le boeuf vrai

Don’t get confused, I just thought that “The Real Beef” sounded cliche… I’m talking about beef. Literally the meat that used to be a cow, and ends up in our tummies.

I have to admit, that the first time I read about the plight of the modern beef cow was over two years ago, in a Time Magazine article about a rancher who had switched from stuffing his cows  “with corn and soy” and “synthetic hormones to make them grow faster,” to letting them eat grass. ‘Letting cows eat grass?’ I remember thinking, what the hell else would a cow eat? Turns out lots of stuff, and against their will too. ‘Cause not surprisingly, it turns out cows would really like to eat.. well.. grass.

Well, now I’ve read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and ‘plight’ doesn’t even begin to cover what we are doing to the cows in the world. Anyway, I am a realist, and a firm believer in the adage of Think Globally, Act Locally so when Jason suggested that we try this grass-fed local rancher’s stock, I bought in. Literally. Again.

The steaks we bought were roughly 150% more expensive than the comparable steaks you would find at Loblaws down the street… but we were prepared for that reality by Mr. Pollan (the Omnivore with the dilemma). The taste was a lot like the one he described in his book: the beef tasted beefier… more like the beef we grew up on for sure. Lots less fat, and I seemed to get full faster.

But the thing is, I really don’t feel a whole lot better about my beef. I guess that I am not a huge carnivore to begin with, I can go weeks without having red meat (though I would miss my weekly eggs at brunch), and would probably miss fish way way more than chicken (once a week?), pork (very rarely, once every three months or so) or beef (once a week – tops).

Maybe the point of the Omnivore’s Dilemma (I’m about a chapter away from the end) is not so much a dilemma (“a situation requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives.”) but more of an end-of-the-road choice.

No longer can I be in ignorance as to the life (such as it is) that that hamburger “lived” before arriving on my plate. Whether feasting on grass and clover as he/she was meant to or force-fed antibiotic-infused corn that makes him/her sick to his/her stomach… that cow was raised to be eaten.

Think about that. Born on this earth to be eaten by me. No other purpose. Nothing else to look forward to. And isn’t that the situation of the whole frickin’ Bos taurus species? Are there any cows born into this world who’s sole purpose IS NOT to feed humans? Are there any ‘free’ cows in the world?

I mean, I’m a Hindu, and I know cows are sacred back home, but I wouldn’t call them ‘free.’ I guess they are ’safe’ from being eaten by humans, but its not like they are cared for or anything. Maybe that is where cows are supposed to be evolutionarily speaking. If we were not cow-eaters… if eating beef was as crazy an idea as eating rats… I guess cows would be wandering the streets, filthy and diseased like they seem to be in the cities of India.

I think what I am saying in this long blog entry (sorry guys!) is that I think its time to explore a beef-free existence… I want to see what that is like… will I really miss it? And if I do, is there a way for it to be such a rare occurrence that it is totally not a big deal? Let’s see.