in honor of this month's cover article on Christianity Today- "Eat, Pray, Think" by Leslie Leyland Fields, addressing CAFOs, an issue that i have been passionate about, i wanted to suggest to you a few books that are must reads on the subject of food and it's ugly truth.
the first book i read on this "conspiracy of the truth about our food" was Animal Vegetable Miracle, where Barbara Kinsolver questioned everything i knew to be true about food. whether it was the Ed Hume seed packets i bought every spring (warning, they will self-destruct) or the little perfect "mini-carrots" that are so meticulously shaped unlike nature's true shape.
however, i think both Kinsolver and Pollan in Omnivore's Dillema address a more shocking and sobering picture and that is of the animal industry. no longer should they be called farms (although the package of bacon, eggs, or other meat product has such a pretty landscape picture of such) but instead these CAFOs should be called something much more horrific. the restrictions (or lack thereof) that "farmers" have in regards to the animal's cancerous, virus ridden, antibiotic filled bodies and what they can get away with slapping a "USDA prime" sticker and feeding it to the general public. ok, ok, without me going on and on about the issues of where and how chicken nuggets are made, why we are so lackadaisical about when we buy watermelon (really? in middle of december is it such a must?) or other out of season foods imported from chile or some other 3rd world country, i will just direct you to a few sources so you can become as much of a raving lunatic like me.
who knows, maybe you will have a little bit more insight into where your food comes from and at what cost it is to other human beings, the environment and animals- all who were created by God for us to respect and steward in such a way that is not always coherent with this nation's addiction to cheap & manufactured food and it's toxic byproducts.
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