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More diverse flavors aside, making space for heritage food on your plate helps keep diverse animal breeds around - but since they're rare, these meats are tougher to find and can cost a bit more too.
COCKTAIL FACT
The CIA purchased the movie rights to Animal Farm from George Orwell's widow and covertly funded the 1954 animated version as anti-Communist propaganda.
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home › tip library › Heritage Foods
Will Narragansett turkeys survive, Orwell they go extinct?
The Bite
If we start a heritage foods revolution by eating 'em, they'll stick around (sounds crazy, but by creating a higher demand, it gives farmers more motivation to raise them). Go for meat from farms raising these select heritage breeds instead of conventional 'stock, and you'll help keep biodiversity alive. By, um...George, we think they've got it.The Benefits
- Benefits that aren't just allegorical fiction. Preserving heritage animals preserves biodiversity - and they may have beneficial genetics (disease resistance, climate adaptability) that more common breeds may not.
- Saving species from total(itarian) extinction. Most livestock originate from just a few breeds. Example: Right now 75% of U.S. pigs come from three main breeds; about ten others are close to dying out.
- More variety than your 10th-grade required reading. With heritage foods, you'll taste flavors you're not gonna find with conventional meats, which are bred for uniformity.
Personally Speaking
Thanks to the rich, almost ducklike flavor of the heritage turkey he bought for Thanksgiving last year, SF Local Bite Editor Mike had the best Thanksgiving leftover-turkey sandwiches ever.Wanna Try?
- Schmancier grocery stores (such as Whole Foods) often let you know via signage whether a meat is heritage or not - or try asking your butcher.
- Heritage Foods USA - order select heritage foods online (prices vary).
- American Livestock Breeds Conservancy - find out which breeds are at risk.
- Slow Food USA - nonprof dedicated to preserving biodiversity in our food.
Aug 13,2008
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All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
Heresy? Yes, But Hear Me Out…
My family lives in Sonoma County, so buying local come Turkey Time means Willie Birds. Most gobblers have a milquetoast sort of flavor, like they're just a protein vehicle for gravy. But on top of all the ecological reasons to buy heritage, Willie Birds really do have way more intense flavors. And they are awesome. I-just-won-the-lottery awesome. Someone-surgically-removed-Jessica-Simpson's-voice-box awesome. Open-bar awesome.
Next time you roast a bird, try heritage, and when it's all ready to go, just put salt and pepper on it. That's it. No gravy. No cranberry sauce. No nothing. Salt and pepper. That's how good these turkeys are.
-SF Editor Mike...off to take a post-turkey nap even though I didn't eat any today...
Biter Comments...
Amen, Angel!!! Go Veg!!!
You can also get heritage birds on Local Harvest - the direct link is http://www.localharvest.org/store/turkey.jsp
And yes, eating meat IS environmental, and natural (B12 anyone?)...we just shouldn't be eating meat in mega-doses that was produced by factories who don't treat the animals with respect.
I'm sorry, can you explain how eating meat is environmental? And just to clarify, B12 can come from a variety of sources, it just happens to also grow on rotting flesh. While I appreciate your concern for the respect of animals, I disagree that 'heritage' animal slaughterers show any more compassion for the animal than in a normal slaughterhouse. Thank you for your consideration.
...might be helpful to explain what exactly "heritage" means. And by-the-way, humans naturally evolved as omnivores and eating meat is totally natural/environmental when portion sizes are appropriate. If the entire planet went veg, we'd throw the entire food chain into a frenzy.
Yes, if everyone was vegetarian it would be good for the planet. But Ideal Bite is not trying to convert everyone to vegetarianism. They are offering greener alternatives to our lifestyles. If you are going to eat turkey on thanksgiving, go local and organic! Veggie lifestyle is great but not for everyone, so here's the next best thing.
A vegan diet is the healthiest diet for the planet. To promote eating meat makes me wonder how "green" Ideal Bite really is?
Please keeps the differences straight between breeds and species. Breeds can interbreed with no problem. Species can't. There are 3 breeds of pigs making up 75%, NOT species.
WHEN WILL IDEAL BITE ... START BEING MORE ... IDEAL?
As the UN FAO pointed out, LIVESTOCK *CURRENTLY* ACCOUNTS FOR MORE GREEN HOUSE GAS EMISSIONS THAN ALL TRANSPORTATION COMBINED! An that's before more of China and India start eating much more dead animals! Eating animals is natural so much as like humans killing other humans is natural - a ancient barbaric practice that we still do today and is ... killing us.
Ideal Bite - Please clue-in on this and give-up your earth-wasting ways.
We love most of your other bites!
l - You're absolutely right. Thanks much for the correction. We've changed the tip as it appears in our Tip Library.
