farming

The government has decided to consider farmers' proposals to sell genetically altered animals as food. Although genetically engineered food is not a new concept (the process is used in agriculture to produce more crops), this is the first time that the FDA has contemplated applying the process to animals. The animals' genes would be manipulated to bring out or change certain characteristics. Faster growing fish, featherless chicken, and mad-cow-resistant cattle are examples of the types of changes that can be made.

The development is incredibly interesting and somewhat disturbing. The FDA will not always require the genetically modified food to be labeled, so consumers may not know if they are eating pork from a reduced-waste producing pig or fish that has grown in 18 months instead of three years.

What do you think of the news? Would you want to eat genetically adapted animals?

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Animal rights activists PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has released a highly unsettling, undercover video that shows the mishandling of pigs on an Iowa farm. Among other things, in the clip — which I couldn't watch all the way through — workers hit female pigs with metal rods and slam piglets on a concrete floor. The farm supplies pigs for pork giant Hormel, who has acknowledged the abuses as "completely unacceptable." While PETA claims that pig farm abuse is widespread and common, leading animal welfare expert Temple Grandin disagrees:

I've been on many good farms, and the pigs are handled gently. This was blatant, deliberate animal cruelty. These people are sick. They need to be prosecuted. There are certain people that enjoy hurting animals and they should not be working with them—period.

Being a carnivore, I have to agree with Grandin and hope that the meat I purchase is from humane farms. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the video and if the USDA steps in as it did with the California slaughterhouse that mistreated cows earlier this year.

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The Wall Street Journal's "Green Acres II: When Neighbors Become Farmers" reports that a growing number of Americans are "turning grass into edible greens and maybe even greenbacks," by growing food in their front and backyards. Since 2006, in Boulder, CO, school-bus driver Kipp Nash has "uprooted his backyard and the front or backyards of eight of his Boulder neighbors," and spent his afternoons "planting, watering, and tending" these minifarms, growing vegetables like tomatoes, bok choy, garlic, and beets. Although not everyone in the neighborhood finds this suburban farming aesthetically pleasing, particularly not during the Winter months, the locally-grown food market has grown, leaving yard farmers with an opportunity to sell to nearby restaurants and other neighbors. Since land is expensive, and nearly a third of residential water goes to landscaping, the financial advantages of suburban farming are clear. But, environmentalists also support it because it "cuts the distance — and the carbon dioxide — needed to get food from farm to consumer." To see a video on the topic, read more

It's no secret, I'm a pretty die-hard carnivore. I tried to go veg when I was 16, but my dad made bacon for breakfast a few days later and I just couldn't help myself. So naturally, when a book with the huge letters M-E-A-T arrived at the Sugar HQ, I knew I'd found my next "must read."

Just by glancing through Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's The River Cottage Meat Book, you can tell it's one of those books that is destined to become a classic. The first section of the book is committed to "Understanding Meat," while the rest of it is devoted to various ways of cooking. It's one part meat manifesto, one part guidebook and all parts captivating. Reading it will help you understand high-quality sustainable meat production, as well as educate you in how to choose and store meats. In fact, I lent the book to TeamSugar and she said,

If you are a meat eater it is a must, as it is an in-depth look into the delicious world of meat. For those vegetarians, the first chapter alone might convince you to eat a big juicy steak.

While it may not actually convert any vegetarians, it is a book that many vegetarians can get behind due to Hugh's stance of sustainable farming. If the poor treatment of animals wasn't enough to turn you off of big-farm farming, then Hugh's descriptions of slow-grown heritage animals treated with respect just might.

Yet, admittedly, this book is not for the faint of heart. For every delicious dish that's prepared, there's also pictures of it during the different stages of preparation (including the slaughter). However if you've ever wanted to learn more about meat, where it comes from, how you should select it and then prepare it, you should definitely seek this book out. It was originally published in the UK in 2004, but has recently been revised/converted for an American audience. And did I mention the fact that there are definitely loads of delicious recipes inside?

The Omnivore's Dilemma was one of last year's most talked about food books and yet it didn't have a single recipe in it. In fact, it didn't have any kitchen tips either. So what was it about and what made it so popular?

Author Michael Pollan uses his tome as a way to explore the way we deal with food, or actually, the way we don't deal with food. As he travels up and down the food chain, it is obvious that he clearly believes our society has become greatly distanced from our food. The meat we purchase in the grocery store is shaped like a slab, not an animal. His disgust at the factory farming industry is very clear and his words are sometimes frightening to digest. Whether you're a full-fledged meat eater or a long-time vegetarian, The Ominvore's Dilemma will definitely make you think twice about how you consume food.

Have any of you read it? If so, what did you think?

Plastic wrapped, large round balls of iceberg lettuce were always present in my childhood fridge. However as I got older my beloved iceberg was replaced by romaine, spinach, arugula and even bitter greens. Turns out I'm not the only who turned their back on iceberg. Although it is still the nation's most prominent lettuce, iceberg has taken a back seat to other varied greens instead.

In 2006, 174,600 acres of iceberg lettuce were harvested in the United States, down from 198,500 acres in 1998, the first year for which U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics were available.

During the same period, the amount of harvested romaine lettuce increased from 36,450 acres to 61,000 acres. Green and red leaf lettuce harvests increased from 46,220 acres to 71,100 acres.

So why the sad slide into lettuce oblivion? At one point, iceberg was the only lettuce robust enough to make the supermarket journey without being damaged by ice. In fact, it actually received its name from the ice-filled train cars which shipped lettuce out. However, now that transportation and farming technology has advanced, more delicate greens - which once had to be consumed closer to home - can make the journey as well.

To entice customers, the country's largest lettuce supplier (Tanimura and Antle) is packaging its iceberg lettuce in plastic patterned with baseball stitching and including recipes for wedge salads printed on baseball cards.

Source: Topix