Food stuffs follow up.

This is, in a way, a continuation from yesterday. One thing I wanted to talk about, but didn't, is a documentary that I watched over the weekend. After talking and then posting the recipe though, I felt like I had already taken enough of your time for the day so this one might be short, but I feel like it is important.

If you haven't educated yourself on the dangers of processed food and what exactly goes into our meat and produce, you really should. There are a lot of ways to do this and while some documentaries are meant to just crucify the object of their investigations, there are also some really good and informative ones out there as well. I watched Food, Inc. on Sunday and it was wonderful.

When I say wonderful, I mean it in a totally-eye-opening-yet-heart-wrenching-and-sometimes-gross kind of wonderful.

I'm reminded of a documentary my Val and I saw last year (if you don't know who Valerie is, then you really should find out. She's only the funniest, smartest, most wonderful person that I know) called The Cove. It was such an important movie and I really tried to get other people to watch it, but the minute I would tell them what it was about they'd be all 'no way, that sounds horrible'. And it was, but so good and, as I said, very important.

This was kind of the same way, without the murder of hundreds of thousands of precious dolphins. This movie will make you rethink the way you buy food. Did you know that in about 70 percent of all ground beef there is a 'meat filler' that has been treated with ammonia to help kill e-coli bacteria? They couldn't even call it meat and kept referring to it as 'our product'.

This documentary covers some pretty upsetting facts and there were times I had to look away and just listen, but again, as a consumer it is information that you must educate yourself on. You wouldn't drive a car without knowing that it would protect you and your family. Why would you put something into your body that you know nothing about where it came from?

I suppose in all this, I have been re-inspired to search out local retailers. To buy fruits and vegetables that are in season. I want to visit my local farmer's market and support those that are in the area and who are treating their plants and animals with the respect that they should be shown. If the farmer doesn't respect the product they are putting out and the animal that it is coming from, the bottom line is they don't respect you. They don't care what happens to you after they get your money, and that is so important.

There are so many growers that do care and they are everywhere. If we demand better products, the market will respond and deliver. As they said in the documentary, you get to vote.

Three times a day.

My cousin has recommended a handful of documentaries I need to check out, so I'm going to get on that this week. I'm sure it will just further push me to do what I'm setting out to do. I'm just happy I live with girls that will enjoy getting up with me to head to the farmer's market this coming weekend. It will no doubt be an adventure.

"At home I serve the kind of food I know the story behind."-Michael Pollan

Happy eating,
Lauren