Section » Farm animals
A valentine for my farm
It's that time of year...we are inclined to dig up our innermost feelings for our loved ones and shower those lucky souls with evidence of that love. Cards, candies, and caring words in celebration of relationships. I am doting on the relationship that keeps me alive and well. Often neglected and in a broken relationship with society, our food system
More articles
Taxing cows to curb climate change
When you fill your car's tank, you pay a gas tax. Someday, when you fill your belly with cheese, milk, or steak, you might have to pay another type of gas tax — one levied on the methane and nitrous oxide emitted by the cows that produced or became your food. Bacteria in a cow's gut help digest what
Hannibal Peckter: When being Mother Hen isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
Post updated 11:27 a.m. with punnier new headline, hat tip to Impolite Company Editor's note: We're pleased to announce that frequent guest contributor Debra Eschmeyer has consented to join the Ethicurean
Happy Thanksgiving from the Ethicureans
I hope all of you are getting ready to enjoy a locally inspired feast, or one with at least a couple Ethicureanish dishes on the menu. I'm a bit sad I won't be cooking at home this year. I'm unfortunately stalled in the airport en route to Scottsdale, AZ, where if the rain lets up I shall be hanging
Comments Off • Read more »
Oprah show torpedos CAFOs, gives props to Prop. 2
As just about everyone probably knows, most of Oprah's Tuesday show was devoted to reporter Lisa Ling's "How We Treat the Animals We Eat" investigation. I don't have cable, and thought I could watch the episode one way or another
Digest – News: Farm Bill deals, Utah milk labeling, dairy-cow Crohn’s connection
The Ethicureans were assisted in these posts by Leslie, on loan from the Eat Well Guide, and Jack of Fork & Bottle (who was not responsible for any typos you may find). If you only read
Comments Off • Read more »
Back to the future: Maryland’s Springfield Farm is new old-school
From Leslie Hatfield
Last weekend, my partner Jaimes and I picked up our friend, Nikki, in a bright yellow rental car and drove about 20 miles outside of Baltimore to Springfield Farm. I'd discovered it through the Comments Off • Read more »
Downer and out: Will this be the cow-tipping point for the U.S. beef industry?
The Humane Society has managed to get graphic footage of workers at a California slaughterhouse using forklifts, high-pressure water sprays, wooden sticks, and electric shocks to get sick cattle up on their feet so they can pass USDA inspection and be processed into
Eating local in Tucson for the holidays
The following is by Ethicurean buddy Rachel Cole. Rachel has worked for Alice Waters's Cafe Fanny,
Digest – Clones as Food special edition
This is a special edition of the Digest devoted to reactions to the Food and Drug Administration's determination that clones and their milk are safe for consumption. Rick Weiss reports on the USDA's request for a "voluntary moratorium"
Digest – Commentary: Of battery hens and battered prisoners in Britain
Is it surprising that a society that cages its food animals also cages its rejected humans?: A commentator complains that Jamie Oliver and Hugh F-W's chicken-rescue campaign focuses more on feathered prisoners than on the hairless bipedal kind. (The
Comments Off • Read more »
Digest – Features: Big local, organic Apple; Temple Grandin on the ‘guest test,’ proposed new nutrition label
Local food, 365 days a year: Kim Severson on the possibility that New York will build a large, permanent farmers market featuring local and seasonal produce, cheesemongers, butchers, and a selection of staples. Guess Whole Foods isn't doing the trick. (New
Digest – Features: Why NAIS is a bad idea, BBC goes nuts for sustainable, Obama feints
Who's been naughty — NAIS: David Gumpert (reporter, raw-milk detective, and The Complete Patient blogger) co-writes the definitive look to date at what's wrong with the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) and why it's sparked the "most severe political backlash rural America has
Digest – News: Farm Bill moving again, pork brain illness, WIC gets healthier
All we want for Christmas is a new Farm Bill: The Senate finally moved forward on the Farm Bill today after agreeing to limit the amendments debated to 20 each for Democrats and Republicans. But a new law could still be months away. (Brownfield
Comments Off • Read more »
Hacking meat: Cloning animals for art, profit, and food
BoingBoing TV's entertaining visit to Machine Project's tissue-culturing workshop in L.A. (embedded above; let it load for a minute or two before playing) reminded me that the FDA had originally said it would announce this month whether it had determined cloned meat and dairy were safe
