Hw#7C

Chapter 11: The Animals-Practicing Complexity
Précis:
Most farmers follow the conventional way of farming, which is unhealthy and dangerous but breaks down agriculture in simple steps to follow. However, the right way is to follow the complexity of the natural way, by being able to do the physical and mental challenges of real farming. (I.e. moving the cattle every day) Unlike industrial farming, Saltin’s way of farming repeats a certain cycle every day where every living thing is connected to one another.

Gems:
“By contrast, the efficiencies of natural systems flow from complexity and interdependence-by definition the very opposite of simplification...To measure the efficiency of such a complex system you need to count not only all the products it produces but also all the costs it eliminates: antibiotics, wormers, parasiticides, and fertilizers.”-Page 214
“Relations are what matters most, and the health of the cultivated turns on the health of the wild.” -Page 225

Thoughts:
1. Salatin’s way of farming sounded very tedious and tiring, so I actually would understand why many farmers end up turning to the simple industrial way of farming.
2. The recommended solution to the pig’s tail chewing in the CAFO’s was a shock and disappointment personally. The gap between this and Salatin’s contented pigs makes me feel as though farm animals are born into a lottery like society-they either get lucky or unlucky in the farms.
3. Industrial farmers should not even be considered a farmer. Clearly, they are just lazy and like the idea of simplicity. Surely, they would be able to save up more money for a living if they turned their backs at the government’s agricultural policies.

Chapter 12: Slaughter-In a Glass Abattoir

Précis: The USDA are speechless when it comes to local farmers like Salatin’s, since the way they regulate their farms are a lot healthier than those growing under government policies. No matter what farm is raising the animals, killing them is inevitable for us to be able to eat them, but it is a lot cleaner and less cruel than the methods of those industrial farmers. The customers of Polyface’s farm are free to watch the process of their dinner being killed since it so clean and reassuring that their slaughtering technique doesn’t use things like antibiotics.

Gems:
“Imagine if the walls of every slaughterhouse and animal factory were as transparent as Polyface’s-if not open to the air then at least made of glass So much of what happens behind those walls-the cruelty, the carelessness, the filth-would simply have to stop.” -Page 235
“We do not allow the government to dictate what religion you can observe, so why should we allow them to dictate what kind of food you can buy?” He believes “freedom of food”-the freedom to buy a pork chop from the farmer who raised the hog-should be a constitutional right.” -Page 236

Thoughts:
1. It is ironic how the USDA is ‘supposed’ to inspect for the health of how the animals are taken care of, but they are actually trying to put local farms out of business. It was mentioned in class of how we always have a part of us that wants to believe the government is there in support of us, but this just shows that they could really care less unless it benefits in their interests.
2. It would be a great incentive if factories and slaughterhouses of industrial farmers are also see through walls. Customers are less likely to continue eating unhealthy foods if they actually see with their own eyes how their foods are being processed. (This may be a naïve solution, but it could work...even though I wouldn’t know if anybody can get the government to let the process be revealed to the public).
3. Money and benefits easily gets people (i.e. industrial farmers) to do whatever the government tells them to do. This makes a lot of sense, so I wouldn’t be sure if there can ever be a solution to make foods healthier unless corn just disappeared.


Chapter 13: The Market-“Greetings from the Non-Barcode People”
Précis:
Most customers who buy from markets are ignorant with their knowledge of food and cheap prices. Local farmers like Salatin’s have no choice but to try having better connections with customers (and chefs) to educate and further our knowledge about food (i.e. seasonal foods and about prices). Local farmers like these aren’t necessarily trying to destroy the industrial food ways, but rather further this food-movement to raise awareness of food and health for customers like us.

Gems:
“Society is not bearing the cost of water pollution, of antibiotic resistance, of food-borne illnesses, of crop subsidies, of subsidized corn oil and water-of all the hidden costs to the environment and the taxpayer that make cheap food seem cheap. No thinking person will tell you they don’t care about all that.” -Page 243
“We have to battle the idea that you can have anything you want any times you want it. Like ‘spring lamb.” What the hell does that mean...But the market’s become totally out of sync with nature.” -Page 252

Thoughts:
1. I do think that this food-movement will impact a lot of people to change their food choices, but I honestly doubt that it will cause a major change in today’s society. The government and CAFO will definitely react to any changes in people’s ideas about food ways and say something to distract our beliefs. (Like talking about bioterrorism as mentioned once in the book).
2. I’m not too sure if it would work, but perhaps having food ways classes as a mandatory curriculum in public schools would help students make better food choices and raise awareness. (But, then again being able to convince the D.O.E to change class curriculums is unlikely)
3. U.S. society is too lazy that we tend to go to more convenient choices, so it is also a cultural obstacle that local farmers would have to confront. Even if most Americans get informed deeply about our foods, what is the likelihood that they will all go out of their way to buy local foods?

