Our friend, Big Shamu, is THE prize winner fer the always fantastic food photography--an' the food she dishes up is succulent, interesting and jes' fun. Tonight when I visited her blog, Karmic Kitchen, the topic was "food porn" featurin' an ole Gourmet Magazine cover. Beautiful stuff, fun stuff (ole' packin' crates wif' fabulous artistry).
Now the thang is, when I go to Shamu's KK, I is re-inspired that food is SUPPOSED to be good an' good fer ya.
Yet more an' more I'se movin' away from restaurants and lots of foods--why?
Well, funny ya should ask. Oh shure, droppin' a few pounds is always a good idea...but it ain't that. Nope. It is...
F O O D T E R R OR !!
It ain't no joke, chillens'.
Consumer Reports reports that 39% of bagged salat greens is contaminated wif' fecal coliforms . Iffin' that doan gag ya' what does?
Now think on that a bit. Iffin' 39% comes wif' fecal contamination already IN IT, then what is the % after unclean kitchen practices in various restaurants, fast food chains etc. is finished handling your food?
Then--well, first, y'all recall how Aunty is a fierce opponent of the dreaded Monsanto Terminator Technology? AN' how I'se written reams on this afore? (see archives 4.03.06 on FRONT Porch, an' BACK Porch for 7.23.06)
Monsanto (makers of Agent Orange) is the world's leadin' biocide conglomerate. Their goal is to control the seeds of the world by making normal seed prey to the terminator seeds of their genetically modified strains of every edible species. It is worth a book--or two or ten.
Anyhoo--despite their massive PR spin an' outright falsified "studies" word does leak out that the poison they cause is KILLING us.
Exhibit A:
Animals fed wif' Monsanto's GMO corn become poisonous food fer humans--it attacks yore liver an' kidneys --yep. them organs is how ya filter the yucky stuff ya eat, so now even the organs that should hep ya survive a food terror is now attacked. We jes' cain't win in the food sweepstakes.
How does ya know iffin' the pork or beef or chicken youse consumin' has been fed this monster-fied corn? Ya doan't--an thas' the trouble. Ya cain't hardly find no meat wif'out this biocidal IED in it at yore grocery.
What ya' wanna do is get wif' the local natural farmers. They need yore support. We need them to flourish so that we have an alternative--I mean, really now, NONE of the BIG meat conglomerates is free of Monsanto mutant feed grains.
But thar's some hope--more an' more folks is interested in real food. Here is jes' one link to a ranchin' company--TallGrass Beef--that raises pasture/ grass fed beef. NO corn fed steer.
I know it is expensive--so we eat less, but we eat safer. Yore organs will thank ya'!
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22 comments:
great post! i totally agree. i hate monsanto. my husband tried raising corn last year from seed that has been passed down for generations but we are a bit too shady. too many trees and i'm loath to cut them down.
i wonder if they have their fingers in the hops market ... hmmmm ...
Foamy!
Oh my--y'all has heritage corn seed? Chile' chile' chile'!! them seeds is better'n GOLD. No foolin'.
Ya cain't eat gold...eventually even the farmer figgers out that to sell off his cow fer shiny yellow rocks is a bad bargain when the world is runnin' low on food.
Wonder iffin' ya might get a local farmer to grow ya a row or two? Be sure to save the seeds again from part of it.
I doan blame ya fer wantin' to keep yore trees.
An be sure to seek out and support yore local raised foods.
oh..on hops? You bet'cha Foamy.
Looky:
"COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Spurned across the continent by food-fastidious Europeans, the biotechnology industry has turned in its quest for converts to the ultimate ice breaker: genetically modified beer.
A consortium of the world's largest biotech companies led by Monsanto Co. helped fund a Swedish brewer's new light lager that's produced with the usual hops and barley - and a touch of genetically engineered corn."
More:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/beer.cfm
(Somebody pls tell me how to add live links in the combox??)
Also, see what's on wif' MOnsanto and Germany whar' protestors is jailed:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,611582,00.html
I bought a whole bunch of heritage seeds last year and a couple books on gardening in small spaces (I have two acres, but most of it is unusable). My greatest success was my lettuce. I planted in a raised bed under some trees and we had a full five varieties of cut-and-come-again from April through July when it finally got hot enough for it to all bolt. Can't wait to plant again this year.
You know what's even better than beef? Grass fed buffalo. I use it and ground turkey instead of ground beef.
Am sending this article to my chef. Also, I think the food supply is showing up in the obesity levels. And no one is talking about THAT. And I lost an important organ probably due to this very thing ... thyroid cancer; and when you look into the causes ... quite scary.
Heirloomseeds.com I bought my BIL a huge box for his Christmas present this year.
My Sister and I were talking about this very subject over the weekend. SCARY how much of our food production is owned by one or two large conglomerates.
I'm up with the Wiener Winner, so drop on by!
I always buy organic meat unless it's Aberdeen Angus beef, which is always grass fed.
It's quite terrifying the way that companies can put stuff into our foodchain with seemingly no regulation whatsoever. It's not surprising there are so many allergies and sicknesses these days as a result :(
Aunty,
Gagging here.