Meat consumption, at the current rate that it occurs is definitely not environmentally sound, and someone would be hard pressed to make an argument to the contrary. My challenge to those who feel they must consume meat is simple. Research how much meat is healthy to eat. Our distant ancestors that everyone talks about all the time did not eat meat in great quantities as people do today (except for northern tribes where plant matter was scarce). So, can meat consumers limit their consumption to 2 or 3 times a week, and can they go for the more environmentally sound options that Ideal recommends? Can they manage to eat vegetarian meals the rest of the time?
Obviously Ideal Bite is out to give people the information and tools to make decisions on their own. I advocate informed decision making, not role modeling. So, although yes, vegitarian diets are healthier for people and planet, some people chose not to eat that way. And that's ok. So if you DO eat meat, there are friendlier options. One step at a time peeps :)
Sorry, Ideal Bite, you dropped the ball on this one. You're hedging when you advocate a meat-based diet. "Heritage" breeds or not, we omnivorous Americans are influencing developing nations -- who are abandoning traditional fare to embrace pork chops and burgers -- and now the planet has taken a giant step backward. C'mon, folks. Sometimes it takes courage to lead the way.
I've heard that other countries are getting fatter. Well, you know why that is, don't you? Because the good ol' U.S. of A. keeps exporting its fast-food restaurants, THAT'S why! How many countries now have Mickey D.'s, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC, etc., etc.
The comparison you made that the flavor of heritage turkey is similar to that of duck, well, never having eaten duck, that analogy was totally lost on me.
Yeah, I gotta admit that I do like meat, but I have it usually no more than four times a month.
If people are so worried about preserving the environment, they shouldn't eat meat! More energy is saved and one is more green when they do not eat meat. So instead of lecturing on not eating certain species of animal why not suggest being the ultimate leader in green food/living by not eating meat at all!
This tip isn't ideal or green at all. The argument that we must kill and eat animals in order to save them is ridiculus. Our meat eating has contributed to the loss of hundreds of species and biodiversity. Eating more meat is not the answer. While being vegan may not be right for everyone, given the amount of pollution, violence, loss of land, amount of water and food used, and wild animals killed because they "compete" with grazing animals makes eating meat far from "green". Please think more carefully about all aspects of your tips before sending them out.
This is just a joke. Did the "heritage farming industry" slip you a dollar?
Meat production is about the worst thing for our planet, and yes that includes "local" or "heritage" farms.
Meat is also bad for your body.
Not to mention, the slaughter industry is a terribly inhumane one.
I'm pretty shocked that the "suburban fat butt" ethic is in a supposed environmental blog and tips.
What hypocrisy.
Typical ugly American attitudes.
You got played for fools by the sleazy farming industry.
Meat production on a "local" farm is not "the worst thing for our planet."
A farm with a flock of, say, 50-200 chickens is allowed to slaughter on site. There is no transportation involved. The manure of pastured chickens fertilizes grasses which in turn nourish cattle which in turn nourish us.
If I buy a pastured chicken from a farm nine miles away, I have supported my neighbor, supported a farm, eschewed agribusiness, supported biodiversity, protected the view, supported a small business, and nourished my body.
There is no conclusive evidence that "meat is bad for your body." Inuit have subsisted on seal and lichen for thousands of years. The Maasai in Africa? Only animal products. Both groups enjoy health. (This information is from Michael Pollan's book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma.")
The only mistake IdealBite made was not mentioning localharvest.org, which has the easiest-to-use and most complete listings of farms of all types across America.
There are almost 7 billion humans living on this planet now and we are steadily zooming towards 8 billion. If you think 8 billion humans are going to eat organic raised animals from small farms...you've just proven why this planet is collapsing under our own greedy human weight.
Going vegan is the only way to eat kind...for EVERYONE whether you don't want to promote it or not.
The suffering caused by eating animals effects everyone. Visit the slaughterhouse where your GREEN turkey's are killed and film a clip or two and then post the videos on your beautifully designed green web blog you have here. That is at least the fair and honest option.
If humans are not meant to eat animals, how come they are made of tasty meat? =-D
Human teeth are designed to chew meat. Cavemen...woops!!! CAVEPEOPLE...learned how to make fire. They cooked animals with that fire. Their brains grew bigger from eating cooked meat. WOOPS!!! THAT'S RIGHT...the world was created in 7 days and humans have been around only for a few thousand years, and all humans come from the first 2, Adam & Eve...INCEST!!! If you want to believe that lie and the lie about humans are herbivores, that is your prerogative. 6-7-8 billion people on this planet!!! That is the problem: OVERPOPULATION!!! Advancements in medicine and sanitation has dramatically increased our life expectancy and survival rate. SARS, HIV/AIDS, cancer, etc., etc., etc. are trying to keep us under control, but we keep trying to beat them. We better learn to travel through space here pretty quickly and find another planet to live on. We are using this one up pretty quickly. No amount of people being “Green” will prevent fix things. We either need to learn to travel/live in space and on other planets/moons or we need to get our population under control. All-in-all: eat animals. That is how we are designed!!!
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Angel | August 13, 2008 at 04:16 AM