Noodlebowl

Day 1

So, Day 1 of Project Eat Good Meat.  So far, so good.What are the rules governing “ethical meat”?  To me, it is to be able to know that the meat I am consuming came from an animal that had a decent life. The RSPCA defines it as “must be treated in a way which meets their physical, physiological and psychological needs” 

How do I know that the meat I am consuming meets these standards? This is a bit of  minefield to me. There is no standard legislation or accreditation across the board that states a minimum level of welfare for each animal raised for meat consumption. As a consumer, you have to be very aware of accurate food labeling. Some industry groups have schemes that certify that the meat was produced free range and adhering to a code of practice, others allow for outside accreditation by an external body. This is an excellent article by Choice Magazine that details the labeling governing most animals. We did a shop on the weekend at Broadway to supplement our larders for the week. I found organic beef, organic lamb, free range and organic chicken but no organic or free range pork. The butchers were particularly disappointing; no organic/free range meat at all.  I purchased Cleavers organic beef sausages($5.72) and Lilydale chicken drumsticks($4.50). Both were labeled as certified and as far as I can tell, they are both certified by external parties.

Day 1 of Project Be Aware of Processed Food.  So far, not so great.

As a commentator commented(coz that’s what commentators do, they comment): processed by definition will be hard. Everything is in some way processed. I guess I was more going for that I don’t want to eat something that has a gazillion preservatives and chemicals.

What did I have today?Breakfast: La Tartine multigrain bread. Vegemite. Bega So Light Vintage. Processed…erm yes. Bad? Cheese maybe?

Lunch: San Remo wholemeal pasta, organic lettuce/tomato/celery, 0.5 organic beef sausage, some kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes. Processed? Erm yeh Bad? Not really…maybe the sausage

Dinner: Lentil and beef sausage soup with onion, carrot, celery, zucchini, mushrooms. Not bad.

 This whole processed caper is going to be a bit tricky. Bear with me.    

“0.5 organic beef sausage”????

I hope J had the other 3.5 !

He did have the other 3.5. You can’t fault the way a sausage falls.

the butcher on darling street in balmain has free range pork. i get mince from there, to make wontons with — it comes in frozen-solid blocks.

Is it TJ’s butchery? Do you know what brand of pork it is? and thanks for the comment

oh yes! it is TJ’s. the brand of pork is bangalow sweet pork, but on closer examination of their website and others, i haven’t actually seen the words “free-range” or “organic” bandied about. i have seen “antibiotic-free” and “hormone-free”, and a bunch of articles allude to the fact that the pigs are living the good life. and there are photographs in the window of TJ’s, of pigs in a field. what do you reckon? now i’m confused.

Well, some research has thrown up a link to another blog with an email from Joe Byrne, managing director of Sweet Pork. It is not free range but he contends that a pigs welfare is better under a good stockman than free range.
Food for thought?
http://sfd.typepad.com/sfd/2004/10/pork_the_one_yo.html - look at comments.

hmm… i have heard that pigs are quite susceptible to sunburn! perhaps they welcome a shed from time to time. a barn? a cushy pillow? who knows what a pig likes best. maybe you have to switch to wild boar!

Yeah, the processed bit is going to be a bit tricky to define. Not sure what to suggest… maybe put a list together of definite things you want to avoid (eg: individually packaged items like muesli bars, or non-wholegrain foods, etc, etc) to make it easier?