A few years back there was an alert for horse owners. Do not give feed with corn to your horses. None. Nada. Zip. The reason? Some never heard of enzyme response in the corn itself. No explanation of what the corn was reacting to by producing the enzyme. The effect on horses if they ate this corn in their feed? It turned their brains to LIQUID! My response to that news was a good stretch beyond gagging. No animal of ours has eaten feeds with corn since then.
I buy corn from the local farmers market. I don't grind my own corn meal or flour. I do buy my grits from a local, organic, grist miller. In fact, at this old mill, you can take your own produce to them for milling.
Grow your own or buy from local growers is now a necessary form of self protectionism/survival.
My fav new restaurant uses local grown, organic foods. Costs a bit more, tastes a lot better and I don't have anxiety for dinner.
Love your oh-so-entertaining but very informative posts Belle.
Very interesting Aunty, and since I don't get the feeling that you just hate big business in general, it has more merit with me.
I think the outlook for local growers, tiny and large, who are either organic, or at least pesticide free is very bright. From the person making a few extra bucks on the weekend at a farmer's market to the real farms that sell a fresh, wholesome product, demand is rising.
Our county just opened a farmer's market in Williston late last year and I just got the new "Square Foot Gardening" book, so you might even see me there some Saturday this spring.
Thanks for the shout out Aunty and you know I'm with you against the Jolly Gene Modified Giant and their factory farming practices. I've pimped them before and I'll pimp them again, Heritage Farms is a great resource for meat, cheese, wine, fruit and nuts. I can vouch for the deliciousness of their turkeys.
I've also been looking into lasagna or layered garden which is great for folks whose ground is a bit too rough for a garden. No tilling of soil. So grow your own food from seeds that you trust.
Not much anyone can do about the cleanliness of restaurant workers. It is what it is.
Aunty, I can't remember if you talked about these folks before Seed Savers Exchange
sounds exactly like what we need.
Hey Moi,
buffalo? I know it's good, as we tried it first time this october in Wyoming--we sees beefalo sometimes in the grocer--but no straight out buffalo.
Pam OKC,
youse got a chef?? WOw.
Oh no--thyroid cancer. Yikes--I'se gonna look into that.
Boxer-Babe!
it is SCARY! But how clever of ya to give BIL the seeds--least ya know whar' ya can git dome vittles if the time comes...heh.
Joanna Cakey-Pie Child,
I think youse RIGHT! Many of the allergies and weird unidentified medical woes is due to the gunk in our FrankenFoods.
Fishy!
Knowed yore horses would be fine wif' ya keen eye lookin' thangs over--but ya has yore own local grinder/ grist mill? Dang, ladyfish, lemme send ya mah order fer some cornmeal.
FC!
Goode Sir, dost thou plow fields an' harvest fresh leekes an 'erbs when spring has sprung \an'take thereto yore basket full to market days in the village of Willistowne?
Then looketh thou fore for Mistress Cracker, come
a-bargainin', for thifty be she, donned in apron long, in search of fresh an' faire onyions-- her meat pye to complete.
Shamu!
GO on an ' hawk Heritage Farms! I'se glad to know about 'em. As fer Seed Savers--oh yes! I'se been gettin they catalogs (lovely covers!) fer years.
THe time may come when commercial farmers look to those of us who DID buy an' grow the old fashioned varities--fer I fear eventually
Mother Nature will give Monsanto an' their ilk a catastrophic lesson.
I like to go to the local farmers market, but now this still makes me wonder about how they treat their produce. dang. I wonder if I should cut out eating all together. :/
Amen and AMEN! I heard/read somewhere that there is not a kernel of corn left on the planet that hasn't been tainted to some degree. If all our new ponds ever fade back into the water table... LOTS of rain lately... we're purt near ready to start our garden.
Food art... have you seen these?
Hi Aunty, here's how you do the links:
Put this: , then put the title, then close it off with . A simple bit of html that comes in handy!
What a frightening freakin' post. It not only frightens me but frustrates me. These companies are getting more and more powerful and only a few huge corporations are now dictating what we eat and what goes on our shelves. Thank God there is a movement in this country towards slow food, CSA, organic and against GM foods. I'm all for science but let's face it, we've messed around certain things too much and look at what havoc it's caused? Esp. introducing other species, seeds, plants to places they have no business being.
Going to check out the meat site, thanks so much. Sometimes I feel like I cannot eat anything anymore!
I can't seem to post how to do it without it turning into the link! I'll email you...
Then there's always hunting, if one can stomach it. The best way to ensure that your meat is at least deliberately hormone, steroid, etc. free, is to kill and eat wild game. S.B. is bound and determined that starting this year, that's all we eat - one elk, and a half dozen turkeys should do us for 12 months.
As for Bison meat, here's good info and a good resource: www.spahn-friends.com/bison/index.htm
Moi, I've heard that some wild elk and deer in this country have a disease similar to mad cow. So, hunting for your own meat is not a safe bet either.
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