Y'eah c'mon

Yeah C’mon

So sometimes the universe has a funny way of turning up a giving you a big lesson in humility; you know hitting you up side the head and saying Kate, get over yourself!

The other weekend, I was in Hilton Head with THE ACTIVIST getting some much needed RnR and Frisbee time on the beach with my pups. Now, there isn’t much to do in Hilton Head, which is probably why I enjoy it so much, and let’s just face it there are only so many pounds of peel and eat shrimp a girl can eat, so we found ourselves at Mellow Mushroom.

So there we were perched at the bar with about 100 TV screens in front of us, playing varying versions of UFC, Football and Nascar: Southern high art, don’t ya know. Well, on one of the screens was a hunting/fishing show highlighting deer hunting- and by deer hunting I mean the ‘shootin steers and drinkin’ beers’ kind of hunting which is simply about the glory of the kill and mounting antlers on your wall. Now, when there is a TV screen bigger than your whole apartment in front of your face, it is pretty hard to avert your eyes and low and behold we caught the TV screen just as some Neanderthal- I am sorry -“outdoors enthusiast” shoots some deer to kingdom come for (as far as I can tell) shits and giggles. After uttering a few choice phrases between ourselves (and perhaps the rest of the establishment) we graciously asked the bartender to turn the channel, who did so in a manner of what I felt was somewhat begrudgingly: an immediate judgement call was made. That is the amazing thing about prejudice, it never asks you to either a) examine your world, or b) examine yourself. 

Along came our pizza: Gluten-free base, with vegan cheese, mushrooms and BBQ tempeh (hey, don’t knock it until you try it…remember our aforementioned lesson on prejudice).  Happily munching away in our bubble ofsatisfaction and self-righteousness our disgruntled bartender wandered over, and we started making small talk: about the island, the weather and the new Harris Teeter under construction next door. Whilst I do love HH, it is a definite struggle to find organic produce (gasp, there is no Whole Foods on the island: I know, how barbaric). Mentioning this to our monosyllabic friend he, to our absolute amazement suddenly got all chatty. He agreed with our observations and began regaling us on the joy of the radishes and tomatoes he had recently pulled from his own little backyard plot. His next comment rendered me dumb founded: not an easy feet as those of y’all who know me well can attest. Here is jist of what he said.

“I apologise to y’all. I know you were upset by the hunting show, but I tell you what, I hunt all my own deer and hog and I use every single part. In fact I haven’t been out to a restaurant and eaten meat in – well I can’t remember when. What is the point? You don’t know what you are getting. That shit is pumped so full of hormones and bleached with some many chemicals just to make it barely edible. I see images of these factory farms out west and I just don’t understand it. The same goes for fishing, I eat everything I catch and I know it is good, and fresh and I where the sonfabitch came from [ok I inserted the sonfabitch to add a degree of authenticity].”

I mean talk about shocked. Here is a fellow toward whom I had fostered a steaming pile of resentments and prejudice, and yet there he was jiving with the exact same ethos as my vegan cohort and myself. Needless to say, we told him about what we did, gave him a card and spent the next 20 minutes discussing the inherent dangers of the current food industry.

Walking out of the restaurant, I was suddenly struck by the enormity of this interchange as well as hit with the sheer magnitude of my own ego.  Here were three people coming together, despite our holier than though attitudes, from seemingly worlds apart; we, the dirty liberal, commie hippies with our tofu (his words) and he, the backward right-winging redneck toting his guns (our words) meeting in common accord. To me this became a testament to the strength behind VA’s cause. It really doesn’t matter what your political predilections, or your social and economic status. The health of our bodies, or environment combined with the purity and integrity of our food is something we can all support.

The other weekend, in celebration of Food Day (October 24^th) my dear friends (one of whom is half of my beloved 2 fun guys who you might remember from a previous blog and are just blossoming as I knew they would www.2-funguys.com: I am such a mushroom groupie) hosted a real food potluck supper. We smoked ethically raised local chicken wings on a Big Green Egg and ate covered dishes comprised of items from our local farmers or our own back yard. Drinking beer around a roaring camp fire in our flannels and Toms®- write about these www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com - we sat in our ivory towers discussing the sad state of the nation and attempting thankless task of trying to explain the rules of American football to my British self. My kind of people, right? But you know what? I think our bartender friend would have been right at home. And, by that same token, we would have welcomed him into our fold with hyperbolically open arms. Why? Because, food isn’t about the stuff on your plate, my fellow reader! It is about the joy of sharing and eating and cooking and choosing and, for many now, growing and even rearing your own. That is what it is about! That is where we come together! So hemp bracelets and trucker hats unite ‘cos it is all love baby ; so long as we actually talk about it… oh yeah, and get over ourselves!

