Recently I’ve met more people who are concerned about the quality of their food, where it came from, what’s been done to it since it was picked or slaughtered, what’s in it, and how that affects their health and the environment. They’ve seen Supersize Me, Fast Food Nation, Food Inc, Fresh: The Movie, Food Matters, or some other movie that made them more aware of the problems with our current system of food production and distribution or they’ve read The Omnivore’s Dilemna.
The myth
Although books such as Diet for A New America, Skinny Bitch (Btw: I don't recommend either of these books!), and others like it give the impression that the solution to our health and environmental ills is to go vegetarian or vegan, there’s another side to the story and a far more sustainable solution you won’t hear from radical environmentalists and vegan extremists. They myth is that we have only two options: continue eating a steady diet of factory farmed animal products or to give up eating animal products.
The solution
If you ask me, a saner solution is to continue to eat eggs, poultry, and meat, to buy as much of it as possible directly from small farmers, and to make as much of the meat you eat come from 100% grass fed or pasture-raised animals. You would also be wise to base the rest of your diet of fresh and dried vegetables, fruits, nuts, and other healthy fat and oil sources.
What the vegetarians don’t tell you
It is entirely possible to find lean, clean, humanely raised and eco-friendly animal products raised on pasture. According to the American Grassfed Association, a network of approximately 400 farmers humanely raising cattle on grass from pastures (not grain and without feedlots, hormones, or antibiotic laced feed) you can find grass-fed products in every region of the U.S., in co-ops, health food stores and, in some chain natural foods stores and supermarkets.
Moving existing cattle from feedlots to pasture land and managing the herds using intensive, rotational grazing can actually build fertile soil by pumping carbon into the ground. It can lead to a healthier, more nutritious human diet, a reduction in deadly E. coli, elimination of feedlots, an increase in wildlife habitats, generous savings in energy, a virtual elimination of pesticides and chemical fertilizers on farm lands, elimination of catastrophic flooding, and a dramatic reduction in global warming gases.
Mother Earth knows best
“It is not unrealistic to expect that we as a nation could convert millions of acres of ravaged industrial grain fields (plus millions of acres of land in federal conservation programs that cannot currently be used for grazing) to permanent pastures and see no decline in beef and dairy production in the bargain” says Richard Manning, author of eight books, including Rewilding the West: Restoring Prarie Landscape and Against The Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization.
Manning’s article, “The Amazing Benefits of Grass-fed Meat” appeared in the April/May 2009 issue of Mother Earth News. Manning explains why it is actually more environmentally sound to raise cattle on grassland that it is to grow grain fields. “A conventionally farmed corn or soybean field is a source of global warming gases, but a permanent pasture is a pump that pushes carbon back into the soil where it increases fertility. Even though we harvest meat from the pastures each year, still the soil grows richer and holds more carbon. We get all these benefits thanks to solar energy, plant photosynthesis and natural cycles of grasslands and grazing animals.” Meat also requires less energy (fuel) to process and make ready to eat than grain or beans.
If this all sounds too unbelievable to be true or you simply want to learn more about the benefits of supporting farmers who produce pasture-raised animal products, you can click here to read Manning’s article in full and check out The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook.
So how does it taste
Sometimes people ask me how it tastes. The wonder how it differs from conventional supermarket meat. I have a couple of different answers. It can be difficult to describe but I do my best.
My first answer is that “it tastes like itself. Just as kale tastes like kale, not like spinach, and Kabocha squash tastes like Kabocha squash, not like acorn or butternut.” But that can sound vague. My second answer is this: “Grass-fed beef doesn’t taste like flat, flavorless, feedlot beef. It tastes better—the way beef is supposed to taste, they way it used to taste before factory
farming. Like vegetables, it tastes like the soil upon which it grows, enhanced by the particular plants the animal eats.”
My friend’s Kenny Aschbacher, known as the Fish Hugger around here, sustainably harvests wild salmon from the Kodiak Islands during the summer and sells it at farners' markets along with 100% pasture raised beef from his family’s farm in Socorro, New Mexico. He says the flavor of grassfed meat depends on the breed of cattle, the kind of grass they’re raised on (including whether or not they’re given hay), the age at which they are slaughtered, and how the meat is handled (for example, whether dry aged or not, and if so how long).
