Category Archives: Food & Drink

Cooking, recipes, dining and drink.

Flyover Country

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While researching a brand of wristwatch yesterday I chanced upon an article where the term “flyover country” was levied most certainly as a pejorative.

I’ve been guilty of this myself a few times. It’s no secret that I don’t see eye-to-eye with the local culture/way of doing things in Fargo, ND where I currently reside at my employer’s pleasure. I only volunteered for the Fargo posting because nobody else wants to go there and I was sucking up to curry favor with management for my plan to request Italy, Germany, or England in another year or two. It became very apparent to me that I’m just not a midwest personality. I ache to be out west again, in mountain country and to have a city large enough to support a Cheesecake Factory within an hour’s drive. My wife heard an old man from Bismarck say they couldn’t live with the “hustle and bustle” of Fargo. We cracked up laughing, not derisively, but in amusement at our own culture shock. How two different people observe the same subject but see two different things. He sees “hustle and bustle” where we see a quaint, small town.

But as miserable as Fargo sometimes makes us (Arizona natives in a Fargo winter are a pretty bad match) and as firm as we are in our plans to leave when possible, one thought keeps shouting at me from the back of my mind.

These people that big-city folk like to call “hicks” grow and provide all our food.

Let that sink in a minute. I might really enjoy big city life, but you tell me what metropolis in America isn’t a net importer of everything that sustains living? Millions upon millions of people in America would starve if it wasn’t for those “hicks” or “bumpkins”. Think California or New York could feed their own state’s population if they had to? Not on your life. Texas could probably feed Dallas/Ft. Worth. The pacific northwest (where my wife and I dream of moving) would be fine. I don’t know how well Arizona could support Phoenix and Tucson.

My point is this: I don’t like living in the midwest (or northern plains country) and the way they do things, but I don’t grow my own food and wasn’t raised a hunter either. My food comes from the grocery store. But I know where it comes from before that, too. (Anti-Monsanto rants saved for a future post.) So I do my very best to keep my mouth shut and be grateful, because my well-paying job doesn’t actually make me self-sustaining.

The next time you want to talk about “flyover country” as if there’s nothing there worth consideration, consider what you eat for a month. Then consider being nice.

One of these days…

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I’m not sure why, but I just think this is the perfect poster. The typeface, the colors, the outline that is unquestionably a Vespa. Commercial or not, this is art (if that hack Andy Warhol is “art”, so is this), and I truly, deeply love it.

Italian Roast

And Starbucks refuses to sell it. I’ve asked managers, like a fixture sale. I’ve tried to bribe them to report it damaged and get a replacement. I’ve perused Starbucks’ website looking for items for sale. So one of these days I’m just going to have to steal it.

Yeah, that’s right. Art theft and great heists are about to visit Starbucks. It’s gonna happen. Of course, typing out my intent to commit a crime (is it petty larceny or theft? I guess it changes depending on the value of the item), probably isn’t a good idea for my inevitable defense case. I mean, when some investigator says “Hey, crooks are stupid and I bet they posted it on Facebook.”, all they’ll have to do is a quick internet search for “stolen Starbucks artwork”. See how thoughtful I am? I even posted some easily searchable key phrases and just might tag the post accordingly. Why would I do something so foolish? Why would I hamper my “get-away-with-it” ness? Because I don’t want to steal it, I want to buy it. It’s beautiful. These are just the ends I’ve been driven to.

So really, Starbucks, this little matter of breaking and entering and teeny tiny but of theft that’s about to occur is your fault.

Quarterly Cigar Report, Fall 2012

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I have no idea if I’ll actually write about cigars on a quarterly basis, but I’ve been trying a fair number of new ones lately. Sadly, I have no good results from my experimentation so far, but if I do this again I have a LOT of new brands and blends coming up in the future. For now, my personal choices remain either Black Market or MAXX and both are from Alec Bradley. But without further ado, here are my notes on what I’ve tried lately.

It occurs to me that everything in this entry are flavored or infused cigars. Curious.

