Cows didn’t just evolve to eat grass. They specifically evolved to eat the kinds of grasses that grow in Eurasia. Wheat is a grass. So is barley. So are oats. So’s millet, and a wide range of other large seeded grasses that humans mostly don’t eat in Europe. Eurasia is rich with a huge diversity of grasses, including nearly all of the largest seeded grasses on the planet. So while corn may upset a cow’s stomach, I’d be quite surprised if wheat in season and in proportion would. In fact, cows probably are better off with a small portion of European grains in their diet in late summer and fall. In the wild, that would let them build up solid fat reserves for the winter. The same is likely to hold true for sheep and goats, since they evolved in similar conditions to cows. There’s a reason why fall is the traditional time for butchering animals…

As far as chickens go, local chicken is always better, and very often quite inexpensive. Buying whole chickens (they’re easy to dismember yourself with practice, and if you don’t care to practice, the seller is usually happy to do it for you at no charge) gives you something like 3-5 meat heavy meals for two for very little money. Save the bones to make chicken stock, and you get the makings for at least another 2-3 meals. Since a pampered locally raised, free range and organic chicken can be had for $10 in many places, that’s a very cost effective way to feed yourself.

For example, when I made Thai spicy basil chicken last night for four adults and one teenager, I made one and a half full-chicken breasts worth of meat. That is miniscule compared to the usual portions of chicken Americans are used to eating–a half a chicken breast each, at least. The rest of the dish was vegetables–gai lan stalks, carrots and green beans with a half pound of fresh thai basil, and it was served over steamed rice. The bulk of the meal was the rice and the vegetables, with the chicken not as the star of the show, but in the supporting role.

I think that this is a healthier way of eating, by and large and we have gotten very used to it, and eat this way most of the time, only indulging in a typical American-style “meat-centric” meal now and again.

It is also a good way to offset the cost of the meat–eat less of it.

Lisa–That is another thing I should have mentioned–Ohio farmer’s market vendors, by and large accept WIC coupons for fresh foods. That is something to think about.

I have never been to that market for the Amish chickens–but I have had Amish chicken in the past–very tasty birds. They taste the way my grandpa’s chickens tasted, when they foraged for bugs and weeds in the garden!

Mujersliebres–

When I say “money isn’t everything,” I am not speaking to those who have no money. I -do- very much understand what it is like to have no money and eat beans for weeks on end–it gets tiresome.

But when I say that–I am talking to the people who -can- afford to buy from the farmer’s markets, but who -do not-. It isn’t just the “rich” who can afford to pay farmers directly, but the middle class can, too. They just don’t, because they choose to spend less on food, and more on other things–clothes, movies, cable TV, gadgets, cars, gasoline to fill those non-fuel efficient cars, and the like.

Personally, if more people shopped for food based on -quality- rather than -price- the market -would- change. That is how free enterprise works. If people stop eating fast food, the places will either change to reflect the demands of the shrinking market or they will fail and go away.

It isn’t just low income people who shop exclusively in grocery stores or eat fast food–there are plenty of middle and upper class people who do it too. And they shouldn’t.

I am not advocating that we wait around for corporations and politicians to behave responsibly. That is why you won’t catch me shopping for corporate organic foods at Walmart, or even at Whole Foods all that often. But every Saturday, I am at the farmer’s market, putting money directly into the hands of my neighbors, and that money stays within the community. That’s why, even though I don’t have to–I commit to growing some amount of my own food.

That’s why I write about topics like these, to get other people to be aware of the issues and do their own bit to make these changes.

Here in Athens, you will see a lot of poor and working class people shopping at the farmer’s market, too. It isn’t just OU professors and the other monied folk out there. Students shop there, grandmas on fixed incomes shop there (one of them bought the last of the first strawberries of the season at the market, right in front of me!) and women on WIC use their coupons to buy fresh fruits and veggies from the farmers.

There are changes happening, large and small, and not all of it is from consumers -just- voting with our dollars. However, if there was a bit more voting with our dollars going on–well, then–there would be other changes afoot as well.

That said–I do understand and honor your point of view. When I was poor, I shopped at the grocery store, too, and bought cheap meat. I didn’t ever much like it, but I did it. I think that were I ever to be poor again, I would eat more vegetables and beans, and still buy meat from the farmers as a treat, and eat less of it. That is the way my Mom fed us when we were poor, and we turned out okay. No one needs to eat meat every day to be healthy, after all. (Says one who eats less meat than she used to, even though she could afford to eat more.)

Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to always buy the nice stuff and once I’m out of college maybe I’ll be able to. But me individually buying more sustainable food does pretty much nothing to change the system as a whole. By boycotting some goods and buying others, you’re casting a vote as a consumer. But a vote in the market is a fundamentally anti-democratic one. The # of votes you have is based on the amount of money you have. So agribusiness has a lot of votes and a lot of money; working class folks have very little money and few votes; and people that can afford to eat well do but their votes have only created a niche market not an overall structural change.

Sorry for the rant, obviously people should buy the healthiest food they can afford. But for actual change to occur, we can’t just act as consumers or rely on the federal government. Communities will have to come together and make changes themselves and not wait for corporations or politicians to behave responsibly.

Just as a side note – our farmer’s markets here in Columbus accept WIC and other subsidized grocery coupons. You can get your green market coupons wherever you get your WIC cards, so there are options for those who think they can only buy the least expensive beef.

And, for those in Columbus, Weiland’s sells organic, local, free-range Amish chickens for around $1.50 a pound. They, too, have far superiour health beneifts compared to mass-produced chickens.