Food, Inc.

A fascinating look at where food comes, with some fairly brutal scenes from some Tyson chicken plants.  Much good information presented, including the dangers to health and to the environment.  What was most inspiring to me was seeing the life of the organic farmer that was presented.  I don't remember his name, but his farm was an excellent display of how organic, natural farming SHOULD be done instead.

There is a lot of good information presented, but so much more on the subject could have been said.  I rented this from the library, but its also currently streamable on netflix.

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Oikos yogurt - good yogurt... silly name

I tried out some Oikos yogurt today from HEB, and was impressed with the quality and taste.  Of course, I appreciate the fact that it's organic, and without rBST and pesticides, too.  The name is a little odd though, as oikos in Greek is "house".  I couldn't tell from their site why they called it this- I guess it was just put together in a house somewhere...  :)

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Panorama Organic Grass Fed Beef

I'm not a vegetarian, but at the same time, if I buy beef or chicken I'd prefer it to be from a more natural source (especially after watching the food-inc movie), and one of the sources for a really tasty grass-fed,organic burger is Panorama. I can find this at HEB thankfully, and I really apprecaite what this company is doing different. Per their site:

By raising only English breeds of cattle on organic grasses, legumes and range forage and in low-stress, humane conditions, Panorama is able to offer the most flavorful and tender grass-fed beef in the country. Our cattle are never implanted with hormones, fed animal byproducts or treated with antibiotics.

Burgers made with this meat are tasty and lean, and the price isn't that bad compared to normal shelf beef. I just wish that this was a little bit easier to find at stores.

I considered vegetarianism back in college, but the fact is I enjoy chicken, beef and fish enough that I couldn't ever make the switch. The other deterrent is the fact that research I've read suggests that "flexitarians", or those who only occasionally eat meat but mostly build their diets on plants, tend to live longer than vegetarians. Then there's always the B-12 argument too, that this can only be found in animal products, which seems to imply that we were not designed to be vegetarian. But that's just my own opinion.

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