Maker’s Mark. This was the first time I’d tried an infused cigar, even though I hate Maker’s Mark whiskey. What can I say? I was suckered by the gimmicky wax on the glass tube. As well sealed as the cigar was in that tube, there was no acceptable excuse for how dry it was. But, if you like Maker’s Mark this is one I think I’d recommend. I’ll never do it again simply because of taste preferences, but you really can smell and taste the whiskey. It ashed way too easily, but also smoked tremendously well. Verdict: With strong pros and cons to this cigar, it’s really down to if you like the flavor. If you do, you’ll enjoy it.

ACID. This line from Drew Estate is so awful I’m tempted to avoid anything from the parent company at any point in the future. I knew they were flavored/infused and could never really bring myself to buy them. At least, not in public where somebody might see me buying a frat boy’s cigar. Then Cigars International had a screaming deal on an ACID sampler that came with a cool “limited edition” tin. So far I’ve had a C-note, Kuba Kuba, Nasty, and Blondie. All the wrappers have been sugared, which gets on your lips and screws with scent/taste so they all wind up being really similar as you unconsciously lick your lips clean (and it overpowers/destroys anything the cigar itself has to offer). This is a brand more focused on image than a quality smoke. The C-note reminded me of when I smoked cigarettes and had a bunch of beedies in Saudi Arabia. The Nasty had a really interesting shape that drew in lots of smoke through it’s conical design and lit easily. Verdict: the entire brand seems just awful; flavored crap strictly for frat boys. If it functions as an entry brand I guess that’s fine if it serves the purpose, but I’ll never recommend ACID to anyone looking for a quality cigar. (though I still have about 6-7 more that might change my mind, I’m afraid it’s unlikely)

Up next…? I ordered a smattering of Man o’ War, Cohiba, 5 Vegas and a few others. Hopefully next time I’ll have some new recommended sticks.

Procuring proper pint glasses

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Seriously, where does one do this?

I find it a little odd that I want a few more, because I’ve always derided having specialty dining ware in favor of “do-it-all” items. I still have no desire to own silver flatware that requires special care or polishing, nor do I really want special fancy plates that require extra care or caution. But who knows? That could change. Because I’ve gone from laughing at having separate red and white wine glasses to contemplating getting some of my own, and I’ve already picked up a set of Glencairn glasses just for kicks.

Of course, some of this simply comes down to me liking glass that’s in cool and different shapes. The geometry and form of it just fascinates me. But the reason I want a proper, British style pint glass is because I spent three years stationed in the U.K. when I was in the Air Force and I’ve already got two that I stole liberated from pubs there. There’s nothing wrong with the American style pint glass, really. It’s just as manly, stacks just as well, and honestly it’s more versatile due to being an even simpler design. But I’ve got two “proper” pint glasses complete with the etched official crown pint seal, and I’d really like to have at least four more in case one breaks. Especially since the UK gov’t is such a bunch of ninnies that there’s serious talk of banning the traditional pint glass in favor of plastic shatter-proof designs that can’t be used as weapons. Because the rim of the glass can’t be used as an impact device, apparently… /snark.

Update: I found them while writing this post! Apparently the traditional ridged glass (I always thought is was more of a bulge than a ridge, but whatever) is known as a Nonic glass. I’m going to order several before they’re no longer available.

Fat Head, Fat Sick, and The Paleo Diet

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Well here’s a post I’ve put off for over a week. It started with watching the documentary Fat Head, which is a fantastic counter-point to Super Size Me. From there? Well…

At this point I need to stress that I am not a nutritionist, physician, or personal trainer. Most of my medical knowledge comes from watching House, M.D. I’m just a guy that has experimented with his diet and discovered what works for me. If I actually do it. My blog = my opinions.

So, if you haven’t seen Super Size Me, let me just say that it is worth seeing. I question Morgan Spurlock a little bit because at the end he goes back to eating meals made by his “vegan chef” girlfriend and I fail to see how somebody can arrange lawn trimmings in enough variety of ways to earn the title “chef”, but whatever… Having seen Food, Inc. before hand wouldn’t be bad either, but neither movie are really pre-requisites for getting good info out of Fat Head.