The Garden of Eating Cookbook Giveaway
How would you like to learn the benefits of grass-fed animal products, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats, of eating a diet that is vegetable rich but not vegetarian, to entice your family and friends with delicious meals and snacks, to learn how to easily consume 3 to 5 USDA servings of produce per meal, how to stock, organize, and outfit your kitchen for success, turn your refrigerator into a healthy salad bar and gourmet eatery, expand you repertoire with 250 family-friendly recipes, 4 weeks of sample menus, prep lists, chef secrets, and 40 special occasion menus to get you going?
The myth
Although books such as Diet for A New America, Skinny Bitch (Btw: I don't recommend either of these books!), and others like it give the impression that the solution to our health and environmental ills is to go vegetarian or vegan, there’s another side to the story and a far more sustainable solution you won’t hear from radical environmentalists and vegan extremists. They myth is that we have only two options: continue eating a steady diet of factory farmed animal products or to give up eating animal products.
If you ask me, a saner solution is to continue to eat eggs, poultry, and meat, to buy as much of it as possible directly from small farmers, and to make as much of the meat you eat come from 100% grass fed or pasture-raised animals. You would also be wise to base the rest of your diet of fresh and dried vegetables, fruits, nuts, and other healthy fat and oil sources.
What the vegetarians don’t tell you
It is entirely possible to find lean, clean, humanely raised and eco-friendly animal products raised on pasture. According to the American Grassfed Association, a network of approximately 400 farmers humanely raising cattle on grass from pastures (not grain and without feedlots, hormones, or antibiotic laced feed) you can find grass-fed products in every region of the U.S., in co-ops, health food stores and, in some chain natural foods stores and supermarkets.
Moving existing cattle from feedlots to pasture land and managing the herds using intensive, rotational grazing can actually build fertile soil by pumping carbon into the ground. It can lead to a healthier, more nutritious human diet, a reduction in deadly E. coli, elimination of feedlots, an increase in wildlife habitats, generous savings in energy, a virtual elimination of pesticides and chemical fertilizers on farm lands, elimination of catastrophic flooding, and a dramatic reduction in global warming gases.
“It is not unrealistic to expect that we as a nation could convert millions of acres of ravaged industrial grain fields (plus millions of acres of land in federal conservation programs that cannot currently be used for grazing) to permanent pastures and see no decline in beef and dairy production in the bargain” says Richard Manning, author of eight books, including Rewilding the West: Restoring Prarie Landscape and Against The Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization.
Manning’s article, “The Amazing Benefits of Grass-fed Meat” appeared in the April/May 2009 issue of Mother Earth News. Manning explains why it is actually more environmentally sound to raise cattle on grassland that it is to grow grain fields. “A conventionally farmed corn or soybean field is a source of global warming gases, but a permanent pasture is a pump that pushes carbon back into the soil where it increases fertility. Even though we harvest meat from the pastures each year, still the soil grows richer and holds more carbon. We get all these benefits thanks to solar energy, plant photosynthesis and natural cycles of grasslands and grazing animals.” Meat also requires less energy (fuel) to process and make ready to eat than grain or beans.
If this all sounds too unbelievable to be true or you simply want to learn more about the benefits of supporting farmers who produce pasture-raised animal products, you can click here to read Manning’s article in full and check out The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook.
So how does it taste
Sometimes people ask me how it tastes. The wonder how it differs from conventional supermarket meat. I have a couple of different answers. It can be difficult to describe but I do my best.
My first answer is that “it tastes like itself. Just as kale tastes like kale, not like spinach, and Kabocha squash tastes like Kabocha squash, not like acorn or butternut.” But that can sound vague. My second answer is this: “Grass-fed beef doesn’t taste like flat, flavorless, feedlot beef. It tastes better—the way beef is supposed to taste, they way it used to taste before factory
farming. Like vegetables, it tastes like the soil upon which it grows, enhanced by the particular plants the animal eats.”
