The Inmates Make Their Case...

[john250]

to control the asylum.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... ingtonpost

 

[HDRider]

Nowhere in that article does it say how today's American diet is so harmful, and who's diet are they talking about? It does say this...

Our food system is largely a product of agricultural policies that made sense when the most important public health problem concerning food was the lack of it and when the United States saw "feeding the world" as its mission.

These policies succeeded in boosting the productivity of American farmers, yet today they are obsolete and counterproductive, providing billions in public support to an industry that churns out a surfeit of unhealthy calories — while at the same time undermining the ability of the world's farmers to make a living from their land.

 

[MO_cows]

It isn't the farmers and producers who process all the taste and nutrition out of the food items, then add chemicals back in to try and replace them. The farmers are getting thrown under the bus for what the food companies do, it sounds like.

 

[Nesikep]

MO_cows, I completely agree, though if you buy veggies and fruit at a store, that has no flavour either.

We grow 90% of what we eat. When we put a head of lettuce in the fridge is still fine a month later... try that with one you buy from the store, you're lucky if it's not just black goop after a week. Ditto for onions, carrots, apples... And a lot of that is due to excess fertilizer so the plant makes bulk, but without much matter in it, thus it has no flavor and no resistance to rot.. In order to make up for this, apparently the answer is to put fish genes in the tomato!

 

[TexasBred]

MO_cows, I completely agree, though if you buy veggies and fruit at a store, that has no flavour either.

We grow 90% of what we eat. When we put a head of lettuce in the fridge is still fine a month later... try that with one you buy from the store, you're lucky if it's not just black goop after a week. Ditto for onions, carrots, apples... And a lot of that is due to excess fertilizer so the plant makes bulk, but without much matter in it, thus it has no flavor and no resistance to rot.. In order to make up for this, apparently the answer is to put fish genes in the tomato!

May not have the flavor you like but the nutrition is still there if not even higher than many years ago. Who would keep a head of lettuce in the frig. for a month anyway??

 

[Nesikep]

We put head lettuce in a cellar (did that about 2 weeks ago) and we'll be eating that lettuce until april.. And when they charge $4/hd for crappy lettuce in the store, perhaps you can see why it's nice to be able to keep it. Carrots and potatoes keep about 6-8 months as well

 

[Jogeephus]

Maybe we need a food Czar.

 

[bbirder]

Maybe we need a food Czar.

Don't we have one? Goes by the handle "first lady". :bang:

 

[TexasBred]

Maybe we need a food Czar.

Don't we have one? Goes by the handle "first lady". :bang:

That would be the "Czarina". Requires little or no training, even less intelligence but must have the ability to travel as needed with very little notice. A much more costly position to the public as well.

 

[MO_cows]

MO_cows, I completely agree, though if you buy veggies and fruit at a store, that has no flavour either.

We grow 90% of what we eat. When we put a head of lettuce in the fridge is still fine a month later... try that with one you buy from the store, you're lucky if it's not just black goop after a week. Ditto for onions, carrots, apples... And a lot of that is due to excess fertilizer so the plant makes bulk, but without much matter in it, thus it has no flavor and no resistance to rot.. In order to make up for this, apparently the answer is to put fish genes in the tomato!

May not have the flavor you like but the nutrition is still there if not even higher than many years ago. Who would keep a head of lettuce in the frig. for a month anyway??

Why wouldn't you, if you could? I hate to go to the grocery store, it's a chore. Anything fresh that will keep awhile, I'm glad to have it. Maybe you or your wife likes going shopping all the time, but some don't.

I was thinking more of grains and meats, Nesi. They take a nice wholesome piece of fresh meat and saturate it with "special solutions" and gas it for the color and all that other crap. Have you noticed, if you pick up a roll of ground turkey, it now has "ingredients"? And the LFTB or pink slime as the media calls it, degrades the texture and flavor of fresh ground beef. They should use LFTB for slim jims and canned chili and other more processed foods where you can't tell the difference and leave the fresh ground beef alone. But yet it will be the infamous CAFOs and "factory farms" who get blamed for the lesser quality of today's food.

They take grains and mill them down to empty starch, then add in artificial flavors and chemically created "nutrients". And don't forget coloring and texture enhancers and everything else fake. When I make a loaf of bread at home, it often molds in 3 days if stored in plastic. Bread from the store we've kept it for 10 days or more. Those are some potent preservatives. But yet it's the farmer who grew a "GMO" grain crop who gets bad press.