See, what makes Fat Head so good is that it approaches the fast food topic with a far more realistic approach than Spurlock did, is far more transparent, actually explains how our body processes different foods and things like insulin response, gives historical and educational information, and it’s entertaining. That’s five reasons it’s a good flick, and only two of them relate to Super Size Me. I really do recommend it pretty highly. And this gist of it is this: at the end of 30 days of eating only fast food, Tom Naughton actually lost weight and he didn’t have to order a bunch of salads to do it. He did it by limiting his sugar and carbohydrate intake, and going on walks.

Let me repeat: his exercise was as simple as walking. You know, that thing we all started doing around a year old but gave up on once we got our driver’s license.

Initially I was just going to post up a review of this and call it good, but I enjoyed it so much I went on to watch Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. (Both of these are available for streaming on Netflix as I write this.) I’ll sum this one up a little bit better, since it’s not quite as worth watching. The filmmaker begins as overweight, but also sick enough that he’s on constant medication. Steroids and stuff, due to autoimmune issues. So he begins a juice fast, and sticks with it for 60 days. Nothing but fresh fruits and veggies, and he juices them because trying to eat the sheer amount of produce he consumes through juice would very likely be impossible otherwise. (All the fruit and veggies cure his malady, by the way.)

I have to critique Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead a little bit though. It’s not a bad movie, so much as… well… After the educational material presented in Fat Head, Joe Cross’s attempt here is a bit simplistic. He only talks about “micronutrients” vs. “macronutrients” (defines them incorrectly while he’s at it), and it strikes me as a bit silly to think that the only we can get real nutrition is by juicing produce. Don’t misunderstand, I think its a fantastic practice and I’ve ordered a Vitamix for myself. But he glossed over some important aspects of his diet/experiment.

Joe Cross should absolutely be commended for upping his fresh fruit/veggie intake, and it’s something I think is sorely lacking from most American diets. The reason I want to buy land and a homestead is so I can grow fresh produce myself, and the health benefits are irrefutable. But Joe missed two things in his flick. First, I don’t believe his diet provided enough protein and that’s why the other fella in the movie that starts juicing loses 200 pounds but never really begins to look very fit. I think the modified food pyramid graph they show is still unbalanced. But second, what they never mention is that juicing also cut out cereal grains. He was so focused on eating whole foods that weren’t processed (which is ideal), that they never talked about how heavily processed “healthy” grains are.

Which leads me (almost) finally to The Paleo Diet. I bought the book and I’ll tell you right now not to bother. It’s good information, and it absolutely works for me and is an easy diet to adopt for life. I am 100% a believer, but you can just Google the info you want rather than spend ten bucks on a book that is repetitive, not fun to read, and all the info is available for free online. Better to buy a Paleo cookbook, if you want.

The evolutionary perspective of what mankind as an organism is suited/designed to eat will likely be a source of consternation to Creationists, as I’ve outlined I am, but the science behind the book and the effect modern agriculture and cereal grains have on us today is pretty compelling. Especially in light of how much more processed our foods are these days and how sedentary Americans have become at “work”. It’s like a trifecta for diabetes, obesity, and any other number of physical ailments.

Side note- you know why red meat is so “bad” for you? Because we’ve altered the cows’ feeding to make ‘em fattier for marbling, and started shoving cereal grains (most notably corn, which I avoid like the plague) into ‘em, which in turn has altered their fat balance to Omega-6 away from Omega-3 found in free range cows allowed to graze naturally. The same stuff that makes us fat (carbs and insulin response weirdness) makes the cows fat, and their fat stores all the lectins and becomes “bad fat” as opposed to “good fat”.

I hate to jump on a hippie bandwagon about whole and organic foods, but what we’re eating (combined with a lack of exercise) is killing us.

Now, I refuse to believe God gave me incisors so I could rend the flesh or artichokes from their leaves (although that is an awful handy use for ‘em). And soy ain’t as great as vegans wish it was (there’s good reason your average male vegan usually seems kind of feminine)… It’s a legume anyway, which Paleo rules out. But I’m getting distracted and digressing.

So here are my two real points and/or conclusions:

  1. In the absence of physical exercise, cereal grains, starches and similar carbohydrates are actually quite harmful and should be avoided.
  2. Physical exercise improves insulin response, so if we’re not cutting carbs we’d better be working out.

