What's For Dinner?

Last Sunday morning (bright and painfully early) David and I finished watching Food, Inc. (http://www.foodincmovie.com/) and it has really stuck with me. I had seen the previews and read articles on it. Haley mentioned it the last time I was in Texas and it was free on Netflix instant streaming, so we watched it.

If you've seen it, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. If you are curious and would like a glimpse into how that meat gets wrapped and chilled in your neighborhood grocery store with the pretty little label on the top, check this out. But even the most avid meat eater should be prepared to really wrestle with it. If you prefer to grab your large juicy boneless, skinless chicken breasts and go, DON'T WATCH THIS!! Live happily in ignorance. Trust me. I can't even decided whether or not I'm glad I saw it - much less what I'm going to do now.

I admit, I've eaten meat sense, but I haven't really enjoyed it. The other night we went to one of our favorite restaurants and I ordered the pan chicken - so good, so moist, perfectly sliced over a bed of mixed mushrooms with a brown pan sauce......uuummm.....didn't really enjoy a bite. I kept thinking about the movie. I kept seeing those chickens in my mind. We stopped by Whole Foods on the way home to pick up some things for Evan and we walked by the meat department to look for organic - antibiotic free - hormone free - farm range raised beef and chicken. A package of three chicken breasts $16.75. Really? I mean what family can afford that? The movie emphasized "voting by your consumer choices" and didn't really linger too long on the outrageous costs of doing so.

Needless to say, I am finding myself in a pickle of sorts. I'm not opposed to eating meat. I like meat - I like meat a lot. I was raised in Texas for goodness sake where beef is what's for dinner. I don't believe in not eating meat for any moral or religious reason - I don't believe we are "connected in the universe" or any of that type of thing. Frankly, the movie just grossed me out. The living conditions of the animals - the extra products we are consuming (even in the vegetables to be frank) by eating these mass produced foods - it's a little scary. Probably not the way it was intended to be - I'm just sayin'. It makes you long for the days of the farmer going out and chasing the healthy chickens around the pen trying to grab one for dinner. If you go to the grocery store and buy a box of pop-tarts (which I happen to also love by the way) you pretty much have to come to the immediate realization that you are about to purchase a box of chemicals, processed sugars and all kinds of junk. You buy them because they taste good. Fair enough. But if you are trying to make right choices and you put chicken and tomatoes in your cart, you probably don't realize all the chemicals and junk that you are about to purchase.

If I had movie-star-money, I'd buy all organic all the time. It just makes sense. I'd send my personal assistant to buy it! ;) I watch the chefs on Food Network walk out to their giant gardens and pick fresh food. I think back to picking in Grandad's garden and taking it right to the table. I've never had tomatoes as good as those. But the reality is, "regular" people in "regular" families can't always afford to buy this "safe" food. It's aggravating really. I have absolutely no solution. I am considering giving up chicken and beef and pork almost all together. I am hanging on to my seafood though. I wish we could shop at a local farm or farmer's market consistently, but the reality of daily life makes that more difficult than it sounds. The grocery store is just so darn convenient. I'm not sure what the outcome of all this will be. But it's sure got me thinking. I suppose that was the purpose of the film. Job well done.