If you and I had sat down a few years back, and had a conversation about food, I probably would’ve looked at you and asked you why we were waisting our breath talking about eating. I grew up in a military household, and unlike many of my ethnic friends, food in our house was merely fuel. Food was simply a means to propel our bodies forward, to fill our empty bellies until the next time we needed to fill them. But I met a man who changed my perspective on food forever, and now, I am incapable of looking at a meal without dissecting it’s complexities and layers, and I feel like I’m the richer for it. Over the years, I’ve grown to appreciate food much more, and I’ve even tried out some complicated dishes I wouldn’t have otherwise tried. But let’s make something perfectly clear, cooking is not exactly my favourite past time, and I’m certainly not about to learn how to become a pastry chef, but I am more interested in the cooking process.

My partner in crime is a lawyer by day, and gourmet amateur chef by night (lucky me!)  and there was always one area of cuisine that I had never really explored that he adored, and that was meat. I’m not talking about the finished product, I’m talking about meat in it’s earliest form; Still alive and mooing! I am a red-blooded meat-a-tarian, and I the idea of giving up meat for five minutes gives me chest pains! As an anthropologist, conducted a significant amount of research on the evolution of food, and the early domestication of animals, and let me tell you, it seems as though we’ve gone backwards when it comes to rearing healthy, happy animals.

If you live in North America, I’m sure you’ve heard of factory farming. Factory farming, according to Wikipedia, is the practice of raising a high number of animals in a high density area. This method of rearing animals has forced the great agribusinesses of North America to pump these animals full of antibiotics and hormones all in an effort to harvest these animals in the fastest, most efficient way possible. During the early stages of domestication, humans didn’t give anything to their animals, because they weren’t raising them in substandard conditions. Their animals were free to roam, graze at will, and were never force fed foods they wouldn’t have otherwise eaten.

This blog is going to focus on the importance of buying free range, organic and hormone free meat from farmers that are willing to spend the time and care required to raise healthy, happy animals. People don’t stop to think what they’re scraping off their plate, but if you knew the severity of these animals lives, would you still eat it? Probably not. I’m also going to discuss cuts of meat that you otherwise might not consider, cuts that are often ignored, yet perfect for students and families on a budget.  We’re going to discuss where you can buy these healthy meats, what certain cuts can be used for what recipes and how to buy a whole animal and cut it up yourself. It’s important to understand where all your food comes from, not just your fruits and vegetables. Don’t you think that all Earth’s creatures deserve to live healthy lives and not all penned up, susceptible to all sorts of strange illnesses just to great absurd volumes of meat for our consumption? Stay tuned for posts every few weeks, and learn the importance of meat in your diet, and how you can contribute to the happy meat movement!