Chapter 11: The Animals (Practicing Complexity)
Precis: Joel Salatin is not a slave to his animals, he is merely an orchestrator who lets the job get done by the ones most capable of doing it- the actual animals. In the eyes of this rare breed of farmer the animals are not simply a machine for the produce they give, but caregivers and nurturers toward the health of the other animals, and in turn, themselves. So why doesn't every farmer strive for what Salatin has? Because it not only takes real physical and mental input, but it simply does not net the profit nor efficiency that most industrial farmers live for. It takes innovation, a true passion for the message and belief that Joel and his father established, and other farmers today are simply too lazy and greedy to give something so "unconventional" (by today's standards) a try.
Gems:
-"Unfolding here before us, I realized, was a most impressive form of alchemy: cowpatties in the process of being transformed into exceptionally tasty eggs."
-"With the industrialization of agriculture, the simplifying process reached its logical extreme- in monoculture."
-"The idea is to not slavishly imitate nature, but to model a natural ecosystem in all its diversity and interdependence, one where all the species "fully express their physiological distinctiveness.""
-"...in one long, beautiful, and utterly convincing proof that in a world where grass can eat sunlight and food animals can eat grass, there is indeed a free lunch."
Thoughts/insights:
- The bit about the pig's tails was very disturbing to me. Beating a pig who had his tail cut off and didn't even know a good life to death? Ouch.
-Being a city person, I get incredibly uncomfortable with the outdoors... I think Joel Salatin might actually convince me that the farm life can be quite comfortable!
-Also, I envy those locals who get his food... why can't we get such tasty eggs or produce in the city? Wait... it's the city...
-I really admire Joel's philosophy and innovation toward his passion. His inventions of the eggmobile and the Gobbledy-Go show a passion and love for his profession that very few other farmers out there possess.
Chapter 12: Slaughter (In a Glass Abattoir)
Precis: Whether he likes it or not, Joel Salatin still must have his animals slaughtered. However, instead of shipping them out to let someone else perform this necessary evil, he decides that he not only thinks slaughtering his own chickens extends his own world view, but is a political statement and a guarantee to his consumers that the full cycle of the chicken on their plate was on his very farm. I didn't much enjoy my turn at slaughtering chickens, but in the long run it is far better than letting a pulverizer do the job, where all of the chicken's insides (which are important to remove) are reengineered to be fed to future chickens. In fact, Joel sees the leftover blood and guts as a trophy of satisfaction, that on his very land he sustained the full cycle from birth to death and decay.
Gems:
-"Joel had once told me he regarded the willingness of neighbors to work for a business as the true mark of its sustainability, that it operated on the proper scale socially and economically, as well as environmentally."
-"In a way, the most morally troubling thing about killing chickens is that after a while it is no longer morally troubling."
-"More than any USDA rule or regulation, this transparency is their best assurance that the meat they're buying has been humanely and cleanly processed."
-"Beyond the stench in my nostrils, the pile offered an inescapable reminder of all that eating chicken involves- the killing, the bleeding, the evisceration."
Thoughts/insights:
- I was waiting for this chapter! It may sound kind of sick but I think I would be one of those people who arrive early to watch what the process looks like.
- The process of removing the insides reminded me of all of the dissections we've had to do in the past few years. Both were with pigs, and identifying and carefully removing each organ was a very interesting and enlightening operation.
- I completely agree with Joel on that being able to watch your food slaughtered should be a constitutional right (although I am not sure how many people would actually take advantage of it), this would encourage less cruelty and more efficiency under the public eye.
Chapter 13- The Market (Greetings from the Non-Barcode People)
Precis: The greatest difference today between the consumer who buys into the Total Economy and the "non-barcode" people (as Joel Salatin calls them) is effort. Because food comes so easily and is so widely available, people simply do not give as much thought or care into perhaps the most vital of human needs when compared to buying a new car or finding an architect. These "bar-code" people play into the industrial economy's hand because of their need for instant gratification, which means that they can buy a tomato, for a bargain price any time of the year. Others, such as Joel Salatin's customers (whether they are parents or local chefs) are willing to pay a premium price for quality because it saves them when it comes to the cost of oil, water pollution and disease that are all in correlation with the industrial food chain.
Gems:
-"Already the desire on the part of consumers to put something different into their bodies has created an $11 billion market in organic food. That marketplace was built by consumers and farmers working informally together outside the system, with exactly no help from the government."
-"Whether Polyface's customers spend their food dollars here in Swoope or in the Whole Foods in Charlottesville will have a large bearing on whether this lovely valley- this undulating checkerboard of fields and forests- will endure, or whether the total economy will find a "higher use" for it."
-"We don't have to beat them. I'm not even sure we should try. We don't need a law against McDonald's or a law against slaughterhouse abuse- we ask for too much salvation by legislation. All we need to do is empower individuals with the right philosophy and the right information to opt out en masse."
-"The important thing is that there be multiple food chains, so that when any one of them fails- when the oil runs out, when mad cow or other food-borne diseases become epidemic, when the pesticides no longer work, when drought strikes and plagues come and soils blow away- we'll still have a way to feed ourselves."
Thoughts/insights:
-This is my favorite chapter so far. I think it really encompasses all of what I thought I knew about and really taught me more about each individual aspect.
-I was really moved by the idea that striking a balance between two entities brings out the worst of both worlds. Does this mean that we should all think black and white, that there is no gray? That there are no exceptions? Or can there be, but this simply is not the ideal?
-Although I was slightly insulted about Joel's saying "what good is New York City", he sure as hell has a point. There are no farms (ones that compare to Joel's or George's) on Manhattan Island, or ANY borough for that matter. We are extremely reliant on the interstate highway system!
Chapter 14: The Meal (Grass Fed)
Precis: As my week at the Polyface farm came to a close, it was time to fully experience the end of the pastoral food chain- the bite of a wonderfully juicy chicken and fabulously rich soufflé. I gathered ingredients from Joel's farm: chickens, eggs, corn, and concocted a meal to celebrate the chicken with friends of mine. All components of the meal were of a higher nutritional standard not only because of their lack of monoculturous breeding, but the benefits such as omega-3s and vitamin E that the chickens gained from being raised on a grass-centralized ecosystem.
Gems:
-"Both literally and metaphorically, a saltwater bath cleanses meat, which perhaps explains why the kosher laws- one culture's way of coming to terms with the killing and eating of animals- insist on the salting of meat."
-"Researchers report that pregnant women who receive supplements of omega-3s give birth to babies with higher IQs; children with diets low in omega-3s exhibit more behavioral and learning problems at school; and puppies eating diets high in omega-3s prove easier to train."
-"I offered thanks first to my hosts-cum-guests, then to Joel Salatin and his family for growing the food before us (and for giving it to us), and then finally to the chickens, who in one way or another had provided just about everything we were about to eat."
Thoughts/insights:
-This is a true parallel to the final chapter of the industrial food chain where his family eats at McDonald's. Instead of eating with his own family, he eats with another family and brings the food to them. In addition, there seemed to be a more connected dynamic between the diners during the grass fed meal than at the McDonald's. More of the conversation had to do with each other than the food itself.
-Also, it struck me that the diners were more curious and asked more questions about how the food was raised than anyone would at a fast food place- no questions asked.
Chapter 15: The Forager
Precis: Having already followed two of the major food chains from beginning to end, it was time for the ultimate challenge: composing a personal meal from foraged food in the wild. My prior experience and knowledge with hunting and gathering compared to the agricultural based childhood I had leaves me with a general sense of discomfort when it comes to the wild. Frankly, the idea of killing an animal not doomed to a life on a farm or identifying one mushroom for another gives me stress that ultimately sends me back to another food chain. However, as I think about this meal more and more, I begin to see the world around me with a different mentality, through a new lens, that points out the nuances of nature I had not fully appreciated before.
Gems:
-"The prevailing theory as to why, as a species, we left off hunting and gathering is that we had ruined that perfectly good lifestyle by overdoing it, killing off the megafauna on which we depended."
-"Foraging for wild plants and animals is, after all, the way human species has fed itself for 99 percent of its time on earth; this is precisely the food chain natural selection designed us for."
-"I realized that this had been the ultimate destination of the journey I'd been on since traveling to an Iowa cornfield: to look as far into the food chains that support us as I could look, and recover the fundamental biological realities that the complexities of modern industrialized eating keep from our view."
Thoughts/insights:
- I imagine that this would be the most difficult and effort-demanding food chain to sustain. It literally requires over 50% of the day to fulfill its needs.
- This really reminds me of "Into the Wild", the story of Christopher McCandless. He was able to maintain this meal for a good amount of time, but in the end he failed due to a minute, careless mistake- which is exactly what stopped Pollan from eating that mushroom!
- Did anyone else imagine the scene of him sitting in front of the mushroom and deliberating whether or not to eat it as a hilarious bit for a sitcom? I can imagine him sitting there nearly debating with the mushroom, asking if he'll hurt him.
Chapter 16: The Omnivore's Dilemma
Precis: In a world where human beings have the conscience to cook and have the freedom of selecting their meals and the setting it takes place in- we truly suffer from the omnivore's dilemma. Because us humans have brains that overcompensate for our small intestines, we suffer anxiety when choosing our meals because we always question ourselves, "is this the right choice?". America is perhaps the greatest culprit of them all, with its relative absence of standard foodways. When our senses collide with our conscience, and that collides with the fact that science has replaced instinct in our culture, the omnivore's dilemma turns what in some countries is a uniform meal into a mad house of contradictions, ultimately leading to an unhealthy community.
Gems:
-"What began as set of simple sensory responses to food (sweet, bitter, disgusting) we've elaborated into more complicated canons of taste that afford us aesthetic pleasures undreamed of by the koala or cow."
-Rousseau's passage on the omnivore's dilemma
-"That orthodoxy regards certain tasty foods as poisons (carbs now, fats then), failing to appreciate that how we eat, and even how we feel about eating, may in the end be just as important as what we eat."
Thoughts/insights:
-So when it comes to disgust, how are certain foods (for me, it's mushrooms) hardwired into our minds under this category? I don't like seafood, and I know that it can be good for me, but what makes me shudder whenever I come near it?
-Having a condition, I have learned what sort of foods to avoid at certain times, so I guess you could say this kind of eases the omnivore's dilemma off of my shoulders. However, because my case is mild, I will still spring to eat things I really love (like bacon).
-What HAS happened to the family dinner? Am I missing something here? When I raise a family the family dinner will ALWAYS be at the same table, and at he same time. Anything else kind of bugs me.
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