I’ll be the first to admit that Paleo is a little more strict than I’d care to be, and I don’t follow it with religious devotion. But the Primal Diet is pretty close and even easier to stick with (dairy is still allowed, for example). Plus, if you follow that link to Mark’s Daily Apple you’ll find lots of exercise ideas (no gym needed) and recipes that actually taste good.

For all that reading, viewing and educating myself I’ve done, in the end I’m going Primal. There’s a great big world out there, and I plan on living long and healthy enough for Caveman Eric to conquer a whole lot more of it.

The Murtaugh List

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The title of this post is blatantly stolen from an episode of How I Met Your Mother. The impetus is from a night out with the guys from my Guard unit as a farewell celebration for me (a post on that, later) where I realized, “I’m too old for this ****.”

We’ll say stuff. I’m too old for this stuff. Yeah.

The night began innocently enough, enjoying some food and beer at Wings Over Broadway. The beer there isn’t great, but Shock Top will do in a pinch and the wings are amazing. Easily the best in Tucson unless you’ve got an invitation over to my Dad’s place when he does ‘em on the Traeger. Some folks from work were there, and it was nice. I don’t recall when we wrapped it up but it was fairly early and I was satisfied with calling it a night, save for a little hankering I was having for a cigar. I think this is where things went downhill…

Before I know it, the Chief decides we should go to the American Legion. So, names changed to protect… Yeah, never mind. There’s no protecting innocence in this post. Names are changed because I don’t have permission of the participants to disclose this stuff. Fast Eddie and I go grab some Alec Bradley Prensados and meet Chief at the American Legion.

Now, this is kind of an age check. I’ve known about this place since I was a kid, it’s right across the street from the Dairy Queen on 22nd. I’ve just never really known what it is or what they do. Truth be told, these days I think it’s mostly just a bar like your average VFW. And I suspect it’s one of those things that’s slowly dying off because my generation doesn’t seem to do social groups and clubs like Rotary, Masonic lodges, etc. in favor Facebook, online gaming, etc. I could be wrong, but the sheer age of people in the AL tells me I’m not. If not for Fast Eddie I’d have been the youngest guy in there by 30 years. It was really a throwback, seeing all these folks still out at the local bar/hangout where they all know each other and smoking (a lot) indoors. They didn’t mind my cigar, but I’ve never had one inside before. Don’t think I’ll be doing that again, by the way… And on the other side of the building is a small dance hall with a live band making sure to not play too loud and a bunch of very old couples still shuffling and dancing together out on the floor. It was kind of sweet. I actually really liked it, seeing this time capsule of days gone by. And once again, I’m satisfied with calling it a night.

But no. Another co-worker, whom we’ll call Geronimo says he’ll pick Fast Eddie and me up and we’re going down to 4th Avenue. This is just down the way from University of Arizona and it’s college bar row. Or dirty hippie central. They may be synonyms, I’m not sure.

Now, I appreciate the old folks at the American Legion still going out, dancing, etc. but I’m about to discover “I’m too old for this stuff.” Heck, I was too old for the college bar scene ten years ago when I was closer to college age! We start (old man groan here that we “start” at one bar as if this is a pub crawl) at the Sky Bar, which is a cool enough idea. There’s an open patio with a nice telescope so you can stargaze… Despite being in the middle of a well-lit city. Like I said, cool idea, but that doesn’t mean the execution is quite so brilliant. And all I can think is, “It’s so loud in here!”

This is my first clue. Now I don’t mind loud things: a good electric guitar being played by somebody who legitimately rocks, monster trucks, fireworks, shooting ranges, etc. But this? I keep hearing of people who meet in bars and I don’t believe it, because nobody can talk. This is just obnoxious.

My second clue was when Fast Eddie decided “We need shots!” Yeah… I’m too much a control freak to enjoy getting slobberknockered. I’m not carrying CCW at the time, but still. Luckily, he didn’t notice mine went untouched. He was too busy dancing like I’ve never seen anyone do in real life. It’s not quite like watching Carlton from Fresh Prince or anything, but the guy is 6’4″ if he’s an inch so everything he does just seems that much more exaggerated by the sheer scale of him. I won’t lie, it was pretty funny.

So now I’m the guy not dancing, not drinking, just standing to the side complaining via text messages to a friend about how loud it is here. I’m too old for this stuff.

