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Susan Horn

Beach Fanatic
congrats; mirliton recipes?

Here's a very relevant article:

Toward Freedom - Swine Flu Fuels Concerns About Factory Farms

I must run - my son just came in from Baton Rouge! :D:D The recent LSU grad!

G

Congrats to the graduate. Back to the topic of what to eat. I bought a big sack full of mirlitons at Fresh Market the other day. I've never eaten them, but I understand you can grow them here as a perennial and very productive vegetable, comparable in use to squash.

Got any mirliton recipes I should try? Any tips for the mirliton newbie on preparation, propagation? Thanks!
 
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Miss Critter

Beach Fanatic
Mar 8, 2008
3,397
2,125
My perfect beach
As Susan alluded to earlier, the major reason for the price discrepancy between conventional and organic is not in the farming methods - which are actally more cost effective - but in the government assistance that the big food conglomerates get, AND in their constant attempts to drive small, sustainable farmers out of business. Read virtually any book or article on the topic, and I guarantee it will be an eye-opening experience. Believe me, the folks who continue in their quest to offer a healthy alternative to vast quantities of poisonous junk being offered are heroes in my book. If you are a conscious eater for whatever reason - whether it's disease prevention/management or political/ethical beliefs - the deck is stacked against you. Learning to eat truly healthfully is a full-time proposition. Labeling laws allow products to be promoted as "healthy" when even a bit of genuine nutritional education would enable the consumer to know that such a claim is ludicrous. Huge companies like Monsanto and Bayer want to end "heirloom" farming, meaning the growing of crops from natural, creator-made seeds, and want all farmers to buy their genetically modified seeds annually from them. Btw, genetically modified means there's a pesticide literally built into the DNA of the seed, and - you guessed it - you are eating that pesticide when you ingest that food. GMO seeds are sterile, meaning they are good for only one crop, then guess what? Yep, farmers have to buy more seeds from these companies on each crop rotation. Is it any wonder that disease rates are skyrocketing worlwide?? We are not eating what we were created and evolved to eat. It would be like putting kerosene in your car's gas tank and wondering why it won't run.
 

Susan Horn

Beach Fanatic
fair trade coffee; tea camellia cuttings?

I have to say it again, I am SO GLAD we are exploring these issues here. None of this is news, it's been going on for many years; the difference is that for whatever reason a lot of folks seem motivated onw to learn more and start being more conscious of where their food is from and how it's produced.

Thinking about that sort of thing used to be the domain of the granola crowd (I include myself in that camp -- my sons call me a "Crunchy Granola Mom"), but it seems to be getting closer and closer to mainstream. A tipping point has been reached ;-)

Fair trade is an important and related issue -- and I have recently learned that just like "organic" labels, "fair trade" labels don't always mean you're getting what you think you're getting. The folks at Amavida know the ins and outs of this a lot better than I do -- they are members of a fair trade coffee buying cooperative, and they actually personally know the growers they buy from, and have visited some of the villages where the coffee they serve and sell is produced. Two of their grower representatives have visited here in the last year and given fascinating presentations on where and how the coffee is grown, processed, tested, sorted, etc.

I'm more of a tea drinker myself, and haven't heard much about fair trade tea. But I understand the tea camellia can be grown here, and have been trying to buy a couple to see if it's any good. No luck so far getting my hands on the plants -- anyone got tea camellias they're willing to share cuttings from?
 

Lynnie

SoWal Insider
Apr 18, 2007
8,151
434
SoBuc
If you can watch that video and not think about what you are eating, I applaud you. You must have a shut off button that I don't have....
That was disturbing.


I didn't watch the video, but read the posts. I guess my shut off button was shut off before I turned it on......sorry! I trust you when you say it was disturbing......that's all the qualifying I need......:blink:
 

biddieann

Beach Lover
Congrats to the graduate. Back to the topic of what to eat. I bought a big sack full of mirlitons at Fresh Market the other day. I've never eaten them, but I understand you can grow them here as a perennial and very productive vegetable, comparable in use to squash.

Got any mirliton recipes I should try? Any tips for the mirliton newbie on preparation, propagation? Thanks!

OMG my grandmother used to cook merlitons when i was a child. My mother in law who still lives in Louisiana cooks them, I will ask her for some recipes. By the way, one of my daughters is a vegetarian, at first it was tough to always keep her in mind when cooking family meals but now we are used to it and it's easy.
 

ASH

Beach Fanatic
Feb 4, 2008
2,153
443
Roosevelt, MN
Stunning is required in the US by the Humane Slaughter
Act of 1958 which requires that any meat plants selling meat products to Federal
Agencies to slaughter animals in a humane manner. This has gradually become
a requirement for most plants. The major exceptions would be Kosher (Jewish)
and Halal (Muslim) plants. Other countries such as Australia and New Zealand
use electrical stunning and immobilization. The animal is rendered unconscious
with an electrical current. The goal of stunning is to make the animal insensitive
to pain, but the heart needs to remain beating to allow for complete​
exanguination or bleeding.

From Montana State University, Department of Animal and Range Sciences
 

John R

needs to get out more
Dec 31, 2005
6,778
824
Conflictinator
We showed Food Inc. at MountainFilm on Memorial Day. I'd love to bring it here but I doubt I could; it just opened in NY and SF yesterday. Hopefully it will hit the panhandle, but again, doubtful. Do go and see this movie if you are at all concerned about what you're buying in the supermarket. That hamburger you're eating could potentially be part of 1000 cows, the slaughter rate is so high that the cuttings just get mixed into one huge grinder.

Official Food, Inc. Movie Site - Hungry For Change?
 

Gidget

Beach Fanatic
May 27, 2009
2,450
638
Blue Mtn Beach!!
Stunning is required in the US by the Humane Slaughter
Act of 1958 which requires that any meat plants selling meat products to Federal
Agencies to slaughter animals in a humane manner. This has gradually become
a requirement for most plants. The major exceptions would be Kosher (Jewish)
and Halal (Muslim) plants. Other countries such as Australia and New Zealand
use electrical stunning and immobilization. The animal is rendered unconscious
with an electrical current. The goal of stunning is to make the animal insensitive
to pain, but the heart needs to remain beating to allow for complete​
exanguination or bleeding.

From Montana State University, Department of Animal and Range Sciences

I'm not a card carrying huge PETA, fur spray painting activist, so I hope I don't come across as preachy - but I do know from years of reading about this and talking to people first hand that "stunning" isn't always as it sounds. I think when we read about stunning we think - see, the animals don't suffer. Unfortunately not always the case.

Vegan Outreach | Why Vegan? | If Slaughterhouses Had Glass Walls

Global Action Network: Slaughterhouses: Factsheets: General Information on Slaughterhouses

In the link below is an example of someone really trying to do the right thing for the animals. Unfortunately, you will find that there are still people who object to the killing of any animals. This is a personal choice but it is NOT realistic in my opinion. Much better to support humane treatment during life and death.

Humane Slaughterhouses: Food Politics : gourmet.com :clap:this guy!!

G
 
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