It's What's (Not) for Dinner

Twelve years ago, my husband and I made the drive from Reno to Phoenix. To fill up those empty miles between one desert city and the next we bought a book on tape, Robin Cook's "Toxin," vividly describing the horrors of E-coli contamination of ground beef. Even though we knew it was fiction, that Cook book convinced us to become vegetarian for the next 5 years.

Eventually, at our physician's insistence we began to accept gifts of elk steak and venison roasts from hunters. We slowly learned to enjoy the local grass-fed beef, Arizona buffalo and an occasional burger. We've even sampled some persuasively labeled "natural" chicken, in spite of that old X File episode; you know, the one set in the poultry processing plant with the motto "Good People, Good Food." Let's just say it was a bit too literal for our taste.

But on Sunday, October 4th '09, the New York Times ran a front page article on the contamination of ground beef in the U.S., "The Burger that Shattered Her Life." I had to look twice to be certain the piece was not written by Robin Cook. When horror fiction becomes horror reality, something needs to change.

I will not expand further here on the contamination of our meat supply other than urge you to read the Times article and "Toxin" (Click on either the paperback or audio book featured in our Amazon store, in the left column of this website.) Here I only want to suggest three positive steps that might reduce the odds of getting contaminated meat.

First, we can be selective. Becoming vegetarian or vegan is an option for some but not all of us. You might call us selective omnivores; we choose wild game when possible and hunt for trustworthy local producers who are accountable to consumers in the community.

My second suggestion is to do simple processing ourselves. Don't panic -- I'm not talking about slaughtering pigs in the back yard or raising heirloom hens ala Martha Stewart. Besides, HOAs tend to frown on such activities. But we do have choices.

How many of us already have powerful food processors, grinders and mixers that are rarely used? If you aren't lucky enough to have a buffalo ranch down the road or a generous hunter in the family, you might buy a piece of chuck or boneless turkey or chicken breast. A single piece of meat is safer than a package of ground meat because you see exactly what you are getting and you know how many animals went into that package: one. A single cut of meat has less surface area exposed to pathogens. You can wash it thoroughly then drop it into your food processor or grinder along with exactly as much or little fat as you want. You can grind it fine for burgers or meatloaf or make a coarser grind for chili and casseroles. You can even replace the beef fat with olive oil for a moister, more heart-healthy burger.

The third suggestion is  simplest: eat less meat. Nobody needs to eat meat every day, much less two or three times daily (with the possible exception of pregnant moms, which most of us clearly are not.) Nobody needs to eat 12 or 16 ounces of meat as a single serving.  Our concept of appropriate portion size is so

warped that we take 1/4 lb. burgers for granted and hardly blink at double and triple quarter-pounders. Then we add bacon and cheese, piling enough protein into one sandwich  to feed a family of four!

Sorry, I nearly fell into a rant-&-rave there. I meant to say, calmly and with great patience, that a reasonable portion of meat is 3 ounces and even that can be enjoyed two or three times a week, with alternative proteins filling most of our nutrition needs.

We don't have to be helpless pawns in the game of multi-national agribusiness.  We can jump off the industrial meat-wagon any time we choose.