This whole exploration and self educating about corn really began with Michale Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. He spoke about corn - how it started and how it ended up being used today. He discussed how corn is perhaps the LARGEST crop grown in North America. What's even funnier is that of all the corn grown, only 1/40th is used for human consumption. So you have to ask, where does that all go? He's also an advocate of organic and locally grown foods that are sustainable in the long term. That question is what lead us to finding all these neat information about corn and its uses.
Another interesting question is: Ok. So if we were to cook dinner for Michael Pollan, what would we cook?
Well, first off, if he is a proponent of the organic movement and a locavore, I think the best person to consult with regards to cooking Michael a nice dinner, would be our very own Chef Jamie Kennedy. He has been an advocate for Ontario-grown produce and has really aided the farmers in getting their products into the hands of chefs and restauranteurs. I imagine Chef Jamie would point us to farmers that produce their products within Ontario. So purveyors like Cumbrae's Farm who sources their dry aged beef from local farms would be a good start. Or perhaps King Cole, who's ducks are naturally raised and their farm is located in Aurora. He might also point us to going to North St. Lawrence Market on a Saturday morning. That place is full of farmers selling their produce. Purple and yellow carrots are quite common.
So to answer the question of what to cook for Michael Pollan, we think the best approach is not to come up with a recipe and then find the ingredients, but rather to explore the farms and markets that provide us with locally grown and sustainable ingredients and then come up with a menu that allows those ingredients to truly shine, and speak for themselves.
Raw purple corn anyone? Maybe even a medley of sauteed purple, yellow and orange carrots.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
King Corn
If you really want to know more of this not so well-kept corn secret, this is a great movie to watch...
Grass-fed TOP TEN !
Score Ten for Grass-Fed Beef
Grass-fed beef is better for human health than grain-fed beef in ten different ways, according to the most comprehensive analysis to date. The 2009 study was a joint effort between the USDA and researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina. Compared with grain-fed beef, grass-fed beef was:
1. Lower in total fat
2. Higher in beta-carotene
3. Higher in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)
4. Higher in the B-vitamins thiamine and riboflavin
5. Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium
6. Higher in total omega-3s
7. A healthier ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (1.65 vs 4.84)
8. Higher in CLA (cis-9 trans-11), a potential cancer fighter
9. Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be transformed into CLA)
10. Lower in the saturated fats linked with heart disease
Did You Know?
v Roughly 25,000 square kilometers or 6 million acres of the Amazon rainforest is cut down every year for grazing cattle and to grow soybeans that are used for animal feed.
v Soybean meal and shelled corn are the most common plant proteins and grains fed to dairy cows. They are also some of the most genetically engineered crops in America, with 85% of all soybeans and 40% of all corn coming from genetically enginereed sources.
v The milk from pasture-raised dairy cows has 5 times more CLA than milk from conventional dairy cows.
v The grain used to feed livestock could feed 800,000,000 humans if used directly.
A study made by the UN found that the cattle:
-Uses 30% of the total earth’s surface.
-It.’s now grazing in 70% of what it used to be the Amazonia.
-It is responsible of the 37% of the methane induced by human beings (it has 23 times more greenhouse effect than CO²).
-Produces 65% of the nitric oxide related with humans (with potential of greenhouse effect 29 times greater than CO²).
-This report establish that eating meat causes 40% more gas emission of greenhouse effect than from all the cars, trucks and planes of the world.
-In average, if one person stops eating meat, will be saving 1.5 ton of carbon monoxide a year.
Grass-fed vs. Grain-fed
Livestock in America was grass-fed for a long time just as in other parts of the world. With the increase of demand of meat during the Second World War and the incentives from the government to keep the production of corn high; farmers were obligated to feed grains to their animals due to the decreasing price of their crops.
Before the Second World War, all American beef was "grass-finished," meaning that cattle ate pasture grass for the duration of their lives. Today, the vast majority of cattle spend anywhere from 60-120 days in feedlots being fattened with grain before being slaughtered. Unless the consumer deliberately chooses grass-finished or "free-range" meat, the beef bought at the grocery store will be of the corn-finished variety.
Feeding corn to cattle in the weeks before slaughter has several advantages for the producer, including:
· Corn-fed cattle gain weight much more quickly than cattle in a strictly grass-fed environment and can be produced year-round; the current system of ranching is designed around the accelerated growth of cattle in feedlots, and since corn-fed cattle fit this model, they are easier and more cost-effective to produce, and result in cheaper products for the consumer.
