impressed by the new store, and appreciated this sign:

Great Harvest Bread Co.

A Great Harvest Bread Co. just opened in HP’s town, Charlottesville VA. Yum. When we visited, we were pleased to see a notice announcing that the store sources its eggs locally, and Kath, the proprietress, told us she’s working on finding a local provider of sandwich meats. Looking around their website, there’s more good stuff:

For more than three decades we have been a friend to family farms located in Montana. We know our
wheat farmers on a first-name basis

And from the corporate website:

We also provide you with the best bread-baking wheat available by identifying suppliers who meet our strict standards for wheat quality and business practices. The Franchise Agreement requires you to buy wheat only from our approved suppliers, which maintains quality standards and helps you produce the freshest, most nutritionally rich and phenomenal-tasting bread!

Good luck to Great Harvest Charlottesville!

Edible Blue Ridge

Just picked up the Spring issue of Edible Blue Ridge. Yes, we are a little behind. Highlights:

  • The editor describing a 60 Minutes segment where Leslie Stahl got giddy over a simple breakfast cooked for her by Alice Waters
  • An article about Virginia Truffle Growers, who are selling oak seedlings that were inoculated with the spore that produces truffles
  • A description of goose, duck, and quail eggs, in comparison with chicken eggs
  • A short story about Jon Hampton, who creates stencils for the powdered sugar faces that sometimes grace the pancakes at Blue Moon Diner in Charlottesville
  • An ad for Bridgeport Construction, LLC, a local company that makes Eco Cottages. The pictured cottage is adorable, and only 250 square feet!
  • A recipe for candied mint: spray mint leaves with vegetable spray; dredge in sugar; microwave for a minute on a plate covered with plastic wrap