I want to buy a cow. Are you interested? I don't mean a living cow, that would be awkward. Setting up Bessie in the 10x20 foot patch of grass that is my building's front yard would be frowned upon by my neighbors, land lord, Los Angeles zoning officials, and probably the cow itself. I don't want to rear the cow, I just want to eat it. This has come on for various reasons, including two great sources of liberal propaganda I highly recommend; Michael Pollan's 'Omnivore's Dilemma' and King Corn. People, like an associate who runs Eat Less Beef point out the moral, economic, and social problems presented by eating mass raised beef. They have interesting ideas and present terrifying facts, but at the end of the day all I want to do is make sure I put the best things into my body. And eat REALLY GOOD STEAK.
Now eating high quality beef means paying more, which leads to buying less, which leads to eating less beef.
All I am really looking for is a great piece of beef. There's a general school of thought that cattle raised on an open range lead to better tasting beef, and I intend to find out for myself. You can find labels in super markets declaring steak 'organic,' 'free ranged,' and 'grass feed.' The USDA has a description of what it means to be an 'organic' animal. Here's a quote:
"All organically raised animals must have
access to the outdoors, including access to
pasture for ruminants. They may be temporarily
confined only for reasons of health, safety, the
animal’s stage of production, or to protect soil
or water quality."
What exactly is access to the outdoors? There's other bits in the document which are equally vague. Furthermore, it looks like the term Grass Fed isn't regulated, but is simply part of a voluntary labeling standard. That means Whole Foods may be carrying Grass Fed beef, but its only Grass Fed because the guy who sold it to them said so. So how do I know if I am getting grass fed beef? By going straight to the source. I aim to find a farmer who will not only sell me grass fed beef, but let me go to their ranch and inspect the heifer myself. I'm a bit worried this may involve buying a whole cow, so recruiting friends will be necessary. I'll keep you updated on this excursion.
