Food Rules #22: Eat Mostly Plants, Esp. Leaves

Ok, now we're moving into the 2nd section of the book, where Pollan poses the question: What kind of food should I eat? His mantra, in case you don't know is "Eat Food. Mostly Plants. Not too much".

A little controversial for some (I'm not giving up my meat, just eating less of it and local/sustainable/grass-fed where possible), but he does have a point. Plants take less energy to produce, plant-based diets contain fewer calories and there is less disease associated with vegetarian-based diets than not. This section of the book should be very interesting to write about and I'm curious to hear your opinions on how you follow this thought, or don't, or want to , or what.

I will tell you what I have been trying more and more to do, however. When I cook meat at home, within the last several years I almost never cook meat at home that is not local and/or grass-fed (at least in part). I try to buy from a source that I trust (like Cedar Valley, Heartland, Black Earth, La Quercia, Dietzler, Nueske, Fabrique Delice, Creminelli, Fra'Mani - not ALL local, not ALL grass-fed, but I know the methods used and I feel FOR ME it's a better choice than the supermarket... another thought: it's so ) And yes, I DO sometimes cringe at the cost of beef tenderloin or some other nicer cuts, but those aren't everyday meals for me...and when I think about the value I'm getting and the other costs that I'm saving on (environmental, socio-economic, health) it's worth it to me. And again, eating meat less frequently than I used to.

Going out is another story - I know that oftentimes the meat I'm eating out at a restaurant does not follow the local/sustainable/organic/grass-fed theme. I'd be silly to think that (and frankly, if I'm eating that way, I'm more likely to cook at home because it's a more affordable option right now). But I choose those meals less than I would if I saw something from Becker Lane (pork) or Mint Creek (lamb). It's great to see so many restaurants, though, who are putting the name of the farm from where they are sourcing the meat on their menu. You will also find at least 1 meat purveyor at any farmer's market in Chicago these days...ah, electricity!

One final thing worth noting: taste a pork chop from Jewel next to a Cedar Valley pork chop and tell me which is better. Taste to me is way more important than "cheap". You can really taste the difference with a lot of these small producers because they use breeds and methods that factory farms don't and it's reflected in the flavor of the meat. Grass produces sweeter meat and milk than corn or soy or um, other animals. And I find I eat less and enjoy more. Well, try to eat less, anyway...