I have my own fun, of course. I convince some girls to go dance with an increasingly drunk Fast Eddie to hear him brag later about how awesome he is. That was good for a giggle. I stopped a potential fight between two drunk, too young individuals (I’m an ambassador). But the real defining moment of the night came outside the 3rd and final bar, a country-themed joint between Maloney’s and… something else unimportant. Geronimo sees this girl he knows from college and starts talking to her. She has a blond friend who, like me, isn’t part of the conversation so I start making small talk with her and she asks what my story is. No kidding, I tell this co-ed “I’m 33 and too old for this stuff.” I’m not sure, but I think that’s what ended our conversation.

Summation.  I just don’t get it. The whole college bar/nightclub scene, that is. I really enjoyed the pub culture of England where you could simply nurse a pint but the real purpose was socializing with everybody else. Like Cheers, where everybody knows your name. The college bar scene is just loud, expensive, shallow, with no purpose discernible to me other than getting falling-down drunk and eating delicious but unhealthy food sold by street vendors. Not to be too snobbish or condescending, but it’s kinda sad. I enjoy socializing, the free exchange of ideas. I want my Dad’s idea of a Starbucks-like environment that just happens to sell beer. Maybe here in the states the only option is to go to Chili’s (and there you can get nachos!). For a brief while the glamour of the Hollywood machine almost convinced me that I had somehow missed out on something special, never really being a part of that scene/culture. But it turns out I’ve been pretty consistant from the time I turned 21. “I’m too old for that stuff.” And you know what? I’m totally okay with that.

P.S. – It doesn’t look like they’re doing anything with it, but there’s a Murtaugh List blog and supposed app to debut soon. With so few blog entries I suspect it’s dead on arrival, but I thought I’d show some link-love just in case.

Real food

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While I’ve still got motorcycles on the brain (I found a cool old ’73 Triumph I’d like to buy if I can sell the KLR), a change of pace felt really needed here. So it’s been quiet while I’ve not known what to write about and then last night it hit me: real and tasty food.

Blog followers will recall my review of Food, Inc. not long ago. I’ve also been reading (and only partially adhering to) The Paleo Diet. I’ve been enjoying going Paleo for the most part and really do feel better than when I eat cereal grains. But at other times it can be very difficult to kick the refined sugars and salts that’s in so much of our food today. Let’s face it: that stuff is tasty! Well last night I found the solution I needed to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Previously, I’ve been using frozen fruits and berries (thawed, of course) thrown into some plain Greek yoghurt. (I spell it that way because then it’s manlier and has “hurt” in it’s name.) But it’s still been pretty bland. The fruit just hasn’t tasted… fruity enough. The frozen peaches were so tasteless I thought I should add honey. The problem according to Jack Spirko on an episode of the Survival Podcast is that modern produce from a supermarket is so overproduced and overwatered that it actually begins to be watered down in flavor. He contends that a big, juicy blueberry is far less flavorful than a smaller blueberry grown in the wild. After trying some organic strawberries I bought at a farmer’s market, I think he may be right.

They were so sweet and delicious! No added sugars, and they’re perfectly sweet enough to offset the tart flavor from the yoghurt. So now I’ve got a delicious snack that replaces ice cream or other sugar-heavy treats and I get fiber (avoiding grains this is what everyone brings up) and an outstanding amount of protein.

It’s hard going back to the Paleo Diet, I won’t lie. When I hurt my foot two years ago I fell off the wagon of regular exercise, but I’d made so much progress working out that I thought I could afford to cheat a little bit in my diet. Pretty soon the “cheats” became my regular diet, and I’m 50 pounds heavier than I’d like to be. This is not ok, but I’m hooked on eating junk again. Finding organic fruits that taste so much better than the frozen stuff in the local grocery megastore is just what I needed.

I love salt, and in order to drop it I have to use lots of salsa and other spices/herbs to “sex up” what would be an otherwise plain meal- but every time I find that perfect replacement that’s both healthier and tastier, getting back into the swing of things and eating right becomes that much easier.

The best part is that I find the vegetables and protein (lean meats and nuts/seeds) are much more filling and satisfying longer. It negates the “it’s more expensive” argument because I eat less now.