Good eating y’all. Love THE EPICUREAN.

White Oak Pastures: The Stockman and The Vegan

White Oak Pastures is set in the rural southwest corner of Georgia it’s hard to see where its thousand acres end and where the ‘rest’ begins.  Will Harris is a fourth generation farmer and the farm began its life in the 1860’s at the end of the American Civil War with Will’s great grandfather and 100 emancipated slaves.  The newly emancipated slaves were given work, a wage and had somewhere to live (granted they didn’t have much choice as they really didn’t have anywhere else to go). But Will’s great-grandfather accepted his landlord responsibilities and provided for his new employees.
Today Will takes his role as the biggest local employer seriously; all of his employees receive wages above the minimum federal requirement, each shares in a regular bonus, and all are provided with health insurance.  Again given the circumstances and environ a good number may not have a choice about where they work but it would seem that Will does not take advantage of this and is a fair employer in an industry where farm labour is notoriously underpaid with little or no benefits.  It is obvious that Will is a business man as well as a stockman but it’s my impression that if you work with him fair and square he will do likewise.

Today Will, the stockman, has 1,000 head of cattle; over 2,000 geese, ducks and guinea fowl; over 2,000 heritage turkeys, and 400 sheep; we aren't counting the rabbits at this point.  One of my biggest concerns before I got to White Oak's and met Will Harris, was how is he able to maintain animal welfare integrity whilst farming on a large relative to other Animal Welfare Approved farms?  White Oak Pastures is a beef supplier for Wholefoods in Georgia and selected Publix Supermarkets: it seemed like an awful lot of beef to be providing on a weekly basis. However, the answer became very apparent on touring the farm - responsible and ethical farming practices were 'written' on every field and on every head of livestock.  In addition the White Oak Pastures' herd is supplemented with cattle raised locally by other farmers.  As I mentioned White Oak Pastures has 1,000 head of cattle at any given time;  the farm  processes 6,000 head of cattle; so the remaining 5,000 are raised by sixteen local farmers all adhering to the precise practices set down by Will Harris.  On an individual basis this means that percentage-wise Will Harris is still the bulk supplier.

The accolades and memberships adorn the front of the farm office building  - White Oak Pastures is a member of American Grassfed,  Animal Welfare Approved,  Certified Humane,  Georgia Grown   Georgia Organics  and Will won the 2011 award for environmental stewardship.  But this style of ranching was not always in operation at White Oak Pastures.  Will Harris' father took over the farm during WWII fresh from graduating in agriculture from one of the universities in Georgia.  He  applied his new science based methods of agriculture and began to transform the farm using modern 20th century techniques that he had been taught.  The old style farming methods were time consuming, these new methods saved time and guaranteed a faster and more plentiful return of meat.  When Will Harris took over the farm, after following in his father’s footsteps and graduating in agriculture from the University of Georgia, he took what his father had started and 'ran' with it.  Abundant use of chemicals ensured lush weed free pastures, hormones ensured that his steers were bulky and fat; antibiotics ensured that his cattle didn’t die from their unnatural diet of corn and their generally unhealthy lifestyle.

