Yes, I admit it may not be a “pretty” photo, but if it brings you pause … then mission accomplished. If beef is what’s for dinner, then we all need to take a gut check, so to speak, and examine our relationships to animals as part of our global food supply.

For the vast majority of us (and indeed, even most modern grocery store “butchers,” who are no longer really trained in the true art of butchery), meat comes in a box, a bag, a tray, wrapped in plastic, and already neatly rendered into steaks, chops, ribs, roasts, or burgers. It arrives to us magically deconstructed, devoid of any connection to its beginnings, its life, and most certainly its end. How those details affect our food choices is something that each person can and must answer on their own, but whether you choose to be a vegan or a steak-loving carnivore, you should at least try to understand the global ramifications of your choices.

Because I do enjoy all the aforementioned cuts of meat, I lack the necessary moral authority to debate whether we should even be eating meat, but I can argue that we should eat less meat by making meat a treat, and eat better meat by eating sustainably raised meat. Why? Here’s the short answer: the planet can’t sustain current consumption levels, especially given the perfect storm of rising prices, the pressure to grow fuel versus food, and a rapidly increasing world population – most that have trouble affording food as it is, and some that believe it’s their entitlement to eat as high on the hog as possible.

Many want to focus the crosshairs on ethanol, which is certainly part of the problem, and it’s estimated that the grain required to make enough ethanol to fill a 25-gallon SUV tank could feed one person for an entire year. But consider the modern feedlot system, where food must be trucked in, waste must be trucked out (maybe, hopefully, but that’s another rant), then animals trucked out for either slaughtering and/or packaging. We’ve moved away from raising animals where their food already is – i.e. grassland – and where their markets already are – i.e. the community surrounding a family farm. Like most of our large scale modern food systems, meat production has become detrimentally dependent on energy, or more specifically, cheap energy, not $4-plus/gallon diesel.

It’s admittedly a bit daunting to think about trying to change the entire industrial food system, but discussing a different form of energy might prove more accessible to each one of us -- the energy needed to actually produce “food” from sun, soil, water. Plants are very efficient at converting those building blocks to food energy, or calories. Animals, including humans, aren’t nearly as efficient. Let’s say it takes a plant “X” amount of “energy” to make 1 calorie; an animal needs anywhere from 3 to 7 times the amount of “X” to produce that 1 calorie. Now consider the further inefficiency of an animal eating another animal to get that calorie. Obviously, this concept isn’t new, having been eloquently laid out over 30 years ago by Frances Moore Lappe in her seminal work, Diet for a Small Planet, but it has enjoyed a vibrant resurgence recently as vegetarianism is gaining traction as the latest, greatest way to save the planet. There’s also a new study from the University of Chicago stating that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan to an ultra-efficient Prius. (Try "Meatless Mondays"!)

So, what to do if you want to have your meat and your planet too? If you and your taste buds are dead set on Midwestern corn-fed beef ribeyes, then so be it, but make it worth it! Seek out real quality, not quantity – you’ll be surprised how much better a custom cut steak from a expert butcher tastes -- and don’t eat meat every day. Realize also, that when you choose grain-fed or grain-finished meat, you’re often buying into the whole ubiquitous corn industry, and that there are also several studies showing the human health ramifications of feeding cattle grain instead of grass; one such study even links the practice to increased levels of disease and E. coli.

Cattle aren’t meant to eat grain, especially in the amounts typically given to them in feedlots to fatten ‘em up fast, so their stomachs – all four – can turn into seething … well, let’s just say a lot of feedlot cattle have some pretty bad tummy aches that then require antibiotics to keep them healthy enough for market … and so on.

Another approach to being a meat-eating omnivore is to make the choice to eat modest amounts of sustainably raised meat. Typically, this will mean grass-fed beef, which I admit can be an acquired taste, especially when we all grew up eating that marbled corn-fed beef, but don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it, especially in burgers or recipes calling for long, slow-cooking.

As always, buying from local ranches practicing sustainable cattle operations is always best. First and foremost, you’ll be supporting the efforts of those ranchers who are facing enormous odds in trying to make humanely raised meat a viable business model. Secondly, you will typically be getting cattle raised on natural forage in a closed herd on never-ever programs.

Huh?

“Natural forage” is as it sounds – the natural grassland made available to the cattle. Unlike a monotonous diet of something such as corn, cattle grazing freely have a veritable smorgasbord before them. One thing cattle know how to do is eat, so they’re very good at nibbling up the best and sweetest and most nutritious goodies available.

