I don't usually inject politics into my food blog, and I only do so because one of my
favorite political bloggers, Ezra Klein of
The American Prospect, has written two insightful entries on the carbon footprint on modern meat consumption. You can find his posts
here and
here. For me the money quote is:
"The problem isn't that people eat meat, but that we've made meat much cheaper than it actually is. Make meat cost what it should cost, and diets will shift to reflect that. Make it so cheap that cheeseburgers cost less than dollar, and people will eat a lot of it."
While Ezra is correct that corn, grain and land subsidies have
contributed to this process, you must also accept that that is only one aspect of a much larger set of contributing factors. I include the traditionally low cost of fuel, the insane affection for a lawn of
foreign grasses, and even the Supreme Court decision in
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
Add to that the brainwashing of the American palate to consider feedlot beef and pork, as well as battery chicken to be edible, and pink balls of
styrofoam to be acceptable as "tomatoes" and toss in the loss of the knowledge and willingness to put foods by, and you have today's food reality.
It's part of why I have become so interested in the curing of meats and preserving of foods, beside the fact that it is fun, fascinating and really tasty. It's also why I have been starting to
source foods locally.
But, even for me the answer may be to have meat priced higher so I demand better taste for my buck, and so I generally eat less.
There is a rant here, but not 'til my brain has wrapped itself around the issue more cogently.
Pax
Just a few notes out of today’s Taste section in the Buffalo News.
