Food and Where It Comes From

As I was browsing the papers on the internets, I was drawn to this Op-Ed from the Times. Guess it makes sense that as I ramp up for my trip out to visit the remnants of the family farm I'd be susceptible for articles about food and farming.

If Americans want their fish pre-filleted, their chicken breasts excised from surrounding bone and conveniently packed, their offal kept from view and the table,and any hand that touches a slice of ham or lox sealed inside a glove, it is because fear of the innards that will not speak their name, the guts that reek of life, and the germs we all carry has become rampant.

Not sure that I buy the whole nationalist perspective of Cohen's piece (there are Americans who take a holistic view of food and aren't freaked out by its origins) but he is certainly on to something in terms of the cultural approach to what one eats and how the consequences ripple out from that approach. He also left an important point UNmade in terms of the antibiotics, hormones, feed and conditions used in the raising of animals in Agribusiness farms (again, common to America, but not exclusively American.)

Anyway, I'm very psyched about our trip to the farm located in the heart of Little Norway, (although in addition to Norwegian my family is made up of a typically "American" mix of ethnicities: German, Scottish, and even the dreaded French.) I'll surely have pix to share when we get back from that little reunion...