Slow Food

So, as we approach the birth of our second baby I've found that our lifestyle has taken some unexpected(I suppose, and expected) turns. Some, exciting and new (for example, the idea that there will be two little boys to chase around instead of just one) and some, a bit more foundational in how we choose to live our lives.

After having Collin I found myself becoming the food Nazi that I never thought I would be. Everything that went into his body was either organic, all natural, or home-made. We were pretty strict about this, and continue to be as he grows. Being the researcher I am, I delved into the science behind organic eating, trying to determine if it was just a zeitgeist of the times or if there was some sustainable knowledge behind eating so wholesome-ly. While we all know it feels fantastic to bring food from our gardens to our table, I wondered if the whole organic movement was a bit more hype than truth. For goodness sakes, if I was going to spend 5 dollars a pound on most fruits for Collin I wanted to be sure my investment was worth it.

So onward I went, plugging into every book, resource and spot of literature I could find. I started out watching Food Inc., which is in someways a watered down version of the Omnivore's Dilemma,which contribute to the nature of the food crisis in the US with catchy media and well written texts. Both made me a bit sick to my stomach learning how we receive our meats today, and the issue for us, actually became around meats more than fruits or veggies, which is where this whole inquiry started. After a few months of research I was sold, organic, true farm to table organic, is better for us in many ways.

Issues tackled in these resources- things like Mad Cow disease and what it really means to my dinner table, the implications of adding antibiotics to how we raise animals and the evolutionary change from feeding cattle grass to corn became real issues for me that I won't soap box here, but encourage you, dear reader, to find out more if you care even a little bit about what you put in your body.

Here's one great way to learn about slow food in swallow-able tidbits (tee hee).
Take Part Blog I love this blog because it's a little bit of information on how sustainable food can make serious changes in the world, everyday.

Anyway, back to our story. So, as I was trying desperately hard not to feed Collin any ingredients I didn't recognize (or know how to pronounce), limiting his access to sugar and refined and overly processed foods (No McDonald's or Twinkies here), I found myself surrounded with something 1905-esque. I felt very little-house on the prarie, make it all from scratch, know what you are cooking and eating. But the catch was I've learned to love this. With a garden, a farmer's market, some things from whole foods and the limited, albeit better than nothing organic sections at Cub and Target we're making healthy food choices everyday that we can. We decided we'd be willing to spend more to be sure Collin was eating things that were entirely good for him, and along the way learned a lot about CSAs, organic farms and lifestyle changes that make it easier and easier to eat of local produce and limited processed foods. Now, don't get me wrong, you'll still find a brick of Velveta in my dairy drawer for those winter hot dishes and just yesterday I let Collin taste the sugary icing on a cinnamon roll, but, all of these things are in much reduced, and were happy to say, nearly infrequent moderation.

As we made these decisions we found ourselves searching for a local producer of meats, more than fruits and veggies, as we have a pretty fantastic garden every year, and as fate would have it, we landed at the State Fair right in front of Farmer Dean from my minnesota farmer. We love this family and their farm in Montgomery and between their CSA beef, chicken and fruit and veggies arrangement with us, I can happily say that we'll have lots of farm to table dinners from here on out.

And, even though we've made the switch to slow food, there are still lots of potential converts out there. The organic companies of the world have been trying everything they can to lure in new customers- here's one pretty funny application- a Dairy farm in Great Britain that raps about organic milk.



Anyhow, we've made this important shift in our lives and while we don't expect everyone to understand or consider the same consequences of what they eat, we're especially happy with the food we get to serve our children as they grow, so happy in fact it was worth blogging about.

Here's something to chew on: do you know how your dinner made its way to your table tonight?