· Corn-fed cattle produce the type of meat that American consumers have grown to love and expect: a tasty, marbled, fatty meat with smooth, consistent flavour.
The Grain Feed Issues
Farm animals, like humans, are healthiest when they eat certain foods. Cows, have stomachs that are designed to digest grass. Pigs can digest grass, corn, grains, soy and other plants. Chickens and turkeys can eat plants as well as bugs and worms found on the pasture. When animals are fed conventional (or industrial) feed, which can include animal products, antibiotics, and other unnatural substances such as chewing gum and chicken manure, their health is put in jeopardy. And when an animal is unhealthy, the meat and other products made from it will also be less healthy.
Cows are ruminants, and ruminants are designed by nature to digest grass and only grass. They digest it first by eating it raw and then by regurgitating it and eating it again in a partially-digested form known as cud.As ruminants, cows have four chambers in their stomachs, and as a cow digests, the food moves slowly from one chamber to the next.
Though you may not see the difference while choosing steaks at a meat counter, beefs cows that ate grass were raised under drastically different conditions than those in the feedlots.
These are the principle reasons why:
Grass fed beef is more humane: pastures and grass are cow’s natural diet. They live low-stress lives, and have much more space to inhabit. Farmers feed grains to the cows such as corn as soy to fatten cows for slaughter, but their digestive track is not designed for grain. As a result, cows get sick with infections causing the consumption of antibiotics and other hormones to keep them healthy. This is actually worsened by the conditions they are raised in small places where they are grain fed all day with no room to move.
Grass fed beef is healthier: They have far leaner meat with lower calories than grain-fed, they have also been shown to have lower levels of saturated fat and high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. They also have five times the levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is believed to reduce levels of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and accumulation of body fat. On a factory beef or dairy farm the main ingredients of a cow’s diet are soy and corn (not to mention that a big part of these are genetically modified which worsen the situation more) which cows don’t digest well. In fact because of their digestive systems are not designed for grain, cows can develop severe health problems such acidosis and liver abscesses.
In addition to this farmers use by-products which can contain meat from animals of other or the same species, meat from diseased animals, bits of feathers, hair, skin, hooves, blood, manure and other animal waste, plastics, antibiotics and hormones these additions can transmit diseases like mad cow to both animals and humans. These products are lower in fat, cholesterol, and calories. In addition, the risk of infection by E. coli in these products is virtually eliminated.
By-products
Here are some of the “by-product feedstuffs commonly used in dairy cattle diets.
· Candy. Candy products are available through a number of distributors and sometimes directly from smaller plants. They are sometimes fed in their wrappers. Candies, such as cull gummy bears, lemon drops or gum drops are high in sugar content.
· Bakery Waste Stale bread and other pastry products from stores or bakeries can be fed to dairy cattle in limited amounts. These products are sometimes fed as received without drying or even removal of the wrappers.
· Potato Waste is available in potato processing areas, and includes cull potatoes, French fries and potato chips. Cull fresh potatoes that are not frozen, rotten, or sprouted can be fed to cows either whole or chopped. Potato waste straight from a processing plant may contain varying amounts of inedible or rotten potatoes. French fries and chips contain fats or oils from frying operations.
· Starch Unheated starch is available from some candy manufacturers and sometimes may contain pieces of candy.
· Pasta is available from pasta plants and some ingredient distributors as straight pasta or in blends with other ingredients, such as candy.
Grass-fed is more sustainable: in order for grass-fed beef to be tender, cattle must forage on high quality grasses, which requires careful land management. The number of cows an area of pasture can support is naturally limited, requiring a healthy animal-to-land ratio that does not overwhelm local resources.
Eggs from hens raised outdoors on pasture have from three to six times more vitamin D than eggs from hens raised in confinement. Pastured hens are exposed to direct sunlight, which their bodies convert to vitamin D and then pass on to the eggs.
Vitamin D is best known for its role in building strong bones. New research shows that it can also enhance the immune system, improve mood, reduce blood pressure, combat cancer, and reduce the risk of some autoimmune disorders.
Note that this benefit comes only from hens that are free to graze fresh greens, eat bugs, and bask in the sun. Most of the eggs sold in the supermarket do not meet this criterion. Even though the label says that the eggs are “certified organic” or come from “uncaged” or “free-range” hens or from hens fed an “all-vegetarian” diet, this is no guarantee that the hens had access to the outdoors or pasture.
We have to keep in mind that not all pasture grazing is done sustainably. As we know grazing is the leading cause of Amazonian deforestation.
SO WHAT U EATING ?
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