supersize me
I haven't seen this movie yet. I'd like to, but then again, I really don't want to.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the way that our society eats vs. the way that we were intended to eat. My dad is a hunter and he shot a deer this fall and gave us some of the meat. I grew up eating venison -- he shot a huge buck when I was a kid and we ate quite a bit of venison that year, so much that I developed an aversion to it -- plus, at age 10, it was all about him shooting Bambi's dad and I couldn't stomach that.

However, an older and wiser Kindra accepted the free, free range, organic meat that my father offered me and we made lasagna, spaghetti and a roast out of it. It was quite tasty and my kids didn't have any complaints (they haven't seen Bambi yet).

Food is so easy in our culture. Most Americans don't have to grow or harvest their food, they don't have to slaughter and process animals to get it. I can assure you that if I had to kill a cow, or any animal for that matter or made to visit a slaughterhouse annually, my family would eat a lot less meat. And maybe that's the way it should be? There's a sacrifice made by someone or something and when it's so easy and cheap to come by, it's taken for granted.

I watch Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel from time to time. He's a former NYC chef who has a show about traveling the globe and trying all kinds of different food. He's insolent, but very entertaining. However, he makes me want to become a vegetarian with all of the dead animals he shows, and what actually occurs in our food chain. He went to Argentina one show, which is a huge beef loving nation, and showed the young bulls being separated from their mothers and getting castrated so that they'd be less aggressive as they got older. Yuck! The mother cows were mooing as their children were being led away. It was terrible. But that's part of what's involved in me being able to buy a package of ground beef on sale for $1.99/lb in the grocery store.

Chris & I belonged to a CSA in Wisconsin this past summer and we continued it this winter. CSA = community supported agriculture. Basically, we're paying for locally grown, organic fruits and vegetables by partnering with farms in Wisconsin. We really have enjoyed it and were able to try vegetables that we've never had before, such as kohlrabi and beets -- Chris in particular has developed an affinity for roasted beets (along with Caroline). As foodies who cook a lot at home, this was worth it to us. The produce was extremely fresh and the price comparable to shopping at a Farmer's Market in the city or Whole Foods (a store where I seldom spend money, but love to wander).

We Americans like things cheap and easy, especially our food, and I think we pay the price for it with our bulging waistlines and increased rates of cancer and heart disease. We have been buying less beef lately. I don't think we could ever become vegetarians, but I'm interested in finding tasty, non-meat options for our family as well.