My friend’s Kenny Aschbacher, known as the Fish Hugger around here, sustainably harvests wild salmon from the Kodiak Islands during the summer and sells it at farners' markets along with 100% pasture raised beef from his family’s farm in Socorro, New Mexico. He says the flavor of grassfed meat depends on the breed of cattle, the kind of grass they’re raised on (including whether or not they’re given hay), the age at which they are slaughtered, and how the meat is handled (for example, whether dry aged or not, and if so how long).
How would you like to learn the benefits of grass-fed animal products, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats, of eating a diet that is vegetable rich but not vegetarian, to entice your family and friends with delicious meals and snacks, to learn how to easily consume 3 to 5 USDA servings of produce per meal, how to stock, organize, and outfit your kitchen for success, turn your refrigerator into a healthy salad bar and gourmet eatery, expand you repertoire with 250 family-friendly recipes, 4 weeks of sample menus, prep lists, chef secrets, and 40 special occasion menus to get you going?
The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook written by me (Rachel Albert-Matesz) and my co-author, Don Matesz, will show you how to do all of this.
U.S. Wellness Meats, a producer of grassfed meats, is sponsoring a giveaway of my book. I'll tell you more about their products later this week. CLICK HERE to enter for your chance to win a copy of this award-winning 592-page cookbook, resource book, and kitchen guide. Entry deadline, Feb. 5th, 2010.
Btw: You must be a resident of the United States.
For my sample meatball and barbecue sauce recipe and to learn more about the book, click here:
To view sample recipes and to order The Garden of Eating, click here
Thank you! You are an inspiration to me. I have found so much good information on your blog, and in the Ice Dream cook book. I may just have to buy a copy of the Garden of Eating if I don't win. (:
Posted by: emily | January 27, 2010 at 06:50 AM
Hi Emily,
Thank you! I appreciate you for reading my blog. I'm so glad you're enjoying it and my Ice Dream Cookbook. Wishing you luck in winning The Garden of Eating. Whether you buy it or win it, you'll luck out with all the great tips and recipes it contains.
Posted by: Chef Rachel | January 27, 2010 at 08:19 AM
Chef Rachel,
In rummaging around the "net" I came across your site. HooRAY! Great article ("Lean, Clean, Meat) and I applaud your realistic approach to beef.
I am one of those "humane" cattle raisers, a Texan, and totally grass based. Our "girls" always get nutritious forage and room to roam...and always come up for a treat from our hand when they see us.
The benefits associated with grass based or pastured animals is far reaching. Not only does it provide healthy food to us, but also, as you pointed out, does innumerable wonders for ecology/biodiversity and (sigh) climate.
One huge benefit is what it does for our heritage. the growing movement toward pastured meats and local produce is breathing life back into the family farm/ranch...(I am a proponent for "buy local" and a staunch advocate for the small "ag" producer.)The growing public awareness coupled with the increasing number of farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is slowly making a positive economic impact. Both for the producer and for local economies.
I apologize for my excessive pontification...I'm pretty passionate abut this. Anyhow, thanks for the wonderful post. Now,I am going to sit back with a "glass of red" and bumble about on your website...:)
Posted by: Smokey | January 30, 2010 at 07:48 PM
Chef Rachel,
OOPS! I wrote an earlier comment and accidentally pasted the wrong web address in my URL box. Sorry about that.
As I said I found this website while rummaging around the "I-Net" for info on healthy eating. Your post "Lean, Clean Meat was "spot-on".
As a grass based Texas cattle producer, I practice sustainable ranching. All of what you said about the benefits of grass fed are true. However, it is the grain fed system that is the most dangerous to our health.
Cattle are designed to eat natural forages. They are "ruminants" which simply put, means they convert plants into protein. Cattle were never meant to eat straight grains and especially not processed grain. Anyhow, the heavy diet of corn and soybeans (and you would faint if you knew what else is mixed in) causes their digestive system to become very acidic, which leads to many different illnesses...not the least of which is E.coli. AND it causes their system to convert the natural (and healthier) fat into the heavy poly-unsaturated fat that has caused so many health issues.
At any rate, thanks for bringing attention to the issues. I have gotten about halfway through your site and it is outstanding!
I will look forward to trying some of your wonderful recipes.
Cheers!
Posted by: Smokey | February 01, 2010 at 06:58 AM