Just over 10 years ago instead of a middle-age crisis Will Harris had a middle-age awakening.  He began to become aware of the damage he was doing to the environment and his livestock.  His soul searching as I said was more of an awakening than a sudden bolt from the blue, and he decided make the move back to the 'old-fashioned' ways of his granddaddy and great-granddaddy.   It’s my impression from the time that I spent with Will that when he decides he is going to do something he is going to do it well.  His farm today is a testament to using what nature has so readily supplied to grow good healthy animals without the use of chemicals, drugs or environmentally damaging processes.  His farm has a zero waste operation: White Oak Pastures has its own processing facility (abattoir); the steer walks into it on one side and comes out the other, butchered, packaged and sealed in plastic; and everything left over in the middle is utilized on the farm. The pasture is fertilized with ground bones mixed with organic plant matter, and blood and viscera which have been transformed into liquid fertilizer; the hides are dried in the Georgia sun then sent to a tannery Kentucky: Will would like to have a vegetable based tannery at his facility (and I bet he does one day!!).
As a result of the organic fertilization there are high levels of organic carbon in the soil which enhances the soil's ability to retain higher levels of moisture.  Combine this with the farms geographical position on the Georgia/Alabama coastal plain Will's livestock are pretty much guaranteed green pastures 52 weeks a year and only occasionally when green grass is sparse are the cattle supplemented with hay. This was another question that had been on my mind, particularly in view of the long, dry and hot summer that we have had this year. I know other farmers who have been struggling to maintain grass for their animals and have had to resort to other available crops.  Despite wishing he didn't have to, Will finds it necessary to supplement his fowl with corn but this doesn't present a problem for a monogastric animal (single stomach compartment). 

So into the abattoir!  I was expecting something that resembled a 'chamber of horrors'  but this was not my experience. The last killing had only been the day before but the abattoir was like a museum piece; it was immaculately clean.  The processing facility is operated on the system implemented by Temple Grandin who, despite mental and emotional challenges, has been a champion for animal welfare and is responsible for devising a more humane procedure for animal slaughter. Entering the slaughter house was a challenging experience for me.  What immediately hit me was the smell - it was not really repugnant, and in a warped kind of way (for me) nostalgic. It took me right back to my childhood when I used to visit my dad at the butcher's shop.  I would always go into the back where he did his butchering, sausage making and meat grinding; in those days butchers processed their own meat, abattoirs were simply places of slaughter.  The carcasses would arrive at the shop in one piece with just  the head, hooves, and hide removed along with the subcutaneous fat which lies right beneath it.  When I was in Will's processing facility neither the smell nor the  carcasses hanging in the refrigeration room struck me with the sadness that I was expecting - what really made me sad was viewing the first port of entry for the animal - the 'stunning room'.  I imagined a magnificent beast crumpling to its knees when the stun gun was applied to its brain: giving its life so that we might eat.  Unfortunately, our culture has lost respect for the animals that it eats, the mutual respect between man and beast has gone.  We have become disassociated from our food supply, we see meat as a 'sterile' plastic packaged item in the supermarket refrigerator.  It is this disassociation that factory-farm producers rely on,  it is this disassociation that allows them to meet out systematic cruelty on a daily basis, it is this disassociation which prevents the public from saying "enough".  A cow is not simply a commodity, it is a breathing, living, feeling animal that gives birth just like we do, and forges a strong mother/child relationship with its young - just like we do.  "The very saddest sound in all my memory was burned into my awareness at age five on my uncle's dairy farm in Wisconsin. A cow had given birth to a beautiful male calf. The mother was allowed to nurse her calf but for a single night. On the second day after birth, my uncle took the calf from the mother and placed him in the veal pen in the barn - only ten yards away, in plain view of the mother. The mother cow could see her infant, smell him, hear him, but could not touch him, comfort him, or nurse him. The heartrending bellows that she poured forth - minute after minute, hour after hour, for five long days - were excruciating to listen to. They are the most poignant and painful auditory memories I carry in my brain."
-- Dr. Michael Klaper   
At White Oak pastures the calves stay with their mothers until they are around 7 or 8 months old which is considerably longer than factory farmed beef cattle, the recommended period in conventional farming is 2 days and is referred to as the '48-hour Calf Removal Procedure' (scientific sounding labelling divorces us from the truth of a situation - which in this case is basic animal cruelty !!).  According to the The Animals and Society site natural weaning, which obviously will cause the least stress, is somewhere between 7 and 14 months and ususally takes two weeks.   The cattle at White Oak Pastures are grouped according to needs - for example nutritiional needs  (young and older cattle have higher nutritional needs than middle aged cattle) and for the purpose of this section, 'emotional' needs (my word not Will's but I don't doubt that there is compassion in his method).  When I toured the farm there was a group of cows standing forlornly together under the shade of a tree  - these were the mothers who had recently lost their calves - as very socialable animals here was group comfort in a shared grief.
Their is no room for sentimentality in farming - but compassion is the key ingredient.
One can only pray for all the animals which are not so fortunate as the ones at White Oak Pastures. White Oak Pastures' cattle walk with dignity and minimum stress into the slaughter house and are knocked senseless within seconds. This unfortuately is not the case for many other thousands of animals slaughtered for meat hourly in the U.S.A (currently 660,000 per hour).  Slaughter is often sloppy, carried out by inexperienced staff, and animal abuse is rampant: owner's of animals destined for the food chain are exempt from the same laws that protect pets, they literally are a law unto themselves.  But slaughter, animal transportation and their inadequacies are for a later blog.

