Local Is The New Organic

I wanted to write about the book The Omnivore's Dilemma right after I read it (or actually listened to it) but I didn't get around to it. Today, however, a moment of synchronicity occurred that inspired me to write a post. For me the book's message boiled down to saying that eating local, even if it's not organic, is the way to go; support your local farms. With that in mind we signed up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) box from a farm up in Dixon. The box includes a dozen pastured eggs, which I could tell right away were much different than the eggs I normally eat. Today that difference was so much more obvious. I delayed going into work this morning due to a heavy rain storm so I cooked myself some bacon and eggs, which I usually don't do on a weekday morning. I only had one pastured egg left but I had a dozen organic eggs from "free-range" hens so I used one of those as well. The yolk of the organic egg fell apart immediately in the pan but the yolk of the pastured egg was like a super yolk. It was absolutely beautiful: it was orange, it stood high, and it had a well-formed shape. And it was delicious.

So that brings me back to the sychronicity. I braved the weather to make it to an 11:30am appointment, which lasted quite a while, and when I got back in my car and turned on NPR, what were they talking about on Talk of the Nation but pastured eggs. Of course it turned out to be Michael Pollen, the author of the book, who was the guest on the show. He has a new book, In Defense of Food, which he was promoting.

The Omnivore's Dilemma is a well-written book and it inspired me to be much more aware of what I was eating. The section on Joe Salatin's Polyface Farms was so interesting I briefly considered dropping everything and becoming a farmer. I highly recommend it but be warned that the first part about the industrial food chain, although amazing, is a little scary and depressing. It does get more positive from there, though.