Here's my latest story about mmm...the meat industry. For it, I was instructed to watch a screener of this year's limited release documentary about the industrialization of food, Food, Inc. And then I was to read Righteous Porkchop: Finding a good life and good food beyond factory farms by Nicolette Hahn Niman. Surprisingly, after experiencing both the film and book, I was still hungry... but my options for WHAT to eat--with my conscience, appetite and health intact--had significantly dwindled.
I went to interview Nicolette at her home in Bolinas. Nicolette, a badass environmental attorney who worked for Bobby Kennedy, Jr. on his Waterkeeper Alliance organization in Manhattan, ended up marrying Bill Niman, founder of Niman Ranch (a natural meat company collective of over 600 farmers and ranchers) and now lives on their 1,000-acre, seaside BN Niman Ranch.
The property, needless to say, was awesome. And Nicolette--who, just 5 weeks prior (and at the age of 41--or 42?), had popped out a beautiful baby boy named Miles--was totally cool and at ease in her ranch-y surroundings. While we talked about her book and subsequent articles (here's one) in the New York Times and the column she shares with her husband in the Huffington Post, she happily led me around to the turkeys and cows and gi-normous farmhounds...
I was envious. But yeah, she was very inspiring on many levels.
At the very least, I'm a bit more enthusiastic about eating meat (and food, in general) that's been tended to properly--healthfully, ecologically and as humanely as possible. So... no more late-night, drunken ventures to Jack-in-the-Box. Oh, yes, it has come to this, my friends!
And if you live in the Bay Area, here's a list of where to find local, organic meats.
