NPR: The Truth About Grass-Fed Beef

For last week's Tiny Desk Kitchen, Allison Aubrey conducted a blind taste test of grass-fed and corn-fed beef. The participants, Ari Shapiro and Susan Stamberg, actually thought the grain-fed beef was tastier and tenderer, but as Shapiro explained at the end, "On the basis of taste alone, I prefer [corn-fed beef]. I would choose to order something that I knew was more sustainable even if I found it to be a little less tender or a little less beefy tasting."

Aubrey says the reason that grain-fed beef is a bit more palatable to most people is because it's fattier. "It's the difference, for humans, between eating bags of spinach all day vs. dense, calorie-rich oatmeal." I think that analogy is too soft, because cows can't properly digest corn. Michael Pollan says it's actually more like humans eating a diet of only Snickers bars. "It wreaks havoc on a digestive system that has evolved to do something quite miraculous, which is digest grass."

According to the NPR piece, grass-fed beef is generally leaner, and therefore healthier, than corn-fed beef, because grass-fed cows spend energy roaming around the pasture. Grass-fed beef is also said to have twice as much omega-3 fatty acids than corn-fed beef.

-Mark

Books We Like: Michael Pollan's Food Rules

For many of us who are involved in the sustainable agriculture and food justice arena, Michael Pollan's presence has been so ubiquitous for so long that he's almost passé. He has served as the torch bearer for the sustainable food movement for most of the decade, and after his spring book tour for In Defense of Food and the release of Food, Inc. this summer, his message is quite familiar. 

When I heard that he would be coming out with a new book, I almost doubted that he could possibly have more to add to the eco-foodie canon. However, when I picked up Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, I was impressed. The pocket-size book of simple tips for healthy eating is not only full of great advice, he manages to deliver it in 64 humorous, bite-sized chapters that cut through our cultural amnesia about how to eat. After all, the main thesis of the book is Pollan's familiar mantra: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

This Seattle Times review highlights a couple of nice rules that help us stick to that motto:

"Among the gems: Be the kind of person who takes supplements — then skip the supplements. (That's Rule No. 40.) Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk (Rule No. 36). It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car. (Rule No. 20). Try not to eat alone (Rule No. 59)."

For those who have read his other books, as well as those who have never heard of Pollan, this is the perfect guide for anyone who ever wondered, "What should I eat?" (And "What shouldn't I eat?")

-Dorothee

Dirty Dozen: Why to Always Buy Organic Potatoes

There are foods that I buy organic only occasionally, when I'm feeling flush, and then there are those, like potatoes, that I always make sure to buy organic. I think I got that from my mom, who was the first to tell me about how heavily conventional potatoes are sprayed with pesticides and herbicides. She always recommended that I either buy organic, or be sure to thoroughly peel conventional potatoes.

A list of "the seven foods experts won't eat" that's been making the rounds caught my eye this morning, particularly the potato entry, which offers some supporting evidence to my mom's claim. Because they're root vegetables they absorb just about anything that's in the soil, so any excess chemicals in the soil will likely make its way into the plant, according to the article. And to make matters worse, potatoes are among the most-sprayed vegetables.

Here are a few blurbs about pesticide and herbicide use among conventional potato growers.

Prevention:

"They're treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After they're dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting."

The New York Times:

"A 2006 U.S.D.A. test found 81 percent of potatoes tested still contained pesticides after being washed and peeled, and the potato has one of the the highest pesticide contents of 43 fruits and vegetables tested, according to the Environmental Working Group."

Michael Pollan's 'Botany of Desire':

"The typical potato grower stands in the middle of a bright green circle of plants that have been doused with so much pesticide that their leaves wear a dull white chemical bloom and the soil they're rooted in is a lifeless gray powder."

Another good reason to eschew conventional spuds is that organic potatoes aren't much more expensive.

-Mark