Mark Bittman on What's Wrong With What We Eat

For my Food Management Theory course, we've been assigned several videos to watch online and write brief commentaries to bring to the first day of class.

I found this particular talk by Mark Bittman (love him) on the over-production and over-consumption of meat and junk food and its impact on our health and the environment especially thought-provoking.

What I like is that he implores the audience to cut back on meat rather than going full-blown vegetarian. He also calls the issue one of "global survival" rather than bringing morals into it. That's a kool-aid I can drink.

Of animals, he says, "The time has come to stop raising them industrially and to stop eating them thoughtlessly" and that "there's no way to treat animals well when you're killing ten billion of them a year."

No sh*t.

I was also very interested by his comments on the USDA and the food pyramid and the fact that many of its developers had/have ties to agrobusiness. In short: there's a reason we're not explicitly encouraged to eat a diet rich in plants and low in animal products and junk food...

Another Day, Another Beef Recall

While reading the paper this morning, I came across an article about another beef recall being put into action after two people died and more than a dozen people fell ill, possibly due to the same source of contamination: ground beef from a company called Fairbank Farms.

The voluntary recall, issued on Saturday by the company, includes 545,699 pounds of ground beef sold to retailers in 8 states: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Some of the stores at which these products were sold include Price Chopper, Giant, Trader Joe's Wild Harvest, and Shaws.

While I know that cooking can kill a lot of the bacteria, I still get really nervous when I read stuff like this. It seems to be happening way too often. There is a lot that the consumer can do to lower their chances of falling ill, but if you're starting out with a contaminated product, there's not a whole lot you can do.

Since one of the few foods I don't like is ground beef, it's not a huge deal to me, but I know that my dad, for example, practically lives off of the stuff. I feel like when I read about these things, it's easy to feel like "oh, that's just something that happens to other people," but I'm sure that those people who get sick felt the same way.

While I'm not going to try to advocate a restrictive diet in which potentially dangerous foods are cut out (the list is way too long), I will say that events such as huge meat recalls should make people more concerned with knowing where their food comes from.

Engagement Chicken Be Damned!

I should really stop browsing women's magazine websites when my brain needs downtime. Either that or Glamour needs to put an end to the Engagement Chicken hoopla. One blogger has been documenting her Engagement Chicken quest, and I don't know whether to be amused or disgusted.

I do kind of wonder whether I'm jealous, in a sense. I feel like every magazine I pick up "for entertainment" tells me to give my man his space when his team loses the big game and to routinely (but not so routinely as to take away the air of spontaneity) treat him to wings and beer. And then, when I'm ready to put the ol' settle down spell on him, I'm supposed to cook him a big freaking chicken stuffed with lemons and herbs and things.

Come on...

What about all the girls girls out there dating vegetarians who don't drink and aren't sports fans, huh?

And besides, what a way to stereotype men, suggesting that they can be won over by meat and fermented beverages. And does a woman really have to resort to cooking a big chicken with citrus shoved up its ass to coax her boyfriend into making her an honest woman? What does it say about the whole tradition of the man proposing marriage? I neither agree nor disagree—I just think it sends a message I'm not comfortable with.

I know it's just a roast chicken, but the whole thing kind of irks me.

Then again, my mom says my dad fell in love with her mashed potatoes and then her. So maybe I should be careful what I say. If it weren't for home-cooked comfort food, I might not be here...

"Sandwich Steak"

Question: Has anyone ever heard of "sandwich steaks" before? I'm assuming they're a similar thing to minute steaks since they cook so damn fast...

Any male readers squeamish about girly period stuff, stop reading...

Okay, so I have the good fortune to be strangely in sync with the full moon (clearly, the menstruation goddess or whomever has a sense of humor), and given that Tuesday was a full moon (and an eclipse, no less), let's just say this week has been something of a mini roller-coaster.

I had a physical today and had to get some blood taken (for an anemia test—ironic, no?), and after getting sucked dry, I was feeling kind of shaky and weepy and pissed off over phone troubles.

A lot of blood for a tiny girl to lose in a matter of hours. By the time I got home, I needed chocolate and caffeine and advil...and steak?

Now, a lot of you guys who know me know that I kind of hate red meat and only eat it a few times a year. That's why when I get a craving for it, I know it's for a reason—I need it, damnit. I reminds me of that Friends episode where pregnant (and bewildered) vegetarian Phoebe wolfs down hamburgers ("for the babies").

Only, I'm kind of the opposite of pregnant, but you get the idea.

I've probably mentioned the sketchy meat market down the street and how I go there for cheap non-meat things like oatmeal (also high in iron but just not the same). Well, this afternoon, I decided to purchase actual meat there.

This place has a refrigerated room for the all the meat (see photo). I spent a long time looking for something cheap that came in a small quantity and that I could use in a variety of preparations.

I ended up walking home with a $2.82 package (about 12 oz) of these sandwich steaks, which are very cute and tiny. I put a little pepper and rosemary on them (not sure why, I just figured I should put something on them) and grilled them. They were very tasty topped with truffle salt (another weird addition, I admit) and served with sauteed spinach (to which I added more truffle salt and garlic powder for some reason...)and a baked sweet potato.

I'm a little afraid of what I'll concoct with the leftovers tomorrow...

It's probably a good thing Chris wasn't around for this meal (aside from the whole non-meat-eater thing). Clearly, I am not at my culinary best this time of the month. Still, the over-seasoning was oddly satisfying. Or maybe that was just all the direct animal protein.

Of course, I had chocolate gelato for dessert—perfect. Covered all the bases. The only thing that would have been more perfect would have been if I'd happened to have dark chocolate peanut butter m&ms lying around the house.

Do they even make dark chocolate peanut butter m&ms? They should if they don't.

I could read up for my microbiology class tomorrow, but I'm kind of leaning towards Hemingway instead...

World's Ugliest Loin of Pork

I dare you to top this ridiculous hunk of meat the butcher sent home to my mother...It looks like a worm. Needless to say, she has decided not to cook it. Would you?

Close Encounters of the Fake Meat Kind

Something you’ll probably see me post a lot about is vegetarianism.

I never intended to become a vegetarian—and technically, I’m still not one—but since meeting and living with Chris, I’ve come to appreciate meat-free foods. We don’t really keep meat in the house (except for the occasional carton of egg whites when we’re baking cookies or something, if that counts), and we often go to one of the many vegetarian or vegetarian-friendly restaurants in New York, since there are so many.

I do still eat meat on occasion, though over the past year-and-a-half, I’ve very gradually transitioned from eating it once a day to once a week. It hasn’t been a conscious effort, exactly. To be honest, it’s more that I’ve just gotten used to it and come to really enjoy some of the benefits of a vegetarian diet. I feel like I have more energy and get sick less frequently. I also sleep better—much better—than I used to.

Of course, there are plenty of other factors that contribute, but some of the other perks include that feeling that I am making a choice that benefits the planet and its creatures (hah, creatures)—we humans love feeling “green,” don’t we?—and the sweetness of saving a little money.

And did I mention how awesome and amusing fake meat is? It basically is what it sounds like: texturized soy or gluten protein flavored to taste like various meat products. For example, the other night, I made this masaman curry with vegetarian duck in it. We had just spent the day in Chinatown wandering around and stocking up on various canned fake meat products we’d never encountered before.

Last night, we made pad thai with fried gluten, which was oddly similar to scrambled egg. We also threw in some chopped peanuts. Since we were out, Chris went to the deli on the corner and came home with a pack of Uncle Jesse’s nuts. I about died laughing…