Required Reading - This Week's Links

Links. Lynx. Get it?

This morning I came across two articles that I think are worth sharing. In my day job, I work in marketing, branding, strategic communications, websites, and the like. In my night job(s), I work with food and in the fitness industry. It's a bizarre thing to see my day job industry doing strange things to my night (read: passion) jobs.

Gaining Ground 

As an assistant to a chef (and as an intelligent consumer of food), I really value the quality of food, the thoughtfulness by which each ingredient was raised, harvested, and chosen. Too often, we don't stop to think about how this food was made, where it came from, and what it SHOULD cost. I know I talk a hot second about making affordable meals, and I still believe it is possible with quality ingredients; but I want to be clear that there is a fine line between cheap food and affordable food. Cheap food is just that - cheap. Affordable food requires thoughtfulness on seasonality, locality, and planning. The reality is that a burger shouldn't cost a dollar. It just shouldn't.

To that end, here is an article written by Forrest Prichard called "How TV Has Made Us Stupid About Farming" which is worth a read. I mentioned Forrest's book in my gift guide for paleo lovers. I strongly recommend reading that book and seeing what it takes to have a farm...and why it's so important to continue and increase our support of local farms.

This recent article by Forrest talks about the intersection of my two worlds: marketing and food/health. My day job doesn't do very polite things to the farming industry and I'm ashamed to have fallen into the trap of making the very stupid assumption that farming is "simple." Some of my family members farm and I can assure you that it is neither simple nor easy.

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On the other end of the news, CNN is reporting that FDA hopes to curb antibiotic use on farms. Reading the story made me flash back to when I wrote white papers and fact sheets for the FDA regarding contaminated lining of cow's stomachs in milk...and what percentages were acceptable (oh my god, hold me, how gross is that thought??)

Chadd teases me because I say that I won't eat eggs from birds that aren't organic, free range and all of that nonsense because I don't want the egg from a chicken that is forced to eat filth (which can include itself and other [live] chickens). If I made a loaf of bread from garbage and some random stuff I found sitting around, with a couple ounces of human flesh thrown in, would you eat it? No. Neither would I. Please apply this concept to the food you do eat.

I certainly hope the changes the FDA is enacting move toward making our food more clean...and that larger operations don't find a way to work around this.

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Finally, this was passed around my office today. When a 102-Year Old Lady Talks Like This, You Can't Believe Your Ears. What a joy is she?? My own grandmother is currently very sick and it's sitting heavily on my mind. When I watched this video this morning, it made me a little teary. Her humor, excitement for life, and above all HER FITNESS LEVEL, HELLO, are inspiring. 

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What did I miss in the media this week?