Hazon Food Conference

I would be amiss if I did not put a plug out for the Hazon Food Conference coming up Dec. 24-27 in California. It is a great conference in a great location - right on the ocean. Like all of Hazon's events, the Food Conference builds a strong, joyous Jewish community in a weekend. It is also packed with educational opportunities (I am speaking, for one) across a range of topic areas. I like to go to the experiential cooking instructors, the political advocates and the farmers. I also go to network and meet people from the West Coast which has a much stronger sustainable food culture than we do. If you are interested, sign up quick!

NPR, Yahoo! and the Washington Post

Boy, the message about the issues with industrial farming are finally making and making and making prime-time. On Wed 12/9, not one, not two, but three major sources of information had segments on the issues.

NPR had a segment on industrial dairy farms in New Mexico, the resulting ground water contamination, and the public's reactions;Yahoo's Healthy Living section had a segment on food experts won't eat including among others, corn-fed beef, farmed salmon, canned tomatoes and microwave popcorn; and the Washington Post Health and Science section had an article on food safety which focused on how industrially produced food makes tainted food hard to avoid.

It is a hot hot issue!

Food and Climate Change

I (along with many scientists) believe that agriculture's affect on the environment is being seriously underplayed and overlooked in Copenhagen as well as by the US government. As you probably already know, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change began in Copenhagen this week. Some folks have already dubbed it a failure because preliminary climate change negotiations didn't work and they believe no accord will be adopted that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I think that it is vitally important to do my part to add to the conversation about agriculture's impact on the environment and climate change. The Cool Foods Campaign has a good list of agriculture's contributions to climate change. They say, "It is imperative that the world shift away from industrial food systems and toward an ecological, organic food paradigm if we are to adequately address climate change." Their list doesn't address industrial animal agriculture specifically, but does recommend a shift away from industrial to sustainable (organic) farming practices.

Thanksgiving!

Well, after 4 weeks of Thanksgiving mayhem, I have a moment's rest.

It is truly a challenge trying to fit a non-industrial product into an industrial world. Its like putting a square peg in a round hole. My turkeys turned out smaller than we or the farmer expected. So I had to end up giving people two and ordering a whole bunch more - and it is not easy to find 100 pastured turkeys the week before Thanksgiving. To top it all off, fulfilling all these changed orders was a terrific challenge for my fulfillment folks. Ahh, the challenges of being a start-up! But at the end of the day, I am really thankful for (my family, my farmers, all the people who I work with) and especially YOU! Thank you, thank you, my customers, for being so understanding, and flexible! One thing I learned while calling many of you in the past couple weeks (to rearrange your orders) is the amount of support people have for what KOL Foods is doing. It is so nice to have that feedback in the midst of mayhem. Here is an email that I got yesterday from Sara Shapiro-Pleven of NYC:

"Devora, thank you so much. The turkeys were unbelievable. It was as if we were eating a whole different animal; I always thought I hated turkey, but this was delicious. I'm so glad that we were able to shop with you! But most of all, thank you for helping us to inspire our family to think more carefully about the food they eat."


Snif.

Global Warming and meat eating

There was a terrific op ed in the NY Times a couple of weeks ago which separated the issues of industrial animal meat production and vegetarianism. Nicolete Hahn Niman (of Niman Ranch fame) pointed out that the issues raised with eating meat (contributing to carbon dioide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions) are not really problems with eating meat, but with industrial meat production. Using traditional grass-fed farming methods eliminates many of these issues and, if done right, can contribute positively to carbon sequestration.

Here's a good quote: "None of us, whether we are vegan or omnivore, can entirely avoid foods that play a role in global warming. Singling out meat is misleading and unhelpful, especially since few people are likely to entirely abandon animal-based foods."

Click here for the whole Op Ed.

Eating Animals

Julie Steinberg (JCarrot.org blogger) interviewed me for her review of the new book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. The book is a bit of an investigative report on industrial meat production. It also goes into Foer's family history and his choice of vegetarianism. To read the full review click here.

What to do about industrial meat production?

A Prairie Home Companion has fun with Feedlot Beef & Industrial Corn

Garrison Keillor's show was broadcast in Des Moines last week. He did a terrific job of putting humor into the issue of feedlot/industrial beef and industrial corn in contrast to grass-fed beef. And why not have some fun? Here is the NPR feed for the Dusty Cowboy show (go to minute 24).

He also put a shout out to Grinnell College (in Grinnell, Iowa) where I went to college.