It's February 25th and I'm finally watching Food Inc. I rented it after trying unsuccessfully for 2 nights to dowload it for free. Then yet another obstacle for the next 4 nights has been the invasion of the Olympics, most importantly, hockey. The Canadian women won last night (yay!) but the boys are still working on it....but I digress. Quick note....I will digress regularly just because I can't help it. Might be an attention disorder. ? In any matter, Food Inc. has me thinking again. uh oh.
About 9 years ago I stopped eating beef and most pork (sometimes I snuck a piece of bacon). The reason? a documentary that I watched one night about the factory production of beef in the United States and to get detailed it showed a hidden camera of a slaughtered cow on the assembly line which had been accidentally punctured in the abdomen by a factory worker. Well the puncture caused a large amount of urine and whatever other bodily fluids to spill out all over the assembly line and the floor. The camera then showed the factory worker clumsily mopping some of it up in a bucket and then bringing on the next cow. I was completely shocked and more completely grossed out. That was 1999. It wasn't until 2007 when we moved to Australia and went out to dinner one night to a very popular steak restaurant that I couldn't resist the aroma of steaks grilling and the constant bragging about Australian beef. Wow was it good! I'm not sure if it was the Australian beef or just the fact that I missed it and craved it. I haven't become a big beef eater since then but I have allowed a good restaurant to grill me a good steak on a rare occasion. Now tonight after watching Food Inc. I am facing another dilemma. The food industry is irresponsible and that's a fact but when we buy their product doesn't that make us irresponsible? I'm just not sure because my heart is seeing the chickens kicked around and the cows back legs giving out but my human instinct is telling me that these creatures are here for our consumption and my culinary abilities would hate to remove these most important ingredients from my dishes. Also...I love all chickens, baked, fried, roasted, slow cooked and fast cooked and replacing it would be a lot of work. Can I be that dedicated in my new cause or can I just convince myself that we Canadians have higher standards and our chickens, cows and pigs live happily here in the great North? What if I just buy the grass fed creatures? a lot to think about for now but tomorrow I promise a really good tofu recipe.
