Freaky Food

416 words

Have you ever thought about where you’re food is coming from? It isn’t a question I ask myself daily but ever since we watched Food Inc. in my AP Lang class it has made me stop and think a little. Is what I’m eating safely made? How is it made? Where did it come from? And am I eating what I think I’m eating?

Here’s the thing: I am a huge meat eater, my whole family is, really. I will never turn down a nice juicy burger or a steak with garlic mashed potatoes no matter what I hear about what is in front of me. That’s just the way it is with me. Even though what I have been watching in LA is disturbing and quite disgusting, it’s not going to stop me from enjoying a steak dinner.

The meat that we eat comes from corn-fed cows. Now, cows aren’t supposed to eat corn, they’re supposed to eat grass. But corn is cheap and you can grow more of it faster and with the high demand for beef, we need a lot of big cows. Once they are big and beefy, they are taken to huge slaughter houses where they are kept in overcrowded corrals where they can barely move and end up standing knee deep in their own manure. It’s disgusting and is a breeding ground for all kinds of diseases.

Now know this, I’m not, by any means trying to convince you to stop eating meat or boycott meat made in these kinds of factories. It is understandable. Factory farms are a necessity to American life. We were talking in class yesterday about where would big cities like New York, Chicago, or LA get their meat if all factory farms were shut down? Easy. They wouldn’t. Here in Iowa, farms aren’t that hard to find. I mean, there’s one in my back yard for heaven’s sake! We could easily survive if factory farms were shut down. But those highly populated cities need somewhere to get their food. In my opinion, they should just make factory farms a bit more sanitary, that’s all.

So next time that you are at the supermarket look at the meat. It is possible to buy grass fed beef (meaning that the cow was fed on grass, not corn) but it’s a bit pricier than the corn fed manure caked cow. If you have the money to spare, try buying beef that came from a happy and healthy cow.

~Skooogster(: