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local flavor: Please Don’t Remind Me
By Kimberly Crum
Photos by Ewa Wojtkowska
“My decision to be a vegetarian came suddenly,”
Jennifer says. “I read an article about factory
farming one day and gave up meat the next.”
The narrow aisles of the Italian mercato brimmed
with products alien to my Kroger reality. There
were persimmons, zucchini flowers, and pre-
packaged horsemeat. Adjacent to the horsemeat was a whole chicken with legs and
feet splayed below its haunches, its head (with comb) bowed as if in prayer. The sight
of an intact chicken carcass provoked an involuntary audible “EWWW” — the same
sound I once uttered when a waiter brought my “whole rainbow trout”… whole. I am an
authentic American; please don’t remind me I am eating animal.
I have become more conscious of the origin of the food I eat. Consider the typical
package of American poultry products. Witness the chicken breasts that Dolly Parton
would envy, too big to be carried by spindly chicken legs. I suspect these super-sized
breasts are not “free range” but cage-raised and hormone-infused. I don’t like the idea
of ingesting second-hand hormones or antibiotics. I’d like to believe the animal I eat
has been treated humanely, able to run happily around the barnyard or chew its cud in
grassy meadows.
Jennifer Rubenstein of EarthSave Louisville has agreed to talk to a concerned
omnivore about the benefits of a vegetarian (or reduced meat) diet. Dressed in a
cotton polo shirt and a Wild Oats apron, Jennifer looks more like a fifth grade teacher
than a militant vegetarian. She is the outgoing executive director of the non-profit
organization, EarthSave Louisville, and she is the incoming marketing coordinator for
the Wild Oats Market. Both organizations are dedicated to promoting healthy eating
habits that protect our health and the environment.
“My decision to be a vegetarian came suddenly,” Jennifer says. “I read an article about
factory farming one day and gave up meat the next.” She gave up meat because she
loves animals, but she continues as a vegetarian for different reasons. “I feel healthier,
and I am doing something positive for the environment.” Since she stopped eating
meat, Jennifer says she feels “cleaner and more energetic.”
Jennifer might have still been a meat-eater if not for the phenomenon of “factory
farming.” Almost all the animals we eat are warehoused in confinements or feed lots,
contained in cages, fed corn, hormones and antibiotics by machines, and artificially
procreated. Factory farming not only crowds animals and fattens them unnaturally, but
uses vast resources (land, water, grain and fuel) to produce livestock. According to
EarthSave, “Nearly half of all the water used in the United States goes to raising
animals for food.” (Healthy Beginnings publication)
Though EarthSave is an activist organization, Jennifer says it caters to the
mainstream, persons she refers to as “flexitarians.” “We encourage people to move
toward a plant-based diet…Our goal is to reduce meat consumption by 10 percent.”
Such a reduction could significantly affect the environment and our health. “Thirty
percent of all cancer is diet-related,” she says. A landmark report by the U.S Surgeon
General’s Office (1988) reported that “dietary excesses and imbalances” are closely
linked to life-threatening chronic diseases. The cholesterol and saturated fat in animal
products contributes to heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes and cancers of the digestive
tract and breast. The Surgeon General’s report recommended a decrease in the
consumption of foods high in saturated fat and an increase in the consumption of
vegetables and fruit, bea¬¬ns, grains and lean meats, fish and chicken without skin,
and low fat dairy products. The benefit of a plentiful diet of fruits and vegetables led
the National Cancer Institute to launch a campaign in 1992 called the “5 A Day”
program. This education and outreach effort encourages us to eat five servings of
fruits and vegetables each day and to “eat your colors,” (i.e. orange, dark green and
red fruits and vegetables are healthier than a plate of potatoes). And the chant that
made us giggle when we were kids turns out to be true: Beans, Beans, they’re good
for your heart.
Since the poorly fated Italian chicken reminded me of the origin of my food, I have
started to change my buying behaviors. I have purchased farm-raised, hormone-free
poultry and cage-free eggs, grass-fed beef, bags of beans and organic vegetables
with the little green FDA seal. (Buyers beware: organic fruits and veggies are heavily
regulated by the FDA; “free-range” meats are not.) I continue to be a devout, but
careful, omnivore — a disciple of the original food pyramid that includes four food
groups, with meat at its pinnacle. I plan to continue to enjoy my biannual filet, an
occasional hamburger, my New Year’s pork roast, and frequent chicken fajitas. I am a
free range person whose position at the top of the food chain gives me both rights and
responsibilities. As I consume food in this American land of plenty, I should be careful
to protect my body as well as the planet it inhabits. This is one of Jennifer Rubenstein’
s favorite recipes from the Vegetarian Express Cookbook by Nava Atlans and Lillian
Kayte.
Mexican Lasagna
1 pound canned pinto beans, drained and rinsed
14 ounces diced tomatoes
4 ounces green chiles
2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
2 whole scallions, minced
? teaspoon ground cumin
8 whole corn tortillas
11/2 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese
(Can use soy cheese instead of regular cheese)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the first 7 ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly.
Lightly oil a wide, 2-quart casserole dish and layer as follows; 4 tortillas, overlapping
one another; half of the bean mixture; half of the cheese. Repeat layers.
Bake the casserole for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly. Let stand for a
minute or two, then cut into squares and serve.To learn more about food origins and
diet, consult the following resources:
• Contact: EarthSave Louisville Chapter at (502) 458-8515 or www.louisville.earthsave.
org. Learn more about the local and national organization’s “Healthy People/Healthy
Planet” mission, and sign-up for local educational and social activities.
• organicconsumers.org (posts articles about farming practices and organic foods)
• mypyramid.gov (a USDA site that helps you calculate your daily recommended diet
according to the newest food pyramid, which places beans in the same category as
meat)
• Books: The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan.
A beautifully written book by a journalist who literally follows foods as they move from
fields or feed lots, or organic farms, to our mouths.
Kimberly Crum (kimcrum@iamtodayswoman.com is a regular writer for Today’s Woman
magazine.
By Kimberly Crum
Photos by Ewa Wojtkowska
“My decision to be a vegetarian came suddenly,”
Jennifer says. “I read an article about factory
farming one day and gave up meat the next.”
The narrow aisles of the Italian mercato brimmed
with products alien to my Kroger reality. There
were persimmons, zucchini flowers, and pre-
packaged horsemeat. Adjacent to the horsemeat was a whole chicken with legs and
feet splayed below its haunches, its head (with comb) bowed as if in prayer. The sight
of an intact chicken carcass provoked an involuntary audible “EWWW” — the same
sound I once uttered when a waiter brought my “whole rainbow trout”… whole. I am an
authentic American; please don’t remind me I am eating animal.
I have become more conscious of the origin of the food I eat. Consider the typical
package of American poultry products. Witness the chicken breasts that Dolly Parton
would envy, too big to be carried by spindly chicken legs. I suspect these super-sized
breasts are not “free range” but cage-raised and hormone-infused. I don’t like the idea
of ingesting second-hand hormones or antibiotics. I’d like to believe the animal I eat
has been treated humanely, able to run happily around the barnyard or chew its cud in
grassy meadows.
Jennifer Rubenstein of EarthSave Louisville has agreed to talk to a concerned
omnivore about the benefits of a vegetarian (or reduced meat) diet. Dressed in a
cotton polo shirt and a Wild Oats apron, Jennifer looks more like a fifth grade teacher
than a militant vegetarian. She is the outgoing executive director of the non-profit
organization, EarthSave Louisville, and she is the incoming marketing coordinator for
the Wild Oats Market. Both organizations are dedicated to promoting healthy eating
habits that protect our health and the environment.
“My decision to be a vegetarian came suddenly,” Jennifer says. “I read an article about
factory farming one day and gave up meat the next.” She gave up meat because she
loves animals, but she continues as a vegetarian for different reasons. “I feel healthier,
and I am doing something positive for the environment.” Since she stopped eating
meat, Jennifer says she feels “cleaner and more energetic.”
Jennifer might have still been a meat-eater if not for the phenomenon of “factory
farming.” Almost all the animals we eat are warehoused in confinements or feed lots,
contained in cages, fed corn, hormones and antibiotics by machines, and artificially
procreated. Factory farming not only crowds animals and fattens them unnaturally, but
uses vast resources (land, water, grain and fuel) to produce livestock. According to
EarthSave, “Nearly half of all the water used in the United States goes to raising
animals for food.” (Healthy Beginnings publication)
Though EarthSave is an activist organization, Jennifer says it caters to the
mainstream, persons she refers to as “flexitarians.” “We encourage people to move
toward a plant-based diet…Our goal is to reduce meat consumption by 10 percent.”
Such a reduction could significantly affect the environment and our health. “Thirty
percent of all cancer is diet-related,” she says. A landmark report by the U.S Surgeon
General’s Office (1988) reported that “dietary excesses and imbalances” are closely
linked to life-threatening chronic diseases. The cholesterol and saturated fat in animal
products contributes to heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes and cancers of the digestive
tract and breast. The Surgeon General’s report recommended a decrease in the
consumption of foods high in saturated fat and an increase in the consumption of
vegetables and fruit, bea¬¬ns, grains and lean meats, fish and chicken without skin,
and low fat dairy products. The benefit of a plentiful diet of fruits and vegetables led
the National Cancer Institute to launch a campaign in 1992 called the “5 A Day”
program. This education and outreach effort encourages us to eat five servings of
fruits and vegetables each day and to “eat your colors,” (i.e. orange, dark green and
red fruits and vegetables are healthier than a plate of potatoes). And the chant that
made us giggle when we were kids turns out to be true: Beans, Beans, they’re good
for your heart.
Since the poorly fated Italian chicken reminded me of the origin of my food, I have
started to change my buying behaviors. I have purchased farm-raised, hormone-free
poultry and cage-free eggs, grass-fed beef, bags of beans and organic vegetables
with the little green FDA seal. (Buyers beware: organic fruits and veggies are heavily
regulated by the FDA; “free-range” meats are not.) I continue to be a devout, but
careful, omnivore — a disciple of the original food pyramid that includes four food
groups, with meat at its pinnacle. I plan to continue to enjoy my biannual filet, an
occasional hamburger, my New Year’s pork roast, and frequent chicken fajitas. I am a
free range person whose position at the top of the food chain gives me both rights and
responsibilities. As I consume food in this American land of plenty, I should be careful
to protect my body as well as the planet it inhabits. This is one of Jennifer Rubenstein’
s favorite recipes from the Vegetarian Express Cookbook by Nava Atlans and Lillian
Kayte.
Mexican Lasagna
1 pound canned pinto beans, drained and rinsed
14 ounces diced tomatoes
4 ounces green chiles
2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
2 whole scallions, minced
? teaspoon ground cumin
8 whole corn tortillas
11/2 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese
(Can use soy cheese instead of regular cheese)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the first 7 ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly.
Lightly oil a wide, 2-quart casserole dish and layer as follows; 4 tortillas, overlapping
one another; half of the bean mixture; half of the cheese. Repeat layers.
Bake the casserole for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly. Let stand for a
minute or two, then cut into squares and serve.To learn more about food origins and
diet, consult the following resources:
• Contact: EarthSave Louisville Chapter at (502) 458-8515 or www.louisville.earthsave.
org. Learn more about the local and national organization’s “Healthy People/Healthy
Planet” mission, and sign-up for local educational and social activities.
• organicconsumers.org (posts articles about farming practices and organic foods)
• mypyramid.gov (a USDA site that helps you calculate your daily recommended diet
according to the newest food pyramid, which places beans in the same category as
meat)
• Books: The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan.
A beautifully written book by a journalist who literally follows foods as they move from
fields or feed lots, or organic farms, to our mouths.
Kimberly Crum (kimcrum@iamtodayswoman.com is a regular writer for Today’s Woman
magazine.