Opening my Stonyfield yogurt this morning, the top of the container read, “Cows are people, too, you know!”
“Okay, not really. But the organic farmers who supply us with milk treat their cows with care, giving them access to the outdoors, exercise areas and pasture.”
Is that so? I peeled off the foil and flipped it over.
“Organic regulations require the humane treatment of animals.”
Is that why we do it? Is that the reason we spend an extra buck fifty on a carton of yogurt? I think many of us are concerned about carcinogens and keeping our families healthy. Thankfully some of us worry about the animals, too.
I’ve been paying for peace of mind for a very long time now. When we first moved to Beverly Hills in 1993, I went grocery shopping and thought something was terribly wrong, like maybe the stock clerks inadvertently transposed all the numbers on the price stickers.
Jesus Christ! I can’t believe chicken is $10 a pound in this town.
After closer inspection of the label, I saw the word, Kosher, printed in a small stamp beneath “Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast.”
“What, in God’s name, is the difference between Kosher and regular?” I asked my husband, who is not only Jewish but has an answer for everything. And if he doesn’t know the answer, he can get it in two minutes flat. This was before the days of the Internet access and Google, I might add.
“The chickens were raised humanely and slaughtered without cruelty. It’s also very clean. No dirt in Kosher butcher shops.” He laughed.
I suspect that was my first introduction to thinking about my food source and whether or not it suffers on its way to me.
“Does it taste differently?”
“I don't think so. But it's better--less chance of salmonella.”
“So you’re cool with me spending double on chicken?" So we can rest easy knowing we won't get sick and that our food has not been tortured or abused?
“Yeah, it’s worth it.”
"Good." So are the chickens.
My dad always says, "Californians are the only people who care about whether their food had a good quality of life." For me it's not so much about the quality of life but the natural chemicals, stress, etc. that run through one's body. Like I don't want to be ingesting some chicken's life of pain, stress and misery. Crazy? Maybe.
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