Will Harris is a steward of his land; he is restoring it to its former glory after years of modern agricultural abuse with chemicals, and leaching from the land without giving back.  Today Will gives back.  In part to provide lush pasture for his animals but also becaue of his responsibility as a custodian for the land which has been in his family for a few generations..  Agriculture is not a naturally occuring eco-system it is created by humans to grow crops, raise animals etc.  We need agriculture to feed ourselves - foraging in the woods for edible plants, nuts and seeds, and killing the occassional wild boar are no longer options for modern man.  However with our current  intensive farming systems we are destroying the environment: we are depleting the soil of its nutrients and polluting the earth's water; our conventional system of agriculture is destroying the two things that agriculture needs - healthy soil and clean water.  Ecologically minded farmers and stockmen are conscious of the natural flora and fauna which are lost as a result of turning countryside over to agriculture and are consequently creating ecological microcosms around the perimeters of their farms and pastures of plants and trees indigenous to the countryside, these are know as 'edges'. White Oak pastures is no exception and Will Harris plants 500 white oaks each year in his edges and allows the local fauna to flourish.  The water running through the land at White Oaks is no longer polluted with chemicals, and the animals defecate where they happen to be wandering on the ranch which means that there are no concentrated lagoons of raw manure running off into the water supply, and their herbivorous 'poop' fertilizes the pasture.

How can we make ethical and sustainable farming work on a larger scale?

Will Harris and White OakPastures are a testament to the fact that sustainable, responsible and humane farming on a larger scale is possible.  Many supporters of factory farming put forward the argument that factory farming is the only way we can provide enough meat and crops to feed this country's  population.  This is incorrect.  Let's put aside the fact that animal abuse is unacceptable at every level (and the accepted practices implemented in factory farming are abusive, painful and cruel) and consider why this argument is incorrect. There is enough arable land in the U.S. for an abundance of thousands of small to medium size farms to flourish;  the government subsidies which are ploughed ('plowed') into growing corn and soy (approximately $3.5 billion in corn subsidies for 2010) could be used to help small to medium sized farmers and stockmen (sorry don't know the PC version for this) in business incentives and financial loans/support to implement responsible farming and husbandry.  White Oak pastures beef is not expensive, it might not get you a 'Golden Arch' hamburger for 99c but that is another story (the success of the McDonald brothers is based on animal and labour exploitation with no other motive than to maximise the profit margin -  another future blog no doubt).  Another argument for our current system of factory farming is the advantages of economies of scale - this is a short sighted argument and again has nothing to do with the altruistic motive of getting food to the table at a reasonable price but has everything to do with the maximizing profits of the company. Currently factory farming giants are operating on the principle of "too big to fail"; nothing is to big to fail and when a financial giant fails it takes us all with it. When factory farming "fails" it will take us with it along with our health and the health of the environment.
So lets look at the long term view of ethical food production - healthier animals, healthier humans, healthier planet and, despite contrary belief, more food.  An idealist's view maybe but as I see it when ethical and sustainable farming practices becomes the 'norm' rather than the exception the principles of 'economies of scale' can come into play through a shared common goal.  Some of the advantages of economies of scale are:- purchasing (bulk buying); efficiency through specialization;  financial advantages (advantageous interest rates and loans); marketing; and technological innovations.  Individual farmers and producers pooling knowledge and resources can receive all the advantages of 'economies of scale' without the inherent disadvantages of Diseconomies of Scale which is an actual downside of extremely large corporations, and conglomerates.
I was talking to a customer at my local farmer's market recently and he said that having grown up on a farm and having seen the hardships that his parents experienced he wouldn't wish that on anyone and, whilst not necessarily supporting it, can understand why many farmers turn to industrialized farming methods.  But surely (the idealist speaking again) we can harness the work and research that is being carried out by Biotechnology to good effect, not simply for the purpose of enabling companies such as Monsanto to globally monopolize genetically engineered crops (currently Monsanto holds 90% of the world's supply of genetically modified seeds, and yes this will be a future blog!)