Now, it’s a little early to start proclaiming my triumphant return to eating Paleo but it’s never too soon to make one’s declarations public and invite a little public pressure to help maintain them. Right now my only specific goal is get back down to 200 lbs. (with 180 the goal after that) and back in to pants with a waist no greater than 34″. And the more reading I do, the more convinced I am that real food is the key.

And it doesn’t hurt that it tastes better.

I don’t know the dietary or physical goals of my readership, but I strongly encourage you all to seek out a local farmer’s market. It’s likely only a Google search away. And yeah, they’ve got a dirty hippie vibe a lot of the time that kept me away for years. Birkenstock-wearing granola munchers just make my skin crawl. But if you remember you’re there for Paleo reasons and they were hunter-gatherers, just go in there with a warrior mindset ready to pillage the weaker soy fans like the viking/valkyrie you can be. It’s worth it in the end.

Now if you’ll pardon me, I’ve gotten myself all psyched up while writing this and I’m gonna go find something to do pull-ups on.

Food, Inc. – Missing the Mark

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I’m watching the documentary Food, Inc. and for the most part I think it’s something more people need to be aware of. It’s just frustrating at times.

Around 40 minutes into the movie a Hispanic family is featured that buys most of their meals (we’re led to believe) from fast food drive thru dollar menus. This whole sequence is incredibly maddening, but not for the reasons I think the film producers intended. The matriarch of the family says something incredibly stupid when she claims she used to think all the food was healthy. What kind of moron ever truly believed fast food was healthy?!?! Then they’re shown shopping in the produce section of a grocery store and the father says, “Look at the price of the broccoli. It’s too ‘spensive, mang.” And the film goes on to talk about the statistic of low income levels being linked to obesity, claiming it’s because these foods are cheaper due to being heavily subsidized.

I don’t doubt obesity and low income levels share a link, but I’ll argue that the cases/rates where the correlation is greatest, you’ll also find these people aren’t very intelligent.

Sounds harsh, I know, but you have to be an idiot to really believe eating from a dollar menu will save you any money, and here’s why:

  • Do the math. I spend an average of $40 a week on grocery shopping if I don’t buy any treats like the occasional beer, etc. Now let’s factor the dollar menu diet being $3 each meal (sandwich, fries and drink), three times a day ($9), and for argument’s sake seven days a week. That’s $63 a week, or 1.5 times more expensive to eat garbage than I spend on fresh produce, eggs, etc.
  • They have no concept of food quantity. The father complains about broccoli being priced at $1.29 per pound. The daughters weigh a pound of produce and complain they’ll only get three of the item…. How much does a small, $0.99 hamburger weigh? How much does a Hungry Man frozen dinner that proudly advertises itself as being a whopping “1 pound of food!” cost? These idiots are being exploited by the filmmakers because they have no clue how much food they’re really getting.

I believe in the point of the film, that we should be eating healthier and more “real” foods. But when it’s so blatantly exploitive with ominous music in meat packing plants and making a family look like victims of anything other than their own lack of critical thought…? I wish the movie hadn’t taken that turn, because it becomes harder to take seriously. I resent the obvious attempt at manipulation.

From time to time the movie comes back to making valid points about the consequences of manufactured food. The parts on the over-production of corn and how it’s synthesized was fascinating. This is the stuff that the movie really should have focused on a little bit more, because the synthetic and manufactured foods are what really affects, and I believe eventually afflicts, the population at large. Complaining about “corporations” and other liberal hippie scare words that hate business and capitalism only drives off the very audience they should be trying to reach. Real, nutritious food is an issue that should transcend the “Occupy” liberal’s frame of mind.

However, there’s a section of film roughly between the 45-50 minute marks with a chicken farmer. Heck, maybe he’s just a farmer, period. I think every American should see more stuff like this, because he begins to do a much better job at outlining the problems and falsehoods in mass produced foods.