 

[Nesikep]

There are cases where the farmer, and the farming system is at fault, though I will say it is the minority, and agree that even what they call "whole wheat" flour doesn't seem to have much of anything in it.. and indeed, if you want to talk of wieners (lips and arseholes?), pink slime, soft drinks, and pretty much any other processed food (its so bad now that Breyers can't call it "Ice cream" anymore (it has no cream or milk), but has to call it '"Frozen dessert")
We grow our own wheat, mill it ourselves, and make our own bread. When I eat 3 slices of that bread in the morning, I'm good to work until lunch... if I eat store bought "whole wheat" bread, I will pack down most of the loaf with no trouble, and be hungry in 3 hours.

 

[TexasBred]

MO_cows, I completely agree, though if you buy veggies and fruit at a store, that has no flavour either.

We grow 90% of what we eat. When we put a head of lettuce in the fridge is still fine a month later... try that with one you buy from the store, you're lucky if it's not just black goop after a week. Ditto for onions, carrots, apples... And a lot of that is due to excess fertilizer so the plant makes bulk, but without much matter in it, thus it has no flavor and no resistance to rot.. In order to make up for this, apparently the answer is to put fish genes in the tomato!

May not have the flavor you like but the nutrition is still there if not even higher than many years ago. Who would keep a head of lettuce in the frig. for a month anyway??

Why wouldn't you, if you could? I hate to go to the grocery store, it's a chore. Anything fresh that will keep awhile, I'm glad to have it. Maybe you or your wife likes going shopping all the time, but some don't.

I was thinking more of grains and meats, Nesi. They take a nice wholesome piece of fresh meat and saturate it with "special solutions" and gas it for the color and all that other crap. Have you noticed, if you pick up a roll of ground turkey, it now has "ingredients"? And the LFTB or pink slime as the media calls it, degrades the texture and flavor of fresh ground beef. They should use LFTB for slim jims and canned chili and other more processed foods where you can't tell the difference and leave the fresh ground beef alone. But yet it will be the infamous CAFOs and "factory farms" who get blamed for the lesser quality of today's food.

They take grains and mill them down to empty starch, then add in artificial flavors and chemically created "nutrients". And don't forget coloring and texture enhancers and everything else fake. When I make a loaf of bread at home, it often molds in 3 days if stored in plastic. Bread from the store we've kept it for 10 days or more. Those are some potent preservatives. But yet it's the farmer who grew a "GMO" grain crop who gets bad press.

Having said this.....all this does feed and keep people alive. You probably don't have a problem shipping this stuff to 3rd world countries for them to eat and think you are saving the world. As for lettuce. I can go the rest of my life and never miss it.

 

[Nesikep]

Shipping grain to other places is a double edged sword.. Ask Mexico. They had lots of subsistence corn farmers, suddenly the border was open to other corn, and the price fell and they all lost their land and moved to the cities... OK, so those cities are Houston, LA,... The point is cheaper corn in mexico did not help them any... And that is just one example of many where this "feeding the world" ideas failed miserably.. it's happened with pork and other farm goods as well.

 

[MO_cows]

When we export grain, it's not been processed much if at all. The biggest staple grain worldwide is rice, so we aren't "feeding the world", we don't grow enough rice. They have developed "golden rice" to put some vital nutrients into poor people who subsist mostly on rice but the anti-GMO fanatics are doing their best to keep it out of production. Wheat is the 2nd largest staple grain so I guess we do our share there. But we're not shorting anyone in the US, it's our excess production that gets exported.

Producing foodstuff on a larger scale, efficiently, sure 'nuff feeds people and keeps them alive. Makes food more plentiful and affordable. But taking 25 cents worth of wheat and over-processing it into a $4 box of sugary breakfast cereal isn't helping anyone but General Mills, is it?

 

[TexasBred]

When we export grain, it's not been processed much if at all. The biggest staple grain worldwide is rice, so we aren't "feeding the world", we don't grow enough rice. They have developed "golden rice" to put some vital nutrients into poor people who subsist mostly on rice but the anti-GMO fanatics are doing their best to keep it out of production. Wheat is the 2nd largest staple grain so I guess we do our share there. But we're not shorting anyone in the US, it's our excess production that gets exported.