The food industry doesn't have to be an either or situation - science surely can walk hand in hand with ethical sustainable farming.   It needs understanding and dialogue betweeen all parties and a long-sighted view of the planet and its natural resources.  Healthy food production has to take precedence: if we continue to rape the planet and destroy its natural resources through chemicals and industrialized farming we may be able to feed a global poulation in the short term but in the long term there will be starvation at a global level.


Random but pertinent facts

• 25 million farms have been lost since the 1950s in the USA
•  "the United States has gone from being a net exporter of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables in the early 1970s to being a net importer of fruits and vegetables today"  Congressional Research Services. Could this be anything to do with the fact that:-
• the U.S has turned over a quarter of it's farmland to rotationally growing corn and soy, with over 40% of the soy and 60% of the corn going into industrialized farm fodder, and only 6% going directly into the food chain;
• cattle are the main recipient for the corn/soy fodder, neither of which they are designed to eat, resulting in a plethora of digestive and health problems for the animals;
• this same farmland which is growing subsidized corn and soy "was once prime prairie terrain in the Midwest--one of the greatest stores of soil tilth and fertility on the globe...[and is now] doused annually [by farmers] with massive amounts of agri-chemicals which have destroyed this once fertile soil which now is only fit to support its crops of soy and corn". 

 The healthy prairie that was renowned for natural grazing is as much a legend as the cowboys who used to ranch it. 

Amongst many of the poignant points which Will Harris made on my visit I will end with two of them -

• the majority of the cattle which go to slaughter in the US today are already dying (through unnatural diets and abusive raising methods); the steers that go to Will's slaughter facility are healthy and strong (a product of natural sustainable and ethical raising methods). 
•  despite the fact that Will Harris stopped abusing his land and has been nurturing it for over 10 years, it is still not fully back to its former glory, as he said "when you fall off a horse it often takes a long time to get back on it".

- THE ACTIVIST

T'is the Season...

T’is the Season,

Ahhhh Autumm, my favourite time of year.

I was looking over my last posts, and thought: Holy Mackrel Batman what crawled up her tuckus, they were a little soap boxy were they not? Someone pull the stick out of her butt and beat her with it! So I thought for this blog I would save y’all the fire and brimstone and write about something a little more errmmm happy for want of a better word. So I thought, Kate (yes I am an only child I talk to myself and also have a tendency to refer to myself in the third person) what makes you happy? The answer is simple, Fall, outdoors and braised meat baby!

One of the most exquisite and formidable things in this world is change. Change, paradoxically, is the only constant we have and we can either go with it, embrace it and to quote Thoreau (and the Dead Poets Society: cliché alert) suck the marrow out of life, or sit in the same ‘ol same ‘ol and remain constant. Your choice, but I promise you, the latter is wholly detrimental. To remain in the safe and secure blanky that is you present state is stagnation pure and simple, and if you have ever walked past long standing water, y’all know that stuff stanks!

Nature is all about change. Change is the fundamental essence of nature. Without change the world simply would not be, it couldn’t exist. My garden depends upon my changing the crops and the soil otherwise it becomes useless and depleted. Likewise, the very fabric of the earth and, by extension, our lives depends upon the natural shifting of the moon, the sun and of course the seasons.

This is why I love autumn. To me autumn does not signify the dying of summer, but it is the manifestation of change as such. It signifies the movement away from that which was; preparing the earth for winters silent meditation and the promise of spring and new growth.

Autumn is also the time of pumpkins, root vegetables and slow cooking!

I was chatting to a market friend today and we decided we must have been Russian peasants in a past life because we both have a love affair with anything slow cooked and containing a permutation of cabbage, roots and some unfavourable cut of meat… or maybe it is my Englishness that sways me towards food that has had the nutrients stewed out of it. Either way, give me braising or give me death.

To me there is nothing more comforting, more reassuring and forgive me more sexy than spending a chilly Sunday afternoon at home with something merrily simmering in red wine and stock in the oven.  I begin to conjure up images of bonfires, moon halos and childhood; memories of walking through crunchy leaves and the smells of woodsmoke and damp earth.

