Choose fresh local meat

By Jamie Stone

Normally, the Food Columns of Fantastic Intrigue do not overlap from Mountaineer issue to issue. However, breaking with tradition, this article shall continue from last issue onto the second greatest thing about cows: their meat. The beef is of importance because our methods of raising livestock have strayed from responsible partnership to mismanaged domination. Several generations of selective breeding have ushered into existence a domesticated animal along with the system of human consumption.

Once there was biodiversity in our livestock as well as in wild species, and both animals and insects were regional; this regionalism was sustained for generations and certain animals developed parasitic resistances. As we lose biodiversity to more industrialized selective breeding, animals exchange these resistances for synthetic anti-biotics, hormones, insecticides and a whole host of other man made juices. Cows are now fed grain, while their digestive system is arranged to process grasses.

The bovine may still look like they always have, they do still moo, but their meat has become something new, convoluted from what it once was. Industrial agriculture as we see it now has its origins within urban centers around the turn of the industrial revolution in mid-1800’s England. During these transitional years cows were raised in the cities on the sour mash from whiskey distilleries and breweries, which is where we begun to divert these animals from their natural, intended, food sources onto something engineered by man.

Separating these animals from their food source while sustaining their life and breeding marks the start of man’s mis-manipulation of cattle and our current system of beef production. This is the meat that is served at Chartwells, or the better but more expensive, alternative, the Brown Bag Gourmet. It does not have to be like this. The Wing Family Farm, located in Benson (just past Fairhaven) sells beef and pork raised on a grass diet, slaughtered on site, and sold out of the farm store the next day. The prices are low because the shipping cost is however much it takes to run the refrigerator. And the people behind the counter are a lot more personable than the guy who drives the fridge truck to the loading docks behind Withey every few days. At the Wing Family Farm they are willing to talk to you about any aspect of the meat process and offer a recipe or two as well. They are people, not labels.

Last year there was talk of incorporating their ground beef into Chartwell’s menu, costing about 10 cents more than the “conventual’s” meat. These talks, however, have ended. And an inferior meat product is being served. If you want to eat better, healthier food you must let the dinning hall know! Leave your suggestion in the box, and ask that local, grass-fed beef be used whenever possible at Vermont’s Environmental Liberal Arts College.