| Real Food, Naturally: The Cheapest Food You Can Buy
by Glen Boudreaux
President, Houston Farmers' Market
www.jolievuefarms.com
Greetings! from the farmers and food artisans at the Houston Farmers Market.
You may have heard of or even read Michael Pollan's book, Omnivores' Dilemma. If not, you should give it a try. It is a well-researched, hands-on journey through the world of Big Food as well as "slow food". Pollan spends one of his weeks with Joel Salatin at Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Valley, where Joel raises beef, pork, poultry, rabbit and eggs. Joel is the guru of clean, naturally raised meats and sustainable agriculture.
In the book, Pollan asks Joel about the higher cost of clean food. Joel's response is right on the money:
"...whenever I hear people say that clean food is expensive, I tell them it is actually the cheapest food they can buy. Then I explain that with our food all of the costs are figured into the price. Society is not bearing the cost of water pollution, of antibiotic resistance, of food-borne illnesses, of crop subsidies, of subsidized oil and water - of all the hidden costs to the environment and the taxpayer that makes cheap food seem cheap. No thinking person will tell you that they don't care about all that."
That almost says it all...I would add the cost of stale, deficient and unbalanced nutrients and the ethical/moral costs of our inhumanity to the earth's creatures. Yes, in the end they give their life for our nourishment, but they have a real life before that, not one of tortured imprisonment in the filthy confinement cages, houses and feedlots of industrial food.
Find the "cheapest food you can buy". It's available at the Houston Farmers' Market every Tuesday evening and Saturday morning. Join us there - we love putting a face on your food!
It's "thousands of miles fresher", and it's available at your Houston Farmers Market.
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