Well it was close: “you are what you eat”. We have been told that for some time. And we have been told to substitute chicken for red meat. Perhaps not the best advice, according to Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma. This book details the origin, nature and value of four very different meals:
- fast food [from McDonalds],
- “big organic” [from Whole Foods],
- pasture-fed [locally grown, grass-fed],
- and “hunted-gathered” [first person, direct involvement].
As Pollan points out, if you are a koala the question of “What’s for dinner?” has a simple answer: eucalyptus leaves. They have no other choice. For us, the choice is the Dilemma. What is available? What is healthy? What is Right?
Pollan makes a compelling case that it is less what you eat that counts, as much what you eat eats. By the end of the book, along with some online research during the read, I became convinced that grass-fed red meat - as opposed to corn-fed, feedlot-crammed, antibiotic-injected supermarket beef - was actually better for me than the chicken I have long been choosing for health reasons. It was one of those Firesign Theatre moments, in which they admonish: ‘Remember “Everything You Know is Wrong“‘.
My Body: “Gimme Red Meat”; My Mind: “The Chicken is Safer”
I have for a long time struggled with the issue of eating meat - red meat in particular. I love the aroma of meat cooking, my body gets along with it very well, my palate says, “Mmm…yeah baby!”. But for just as long I have been told that the problem with red meat is its nature: too much fat and cholesterol will shorten my life and lower the quality of what remains.
Health Benefits
If you browse a few of the websites of producers of grass-fed beef you will find references to health benefits of grass-fed beef. This,of course, is self-serving but that only makes it suspect, not untrue. CSU Chico maintains a site to review scientific literature on the subject and the evidence that grass-fed beef is better for you than “store-bought” chicken appears compelling. Grass-fed beef actually contains less fat than supermarket chicken and the fat you do get has a substantially higher proportion of Omega-3’s. Perhaps even more importantly, by carefully selecting a rancher you can insure that the food you bring into your home has zero added hormones, antibiotics, or pesticides.
What About the Taste?
Last night we had a large dinner party - about 50 people at our house. Among other things we served a variety of grilled steaks - skirt, ribeye, tenderloin, sirloin - from Alderspring Ranch in Idaho. Our guests spanned four generations and included 1st-generation immigrants from many countries: Russia, Belarus, China, Israel, and Mali. If you included the next generation you could also add Iran, Korea and Mexico - all-in-all a pretty culturally diverse group.
These Alderspring steaks got rave reviews across the board. They were tender and flavorful, well beyond any other meat I have tasted. We saved the organic top sirloin kabobs for last. One remarkable thing about them was the texture; I cut the sirloin into cubes about 1.25″ in size. It was the softest, most tender meat I have ever seen. Quite literally, if I didn’t know better I would assume it was from some other species with which I was unfamiliar. By the time it came off the grill my son and his friends who brought it in from our backyard had a very difficult time delivering itto the dining room, preferring instead to continue to “test it” privately, in the kitchen.
Online, 1st-Person
There is also something very gratifying in this day and age knowing that in purchasing this food I am conducting a transaction that, while long-distance, is between me and just two other people: a husband/wife team that raises these cattle, people who take responsibility for doing it well and doing it right, and are able to provide full traceability for every animal they raise. One more way in which the Web and the Internet extend the reach of both very small producers and the individual consumer. Disintermediation at its finest.
Political, Philosophical Questions
For many, there are questions that go well beyond 1st-person health issues: Doesn’t raising cattle use “too much” land? Is is right to kill other animals? If I’m going to eat meat shouldn’t be willing to kill it myself? All questions I continue to ask myself, but at this moment I have made my personal decision. For now. When I do eat meat I will try to make it grass-fed, pasture-raised, and free of the all-too-common contaminants that pollute our food chain. That means a higher percentage of my meat meals will be prepared at home using grass-fed beef.
