Yesterday was a day for major aggravation on the Internet for me. First there was a story from a large, but very animal-rightsy, newspaper in the region bemoaning the horror of raising fat, juicy turkeys and calling strongly for a return to nomming on old-fashioned, wild-style turkeys.
Because life is so much better for the skinny, stringy, wild-type ones you know. They live forever, happily mating and eating rainbow stew and are so much better for themselves and for us and for the environment and all.....Nobody eats them until they have lived out their happy lives...oh, wait, what about coyotes? And they die happy when we do eat them.
Anyhow, the story graveled the heck out of me. Especially since the guy bitching and moaning about modern agriculture is a legislator who wants to write new laws so we all have to raise and eat "heritage" critters the way the Shakers did. Cause it "seems" nicer. Which in a nutshell encompasses most of the touchy-feely, well-meaning, but ill informed arguments against modern farming methods.
Um, does anybody remember why the Shakers died out? I don't think their ideas would translate too awful well into feeding the hungry world. I don't think much of 'em at all, at all.
I think even less of wealthy, privileged, individuals abusing their position to dictate to folks who maybe can't afford to keep three or four turkeys like little pets, eat maybe one a year, and then pat themselves on the back for how humane they are. How about a little humanity for folks who have less and need to buy cheaper food or go without?
In past years the table in the dining room has been ringed with most of my family, and groaned under the food we cooked for Thanksgiving. There were oftentimes two turkeys, a wild (not too far removed from "heritage" ones) and a conventionally-raised, store bought one. Our guests enjoyed the chance to taste the wild bird, which was good even if it took a lot of gravy to make it tender and juicy.
But there was barely enough for each of them to have one bite. The big ol' store brand tom though....that was another story. He was the one who sent them home sleepy and comfortable with fond memories of the feast. Folks used to know about hunger so they appreciated plenty...and they bred turkeys to grow big and tender and flavorful.
We can certainly all return to historic methods of food production. Been there, done that. We can grow our own here at the farm and process it from feathered to food. However there will be a few million folks starving in other places who wish we didn't. The methods by which livestock is raised for food have been evolving since mankind first welcomed wild animals to the campfire. They are followed because they are economical, sustainable, and use resources efficiently. This may not matter to wealthy folks who want to brag about how their food was raised, but in the end they are better for the many. Check out this article by a true expert on modern ag. It should be required reading in the NYS Assembly.
And then there was the HuffPo piece about what you shouldn't want in your food and how organic milk doesn't have any hormones so it is better than conventionally produced milk. As one of my Facebook friends pointed out, you can find stuff in the pen with the bull that fits in with the veracity of that story. All foods have hormones. Try a soybean. No wait...
Really, I need to stop reading this stuff.....
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