But back to reality, truth is I live in Georgia and whilst my vegetable garden appreciates the long growing season and the promise of another couple of months of high 70 degree weather, my nostalgia remains unsatisfied. This leaves me with only one option: turn that A/C down waaaaaay low, put on something flannel and throw a brisket in the oven.

So in this spirit I thought I would share a favourite autumn recipe. A “stick to your ribs” kind of affair that warm those heart cockles and your belly all at the same time.

I give you: Kate’s Krauts and Brats!

Recipe

4 large pork sausages: my choice Spotted Trotter’s Toulouse Sausage http://thespottedtrotter.com/ (all ethical and sustainable, cos y’all know how we roll here at VA)

4 THICK cut rashers of smoked bacon: I use Pine Street Market’s applewood smoked bacon – yup you guest all humane blah blah blah- www.pinestreetmarket.com.

1 large onion thinly sliced
1 leek thinly sliced

1 ½ cinnamon sticks

6 cloves

1 tsp fennel seeds

2 bay leaves

1 head of green cabbage, sliced into ribbons

1 1/2 12 oz bottles of hard apple cider… scrumpy preferably, something dry

1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1tbsp honey.

S+P to taste.

1 tbso canola oil.

In a large pot- I use my French oven for this- render the bacon in the oil (it is a pork fat thing baby and Pine Street knows where it is at!), then add the onions to the fat and sweat until the onions are tender and translucent. Add the cabbage to the pot (don’t worry I promise it will cook down!). Give it a few minutes and a few good stirs. Season well with salt and pepper and then add the liquids. Allow pot to come to the boil, then turn down to super low and add cinnamon, cloves, fennel and bay leaves. Leave to braise away happily for a good hour and a half.

The sausages- so long as you have the hook up, which I do (thanks Kevin!)- speak for themselves. Prick the sausages a few times with a fork so they don’t explode (I would not wish this culinary Armageddon on anyone, t’is both messy and terrifying)  Heat the oven to 350 degrees, rub the sausage in a wee bit  of oil and roast until the skin is crispy; a good sausage skin should crack when you bite into it. When the sausage is done (about 15-20 mins, you don’t want it to be overcooked) remove and rest for 15 minutes.

Remove the cloves (as best as you can), bay leaves and cinnamon sticks, and ladle a generous serving of cabbage into a large pasta or soup bowl. Cut the sausage in half on a bias (for no other reason then it looks fancy and like you know what you are doing) and arrange on top of the cabbage and serve.

NB// I would highly recommend pairing Kate’s Krauts and Brats with a Belgian, or Belgian style beer. My two choices are either Affligem or Delirium Tremens.

So there it is, the perfect fall recipe… at least in my humble opinion. I hope you enjoy it.

So why all this? Why my romanticising? Why this insistence upon seasonal compliance and cabbage?

I guess my point is this: There are seasons for a reason, and as much as we would like to think of ourselves as masters of our environment (oooh there is that stick again) we cannot divorce ourselves from nature, so why not just go with it.  Let yourself flow with the changes and hell, put on a pair of long johns if it helps get you in the mood. The main thing is to savour it!

I am not a religious person. However, I do believe in the Spirit of the Universe, Mother Nature and the wisdom of my elders so I shall leave you with this quote  “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven”. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Good eatin’ y’all love THE EPICUREAN

Plan B

I often joke that if the world officially goes to hell in a hand basket, I moving to Kauai buying a donkey, a goat, and a duck and growing mangoes and avocados. 

This sounds like something of a drastic idea, and I will forgive you if you take this declaration with somewhat of a grain of salt. However, despite the fact that it is mostly said "tongue in cheek" there is some truth to it. 

The other day I was chatting to a chum over an adult beverage, and in one of those slightly tipsy "let's discuss life, universe and the nature of existence" conversations, we - and don't ask me to explain how we reached this point- began talking about the Mayan Calendar and the supposed apocalyptic prophesy the calendar foretells. Now, despite the lateness of the hour, full moon and wine this was actually a pretty level-headed conversation. Both of us came to the mutual consensus that we don’t buy into the doomsday aspect, but that there is a shift coming, and a big one and that, and call me a dirty hippy but I think that shift is going to see a lot more folks ruminating over similar ideas of my own. In other words, I honestly feel like (to quote one of my favourite artists) “The times, they are ‘a changin’ ”.