Unfortunately, around 55 minutes in the movie just takes another political swing to show illegal aliens as being the victims of the evil corporate fat cats. This is where they lose me again and why I’m typing this up. Because I’m a bad person and I don’t care about these people. I really don’t. Altruism is for suckers, and I’m a big fan of capitalism. I don’t agree with unchecked profit-at-all-costs and harming people to turn a buck, but the movie (and Occupy zombies) don’t ever really clarify and just blast “big business” at any chance. They come off as saying mega-corporations are inherently evil and harmful to people, and I simply disagree and would like to be making that kind of money. I’m a mercenary. I am reward-driven. And Starbucks is a major corporation that treats employees well. This movie needs to get off the “corporate = evil” bandwagon if they want me to listen, and focus on telling the audience about the harm “enriched flour” can do to our bodies. Make it matter to me.

I will say, some people might cringe at the sounds of the animals in the meat processing plants. There’s some kind of gross stuff shown that would make PETA members cry but grateful the public can be exposed to it. I think it’s good, too, but for other reasons. I want to learn to hunt, because I think it’s both healthier and more natural food, and that meat-eaters should take accountability for ending a creature’s life. We’ve become too far removed from the process and live in an unnatural age where meat comes in plastic wrap from the store. I won’t go vegetarian and PETA, the Humane Society, and any other anti-hunting group of vegan whackos can get stuffed. I like meat. I simply believe taking accountability for the unpleasant task of ending an animal’s life is the moral thing to do.

Right at the 1 hour, 30 second mark, Gary Hirshberg (Stonyfield Farm CEO) outright states “We’re not going to get rid of capitalism. Certainly we’re not going to get rid of it in the time that we need to arrest global warming and reverse the toxification of our air and our food and our water.” THAT is what angers me about this movie. Sell me on the health benefits of organic food or the negative health aspects of the mass-produced stuff. SELL me. He talks about the growth of the organic food industry. He is in business, making money serving a market demand. That’s capitalism, you idiot! I freaking hate liberal hypocrites!!!

Capitalism is an economic system, determining the flow of money. Production methods are physical labor with measurable effects on the environment. And either can drive the other due to the moral/ethical demands of producer or consumer. Blaming capitalism for environmental problems betrays liberal bias toward being a retard, because 20% annual growth in the organic food industry is being driven by consumer demand, met by marketplace response and it capitalism at work. Socialism and/or gov’t mandate plays no part in it.

This movie verges on being dishonest. -Eric R. Shelton

Eventually Gary Hirshberg starts to talk some sense about producing good food and still being profitable, and Wal-Mart purchasing agents are shown to not be evil bastards out to poison the world but simply in the business of providing what the customer demands. If these stupid hippies would get off their anti-corporate, “damn the man” high horse and simply put forth a societal message for people’s health, it would go so much further. Attack my aspirations to make lots of money, and you’re a villain. Provide natural food for me to live a long and healthy life, and you’re a hero.

And of course, old harvesting equipment drawn by horse is shown romantically, while modern tractors are portrayed as belching gasses into the air.

Finally, well over an hour into the movie they start talking about Monsanto. THIS is where the movie finally gets good and talks about real issues and threats to the U.S. food supply and system. If this movie would have cut-out the blanket “corporate = evil” hippie crap and focused on Monsanto, the ownership of GMO food, and how Monsanto has used patent infringement law to cripple traditional farming methods, I would recommend this movie to everyone I know.

By the end, it finally gets on point and is worth watching. The end sequence, where they appeal to the consumer and tell us about the power we have with our spending choices is really great. I am absolutely a believer in locally grown, organic foods. Where the movie makes its greatest missteps is simply saying “Oh, bulk food and corporations are bad! Evil!” without spending enough time explaining how or why a can of Green Giant green beans is virtually nutrient depleted. They say “corporations are bad, but organic food is healthy” without realizing the converse statement is “this food lacks nutrients, and that farmer is a nice guy”. The food’s nutritional value is a separate and distinct quality from the size of a business, but the hippie environmentalist wackos confuse the topics.

Ultimately, the point of the movie is valid and I recommend it. Just realize you’ll be wading through knee-deep propaganda, just like the cows featured in manure, before you get to the good stuff.

If this article strikes a chord with you, and you are interested in healthy and organic food, I would encourage you to plant a food garden for yourself, listen to Jack Spirko’s podcast, and learn about permaculture. There’s a lot of good stuff out there.