shrewdfood books for my birthday

Happy Birthday to me!!!
It is indeed a very happy birthday because my parents (who know me so well!) gave me three delightful-looking books, all about food. Excellent! Two in particular deserve mention here, since they are relevant to my blog:

1. The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution by Alice Waters. If you've been reading along, you know how I feel about lovely Ms. Waters. I can't wait to read this book! I think the back cover nicely sums up both the philosophy of the book, and the philosophy I'm trying to eat by:



"Eat locally & sustainably
Eat seasonally
Shop at farmers' markets
Plant a garden
Conserve, compost & recycle
Cook simply
Cook together
Eat together
Remember food is precious"

2. Super Natural Cooking: Five Ways To Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients into Your Cooking by Heidi Swanson. Heidi is the blogger behind Mighty Foods, one of my favorite food blogs. But little did I know she has a book out- and a delightful-looking book at that. I'll be sure to blog my reviews, after I've read them.




Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Love, your Halloween-baby

saying no to CAFOs

The cognitive dissonance was too much. In the past few months I've driven I-5 between Los Angeles and San Francisco at least 6 times, and each time I've had to pass two CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations- more commonly known as "factory farms") right along the highway. I look out at the cows, terribly unhappy cows, standing in their own manure, waiting out their days at the corn-filled feed trough, never to graze again on their beloved grass, the food they were meant to eat. And I realize that every day I eat beef that was not grass-finished, I am directly supporting these animals' misery. And yet I have continued to turn a blind eye, ignoring their suffering because it was convenient for me to do so.

Well, no more. As of a week ago I decided to give up factory-farmed beef. When I go to the grocery store, all this decision means is that I'll spend extra (and have to look a bit harder) when shopping for beef. But the other implications of my decision include: no more Trader Joe's carne asada, no more In-N-Out, and no more eating beef of any kind at almost all restaurants. (Soon I hope to publish a list of links to restaurants that offer only grass-finished beef on their menus.)

Needless to say, G thinks I'm crazy (especially for giving up In-N-Out). But what I think is crazy is how we Americans have allowed these farms to develop in the first place, let alone become the dominant system of agriculture in the U.S. And since not even Nancy Pelosi can get a better farm bill passed, I'll vote with my wallet instead.

(Photo by Kent Kessinger and used by permission.)