Producing foodstuff on a larger scale, efficiently, sure 'nuff feeds people and keeps them alive. Makes food more plentiful and affordable. But taking 25 cents worth of wheat and over-processing it into a $4 box of sugary breakfast cereal isn't helping anyone but General Mills, is it?

Only if you buy the ones that are coated with sugar.....read the label. There are options.

http://ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/corn/trade.aspx

 

[TexasBred]

Shipping grain to other places is a double edged sword.. Ask Mexico. They had lots of subsistence corn farmers, suddenly the border was open to other corn, and the price fell and they all lost their land and moved to the cities... OK, so those cities are Houston, LA,... The point is cheaper corn in mexico did not help them any... And that is just one example of many where this "feeding the world" ideas failed miserably.. it's happened with pork and other farm goods as well.

Most everybody in Mexico is looking for a reason to leave. They weren't selling corn...they were eating it. Just like in the U.S. very few up and coming new farmers in Mexico. Most leave for town (USA) asap. Been that way for 30 years.

 

[john250]

There are cases where the farmer, and the farming system is at fault, though I will say it is the minority, and agree that even what they call "whole wheat" flour doesn't seem to have much of anything in it.. and indeed, if you want to talk of wieners (lips and arseholes?), pink slime, soft drinks, and pretty much any other processed food (its so bad now that Breyers can't call it "Ice cream" anymore (it has no cream or milk), but has to call it '"Frozen dessert")
We grow our own wheat, mill it ourselves, and make our own bread. When I eat 3 slices of that bread in the morning, I'm good to work until lunch... if I eat store bought "whole wheat" bread, I will pack down most of the loaf with no trouble, and be hungry in 3 hours.

you da man that these guys want to be the face of farming. Do you really want to align with Mike Pollan and Mark Bittman? They'll throw you overboard as soon as u use an ounce of Roundup. In my opinion these guys are loons.

 

[Nesikep]

No, I quite definitely DO NOT want to be part of the local do-gooder group, We've seen it happen over and over again that they appropriate other people's accomplishments and take the credit.. There's of course the 100 mile diet and local food matters group.. I said we grow our own grain, did the research on how, etc, but they try to take the credit for that. We grew an acre of wheat, a heritage variety, we also grow tibetan barley that we propagated from a wee little packet of seeds, that takes YEARS, yet these people seem to think we ought to sell them our grain at $.10/lb so they can feed it to their chickens.. GFY! it's for sale at $2/lb and if you don't like it that's just fine.
2 years ago I had a deal to sell that big steer of mine (Joules) to some part-time neighbors for $2000, live, delivered to the slaughterhouse of their choice, the rest was up to them.. This was a truely organic animal, never knew what a needle was, and really meaty. They backed out a AFTER the last minute, leaving me holding the bag, My friend bought him and split it with one of his friends. He's got meat for a couple years... The neighbors, well, they can go pay $20/lb for steaks now... Next time, an equivalent steer is going to be $3000, and 50% of that paid upon weaning!.. .don't like it? fine, I'll sell them at the sale barn and be rid of the hassle.

I'm not looking to be the face of anything, not looking to get an award for "Outstanding farmer" or other BS... If you like what I sell, buy it, but don't expect me to say "How high" when you say "Jump"

 

[MO_cows]

I don't think we need to create a whole new bureaucracy to have a "food policy" like the article suggests. Heaven forbid. But we do have some problems. More and more people are obese, especially children, and the average American's diet isn't very healthy. The giant food companies put some pure crap on the market and too many people are dumb enough to buy it. They might label it "healthy choice" but it's not. I became a label reader when my father in law was in decline and we were trying to find microwave "heat and eat" meals for him. [I ended up cooking an extra portion at our house for him, we had our own little "meals on wheels" program.] Reading all those labels was an eye opener. I hardly buy anything anymore that isn't just a basic ingredient, minimally processed.

How do you help people become smarter and more discerning in their choices, without taking away their free will/liberty? It's a pickle.

 

[Rafter S]

How do you help people become smarter and more discerning in their choices, without taking away their free will/liberty?

You can only try to change their behavior by educating them, after that they are (or at least should be) responsible for their choices. I should certainly eat healthier, but I'm not blaming anyone other than myself for the results of my poor eating habits.