My husband and I spent the New Year at Amicalola State Park in North Georgia hiking, reading, and eating--my favorite activities. I brought along Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and The Jungle by Upton Sinclair; two books with uncanny similarities despite being written in two different centuries. Schlosser's book looks at the real costs of fast food to the environment, farmers and ranchers, meatpacking workers, and consumers' health.
Sinclair's books shows just how little has changed since his mudracking classic uncovered the abusive and corrupt practices of the meatpacking industry at the turn of the 20th century. The more things change, the more they remain the same. Reading these books prompted this blog, in which I'll share recipes and local agricultural news (the honeybees) and readings that assault my food sensibilities and sustainability (locusts).
I wish I had been writing as I was reading so I could easily share some of Schlosser's findings. Here's just one morsel to chew next time you eat--or consider eating--your next Big Mac:
"To supply the beef slaughterhouses, ConAgra operates a pair of enormous feedlots. Each of them can hold up to one hundred thousand head of cattle. ...Each steer deposits about fifty pounds of urine and manure everyday. Unlike human waste, the manure is not sent to a treatment plant. It is dumped into pits, huge pools of excrement that the industry calls 'lagoons.' The amount of waste left by the cattle that pass through Weld County is staggering. The two Monfort feedlots outside Greeley (Colorado) produce more excrement than the cities of Denver, Boston, Atlanta, and St. Louise--combined." (pg. 150, Fast Food Nation)
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