A “closed herd” is also as it would seem – the herd is closed off to contact with other cattle, even to the point of not sharing a fence line. Essentially, the herd can be thought of as being quarantined, but in a preventative way, and this practice has been shown to greatly reduce the risk of contamination and disease. Think of it this way: a herd that isn’t closed is essentially an elementary school playground during the first week of school – there will be runny noses, guaranteed.

“Never-ever” is an industry term that means that cattle are never ever given antibiotics, hormones, food additives, or animal by-products. Currently, how-“ever,” there is some variance in these practices when it comes to labeling – for example, some programs allow limited use of the products during the “finishing” (aka fattening up for market) phase, so, again, knowing your local ranchers and their philosophies are your best bet for sourcing high-quality, healthy, humanely raised beef.

While I obviously agree that we need to forge deeper connections with our food and food producers, I also know I’m a wimp. I heartily admire Michael Pollen’s dedication to experience the act of personally slaughtering the meat for his table, but I know I probably couldn’t go that far, nor could most people. However, I can take it upon myself to ask questions, and to understand how my choices affect myself, my dinner table, and my world. As Pollen himself put it at the end of Chapter 17 in The Omnivore’s Dilemma:

“Were the walls of our meat industry to become transparent, literally or even figuratively, we would not continue to raise, kill, and eat animals the way we do. Tail docking and sow crates and beak clipping would disappear overnight, and the days of slaughtering four hundred head of cattle an hour would promptly come to an end – for who could stand the sight? Yes, meat would get more expensive. We’d probably eat a lot less of it too, but maybe when we did eat animals we’d eat them with the consciousness, ceremony, and respect they deserve."

Among the local ranchers on the Central Coast are:

Charter Oak Meats (grass-fed, grain-finished beef, pork, lamb) 434-3062 or at Templeton Farmers’ Market

Fair Oaks Ranch (beef)

Gold Coast Meats (chicken and seasonal turkey)
610-1977, goldcoastmeats@tcsn.net

Hearst Ranch Beef

Nick Ranch Beef

Old Creek Ranch (beef, lamb, goat)

know of others? email me!

Reported health benefits of grass-fed beef include …
leaner beef, less calories
cancer fighting properties
high in good fats such as heart-healthy Omega 3 fats, and in cancer fighting "conjugated linoleic acid" or CLA
... read about more at the “Eat Wild” website 

Some Recent Meaty News …

Pew Commission confirms industrial farm animal production bad news ... finds Industrial Farm Animal Production (IFAP) poses an "unacceptable risk" to the environment and to human health.

Mark Bittman’s New York Times piece “Rethinking the Guzzler,” which offers several wonderfully cogent observations of the global impact of meat – mainly beef -- production and consumption,

Renee Montagne’s NPR interview with Professor Roz Naylor, director of the Program on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University entitled “Rising Demand for Meat Takes Toll on Environment”

check out "A Farmer’s Thoughts on the Hallmark Meat Packing Scandal"

and even Sir Paul McCartney weighs in on the debate.

What are the different grades of meat? ...
From the USDA website … 

"Quality Grades:

• Prime grade
  - is produced from young, well-fed beef cattle. It has abundant marbling and is generally sold in restaurants and hotels. Prime roasts and steaks are excellent for dry-heat cooking (i.e., roasting, broiling, and grilling).
• Choice grade
  - is high quality, but has less marbling than Prime. Choice roasts and steaks from the loin and rib will be very tender, juicy, and flavorful and are, like Prime, suited to dry-heat cooking. Many of the less tender cuts, such as those from the rump, round, and blade chuck, can also be cooked with dry heat, but be careful not to overcook them. Using a meat thermometer takes the guesswork out of cooking and assures a safe internal temperature: 145 °F is medium rare; 160 ° F, medium; and 170 °F, well done.
• Select grade
  - is very uniform in quality and normally leaner than the higher grades. It is fairly tender, but, because it has less marbling, it may lack some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher grades. Only the tender cuts (loin, rib, sirloin) should be cooked with dry heat. Other cuts should be marinated before cooking or cooked with moisture to obtain maximum tenderness and flavor.
• Standard and Commercial grades – frequently are sold as ungraded or as "store brand" meat.
• Utility, Cutter, and Canner grades - are seldom, if ever, sold at retail but are used instead to make ground beef and processed products."

and ... in case you wondered!

Living “high on the hog” stems from the idea of eating the superior cuts of meat, the ones on the “higher” parts of the animal -- pork chops, hams, etc. -- as opposed to the belly, feet, knuckles, jowls, etc. Someone living high on the hog is seen as not only well off, but has also come to imply a lavish and even wasteful lifestyle.