I was merrily wandering around my beloved local farmer’s and I noticed how many demographics were equally happily strolling like myself. Young, Old, Black, White and Hippies and Yuppies skipping hand in hand…ok I used some artistic licence there, but I think you catch my drift. The point is people were communing the way they always have in regards to food production/purchase and consumption.  Food is not just something I ingest but an axis upon which an entire community revolves. It is simply not good enough to nip over to Krongles or Pubbly Wiggly for whatever high fructose laced, preservative laden semi food product you can lay your hands on. Instead it feels to me that folks are beginning to make more informed conscious efforts regarding the WWWHW (who, what, why, how and when) of what comes to their plates in the evening.

We have reached a tipping point. A system that constantly feeds without ever replenishing resources will inevitably collapse upon itself, sucking dry the very fabric of that which itself depends. Perhaps Agent Smith was right:
“You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.” 

We are tremendously viral in our attitude toward the earth and it’s natural resources. Current methods of agricultural practices implemented by Agribusiness or what I like to refer to as Big Agriculture, rape our landscape, leaching the soil of vital micro-nutrients and minerals. Traditional farming practices involve careful selection of seeds and the constant rotation of crop and animals to ensure that the soil and earth are replenished. This type of practice does not occur in what I can only refer to as a bastardisation of a millennial old practice that was doing just fine and dandy until modernity decided to stick its nose in. The saying is, if it aint broke don’t fix it. It wasn’t and we tried to and we messed it up beyond belief!

Something has to change.

But how? Certainly it would be something of an exercise in futility to expect corporate agriculture so suddenly have a change of heart and start farming sustainably or give animals the dignity they deserve, after all they give their lives for us. It has to come from the bottom up! It has to come from us, the consumer. It isn’t impossible; it is happening all around me, I can feel it. There is something moving is the masses, there are a growing number of people who are no longer satisfied with taking food production at face value.

Ignorance is bliss? No, ignorance is the evil and corroding thread. Ignorance, or more precisely wilful ignorance, maintains the status quo and allows companies like Monsanto to continue on with their atrocities behind closed doors (see later blog on Monsanto, or watch the movie The world according to Monsanto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH4OwBYDQe8).  Yet, with more and more people seeking out the truth they are turning to more sustainable agriculture, seeking out ethically produced animal products from local farmers markets, and starting their own urban gardens. These aren’t just dirty hippies like me, wearing Birkenstocks and weaving bracelets out of hemp and their own self loathing, but every Tom, Dick and Sally. Teachers, Lawyers  and professionals are all participating in a strong movement toward a better future for ourselves and our progeny, and these are the folks who I want to be around when the proverbial shit hits the fan.

I think I am right, I feel like I am right. I hope that I am right… but if not I am gonna need some help harvesting my mangoes if anyone is interested?

Good eatin' y'all, love THE EPICUREAN.

Shark Fin Soup: A Recipe for Disaster

"Sharks have been around for 400 million years. Are we going to let them die out because of ignorance about the origins of what we eat and because of human arrogance? "http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/shark-fin-soup.htm

Approximately 73 million sharks are killed each year simply for their fins - this is a conservative estimate, some environmental groups say that the figure is nearer 100 million.  Fishermen can achieve a much greater yield if they harvest only the fin; so the shark is pulled clear of the water, its fin is sliced off, the fish is thrown back into the sea where it sinks to the bottom and dies slowly.  With shark fin soup fetching up to and sometimes in excess of $100 a bowl in restaurants this type of fishing proves to be quite lucrative for the fin fishermen.

Pile of dead sharks with fins removed

Fins drying in the sun

Sharks are magnificent creatures, they have stood the test of time and evolution, it is quite staggering to think that modern man could potentially wipe them out in half a century.  However one feels about sharks (love them or hate them) it cannot be overlooked  that  they have been top predators of the sea for millennia and their demise will have a drastic effect on the oceanic eco-system.   

  "Maintaining the populations of top predators is critical for sustaining healthy oceanic ecosystems,..Despite the vastness of the oceans, its organisms are interconnected, meaning

 that changes at one level have implications several steps removed." 