Chapter 14: The Meal-Grass Fed
Précis:
Most consumers assume all food is the same (‘chicken is chicken and beef beef’) so they do not realize the changes between the balance of quantity and quality. Even with the assumption of fish being healthier than meat, can work in reverse if the steer is fed grass and the salmon is fed grain. The process of cooking these natural foods causes many complex chemical reactions, creating a strong distinct taste.

Gems:
“The needs of a long industrial food chain might justify such a trade-off, but when you can eat corn picked a few hours before dinner, there’s no reason for it. Unless of course an industrial diet of easy sugars has dulled your taste for the earthy sweetness of corn, now that it has to compete with things like soda.” -Page 266
“As in the case of our imperfect knowledge of soil, the limits of our knowledge of nutrition have obscured what the industrialization of the food chain is doing to our health. But the changes in the composition of fats in our diet may account for many of the diseases of civilization-cardiac, diabetes, obesity, etc-” -Page 268

Thoughts:
1. I had no clue about the omega-3 and omega-6. I was pretty shocked to read the importance of the balance between different types of fats. It just shows that the reason today’s society has so many people with serious diseases...goes back to the idea of the unhealthy corn.
2. I also thought that fish was generally healthier than meat. It’s sad that industrialization has obscured my sense of knowledge as well.
3. Even if I (or anybody else) attempts to change to a more local diet, I think we would all give up easily. We’re just too used to convenience.

Chapter 15: The Forager
Précis: Agriculture already took away the choice of foraging as a viable technique because there isn’t enough to feed the whole population today. Today, foraging is considered more of a teaching than something economic/political. To become a legal hunter, a license is required, where it involves taking hunting courses and a long test. Hunting is also risky because sufficient knowledge is needed to distinguish what is edible, and what is poisonous.

Gems:
“Agriculture brought humans a great many blessings, but it also brought infectious disease (from living in close quarters with one another and our animals) and malnutrition (from eating too much of the same things when crops were good, and not enough of anything when they weren’t).” -Page 279
“Like other important forms of play, it promises to teach us something about who we are beneath the crust of our civilized, practical, grown-up lives. Foraging for wild plants and animals is, after all, the way the human species has fed itself for 99 percent of its time on earth; this is precisely the food chain natural selection designed for us.” -Page 280

Thoughts:
1. I never even thought about aquaculture. (Page 279-280) This is actually a shock to me, since I love going fishing and eating them when I have the chance. It really is a depressing reality that we rely so much on a convenient, yet unhealthy, system for food.
2. Hunting seems so distant and old-fashioned, and it’s sad that in today’s society, we can’t go back to hunting just because there isn’t enough for everyone...
3. Why are there so many people (population) today than when there were mostly hunters and gatherers?

Chapter 16: The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Précis: Humans and rats deal with struggles and benefits unknown to other specialized eaters (like the monarch butterfly) when it comes to food choices, because our diet is so vast and requires a wide range of nutrients. Cuisines and taboos of different cultures have some biological senses that helps supports our health (even though there are some don’t make biological sense), and reduces ingestion tensions because of the familiar flavors/tastes. America has the most health problems, not necessarily because of the food itself, but because of the lack of a culture.

Gems:
“The cow depends on the ingenious adaptation of the rumen to turn an exclusive diet of grasses into a balanced diet; we depend instead on the prodigious powers of recognition, memory, and communication that allow us to cook cassava or identify an edible mushroom and share that precious information.” -Page 294
“Instead of relying on the accumulated wisdom of cuisine, or even on the wisdom of our senses, we rely on expert opinion, advertising, government food pyramids, and diet books, and we place our faith in science to sort out of us what culture once did with rather more success. Such had been the genius of capitalism, to re-create something akin to a state of nature in the modern supermarket or fast-food outlet...” -Page 303

Thoughts:
1. I agree with the culture theory, because America doesn’t have a cuisine necessarily, so their bound to get themselves involved with the ‘diets’ and ‘nutrition’ advertisements. I personally ignore these ads, because they sound so fake but perhaps that’s because I have a cultural cuisine I eat most of the time, which balances my healthy diet.
2. I wondered why people used rats for experiments often. I knew there were some similarity between us and rats, but I didn’t know quite what that was. The similarities grossed me out a bit, because it means that as long as there are lots of people living everywhere, there’s going to be mice and rats.
3. Human beings are weird when I think about it. Unlike most living species, we don’t have one specific food we eat, like grass and eucalyptus leaves. We have to think through our food choices the most, but at the same time these complicated traits has helped us be able to live almost anywhere in the world.