- Charles Peterson, a professor of marine sciences biology and ecology at the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  Science Daily

Nature has a way of working things out - sharks reach sexual maturity at a late age and produce small litters.  Nature worked it out this way because if they reproduced like rabbits it would mean that their feeding habits would deplete the rest of marine life.  So ecologically this works out well, however, the downside of this is that due to our current shark fishing methods we are killing at least twice as fast as sharks are reproducing.   As top predators not only do sharks prevent over-population of other fish they also eat weaker members of other ocean species thereby improving the gene pool.  Sharks are scavengers and they clean up the oceans by eating the dead and the dying - Primitive Ways.

But here's the thing, shark fin is tasteless and inedible; the fin has to be cooked for a very long time until the cartilage separates and softens (at this point it has a noodle like appearance).  The flavour comes from the base of the soup - usually chicken broth and shiitake mushrooms.  It is purported to have wonderful health properties and has been used as an aphrodisiac for centuries.  These claims are erroneous, and in fact the mercury levels contained in the fins today have the opposing effect  - ingesting mercury can cause impotency, and in high levels is dangerous to overall human health.  Any health benefit will come from the shiitakes not the fin; and any aphrodisiac properties are most likely as a result of inflated ego arising from it's prestigious associations.

So if it's tasteless what is the appeal of shark fin soup?  Apparently it is the texture - it creates a gelatinous quality to the broth, and from what I have read, in Chinese cuisine the texture is almost as important as the flavour.  So if texture is key then there are a whole host of alternatives which will provide the required texture and consistency,  from vegetarian options (agar agar and other sea vegetables) to animal options (offal containing cartilage)  - some Chinese grocery stores sell a frozen "mock-fin" concoction.
I also believe that a big part of the 'kick' originally came from the idea of dominating and killing a 'fearsome' wild animal. The same kick which hunters get out of displaying a head over their fireplace of a wild animal that they have killed: instead of the moose's head or the deer-skin rug the early Chinese had a shark fin in their soup.

The history of shark fin soup can be traced back to at least the Sung Dynasty in China (960 A.D), some believe it can even be traced back as far as the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago.  It was a delicacy for the aristocracy and was reserved for special occasions and celebrations, in part due to the length of time it took to prepare (a few days).  And most likely their would be no waste - the flesh of the fish would be eaten and the skin used as rawhide. With improved fishing vessels and new techniques of fishing the shark fishing industry started to expand in the mid twentieth century but from what I have read I don't believe that this delicacy posed a real threat to the shark populations until the 1980s when there was an explosion in the demand for shark fin soup. This was mainly due to the rise in the new middle class in China and consequently expendable income.  It became part of the new status symbol to provide this delicacy at weddings, banquets and business events to reflect the importance of the host and to bestow great honour on the guests.  Add to this today's global nomadic tendencies, and an increase in a taste for global cuisine.

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon - Some countries are taking control of shark fishing and in particular in fin harvesting,  For example the Bahamian Islands have banned shark fishing altogether whilst Taiwan has banned  fin-harvesting; fisherman must catch the whole fish and arrive back in port with the fish in tact Wild Aid.   The state of California (the largest consumer of shark fin soup outside of Asia) is pushing for a total ban on the supply and purchase of shark fins. These bans and partial bans could potentially reduce the number of sharks killed, however, until the demand is reduced then the effect might have little consequence  - where there is a demand there is always a way to supply it.  A restaurant in Bangkok which is rated in the top three in the city serves 300 bowls of it a day, mainly to politicians and celebraties, the price ranges from about $30 to $160 a bowl (Bt800 - Bt1500) depending on the size and the scarcity of the fin; this is despite a movement in Thailand to ban the indiscriminate killing of sharks.  We have to make people aware of the catastrophic results of our current shark fishing industry, we have to make people aware that if we continue to consume shark fin soup not only will it become a scarce commodity but so will sea-food in general.  I believe that if people were aware of the real facts and their implications many would think twice about some of the choices they make in what they eat.

Shark populations have decreased by approximately 80% in the last 30-50 years.  This current shark fishing is not putting food on the table it is catering to an elite.  This current butchery of sharks is not only barbaric and a total waste of life but in the bigger picture will have a catastrophic knock on effect; it will result not only in the decimation of sharks but in ocean life as we know it today, and the whole of the fishing industry.  What is a lucrative business for some fishermen today will take the livelihood away from fishermen in the future.

If you would like to learn more then please check the following websites Wild Aid and Threatened with Extinction.
If you would like to help - please sign the Global Pledge to ask world governments to protect and conserve our sharks.
- THE ACTIVIST