KT Beef: Bringing back memories of how beef should taste

At the most recent Sunday farmer’s market at the Grove (corner of South Virginia and Foothill) - I noticed something new. Folks selling beef from their operation - KT Beef -  up in Loyalton, California. Although we don’t eat much meat these days at Rancho Maven, we still get a yen once in a while for the taste of real meat - the kind I remember getting way back in the day in Kansas and Colorado. My family still raises quality beef in Parsons, Kansas.

Taking a look at what they had, I engaged ranchers Dennis and Laurie Marsh in a conversation about how they raise their beef, and further- how they finish it. I liked what I heard. There’s no corn involved.

As you have noticed, I have a ‘thing’ about feeding cattle corn. My late uncle Robert, back in Parsons gave me chapter and verse as a teenager about why that was wrong - and why feedlots were terrible. If you’ve taken a bit of time to read Michael Pollan, or watch King Corn or Food, Inc. you’ll know that cattle were not designed to eat corn. They are herbivores. Corn does not make for either delicious or safe meat.

But I digress.

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Field Roast: Lots to love for vegan or omnivore

I’d bought a package of the Field Roast loaf a couple weeks ago - don’t get all worried, it’s a tightly sealed cryovac package. But, anyway I put it into the meat tray and thought I’d try it on the two more passionate omnivores in the house at some point.

I put it off, and off. You know how that is. But, we are headed not toward being vegan all the time, but really to more of a vegan version of a ‘flexitarian’ - as Michael Pollan would put it. We’re all disgusted with the factory meat model. It’s dirty, cruel, unhealthy and environmentally unsustainable. We would like to be more vegan, and supplement that with sustainable, humanely raised meat.

Mr. Maven, for all of his almost 80 years and seriously old time down east New England-ness is remarkable for his willingness to embrace a lot of this. It ain’t his mothers’ pot roast. Natacha hasn’t had a lot of exposure to vegetarian culture, coming so recently from Africa. They still raise sustainable meat there, and it’s considered a  tasty luxury to be enjoyed and savored, but she watched Food, Inc., and like us, was horrified. It’s changed a lot of her ideas, forever I think.

Tonight, we were doing a complete vegan dinner -  roasted eggplant and yellow squash in an Indian sauce with fresh tomatoes, and some of the most awesome okra from the Sunday Farmers Market out here on the corner of Foothill and South Virginia. Natacha pronounced them as good as she would get back in Africa. She simply boiled them to al dente, then quickly sauteed them with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Bing, bang, boom. YUM.

Hmmmm. What to go with it? Ah, try the Field Roast.

I told Natacha what it was, and she’s willing to try most anything with an open mind. Mr. Maven is a different story. I told him it was ‘loaf’ mumble, mumble. I had pan-fried slices of it and put it along side all the rest.

They loved it. Mr. Maven told me, repeatedly, that I could serve Field whatever it was any time. LOL. Natacha enthusiastically loved it, and said so more than once.

This stuff isn’t your typical fake meat substitute that you’ve probably tried and sighed “oh, well, at least I tried it” as you scraped it into the trash.

Field Roast actually cuts and chews like meat. It isn’t dry and cardboard like. I swear. Put a dash of ketchup on it and tell the kids it’s a new kind of baloney. $10 says they’ll bite.

I’m serious. This is good stuff. I will be trying all of their other versions.

We’re Field Roast fans.

Period.

I bought the Field Roast loaf at Whole Foods, over in the chiller by the produce section, as you’re headed to the fish section. It’s with the Tempeh and similar.

Food rules

Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.

The reason: they have a lot of refined carbohydrates and additives that you simply don’t need.

Be the kind of person who takes supplements - and then skip the supplements.

The reason: Newer research is pointing out something that seems to fly in the face of what we think we know - that people who are taking supplements appear to be healthier than those who don’t (and here’s the kicker ) but studies are also showing that the supplements seem to be largely worthless and ineffective. Maybe the supplement takers are doing something else - exercising, eating thoughtfully, sustainably and healthfully. Maybe supplement takers are more inclined to eat whole grains and avoid artificial faux ingredients.

Although there are a couple of exceptions to the supplement rule - as a cancer survivor I’m sure not going to ignore a significant body of research saying that Vitamin D3 probably does prevent recurrence of cancer and may prevent cancer and I’ll tke my fish oil capsules - I save one heck of a lot of dough on bullshit supplements that I instead spend on first class, fresh, whole foods.

American food supply less than safe. Time to become an activist.

I know I’ve been complaining about this for a long time, but how many kids need to be sent to the hospital before we do something?

Take a look at the statistics with European food supplies and ours. Theirs are safer, due to being locally grown by small farmers. We’ve allowed the Bigger Is Better mindset to takeover, thanks to Big Agribusiness and we’re sicker for it. And, it’s costing a fortune in back end care.

When will we get a clue about first, giving the USDA the teeth to do their job? Second, stop subsidizing Big Agribusiness and start buying locally … or at least regionally?

The food supply in our country is completely out of control, and it’s making us sick and fat.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

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Michael Pollan on the coming food culture revolution

The author of ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ and ‘In Defense of Food’ has some encouraging things to say about a fundamental shift in America’s current fast food culture to one that is more healthy and sustainable.

Click and listen:

From EarthSky a clear voice for science.

Reading labels: Your best defense against food label mischief

I’m a label reader in a big way. I can spend a lot of time combing through cans of soup, weeding out anything with more than 25% sodium. I rarely bother with things claiming to be “Wheat!!” Wow. Wheat … highly processed, refined wheat.

Sigh. Not exactly the same thing as ‘Whole wheat’. And, I don’t need whole wheat when it’s been combined with High Fructose Corn Syrup ( can you spell Corn Lobby?) and all kinds of chemicals.

The food manufacturers are betting that you’re just too lazy, distracted or stupid to actually turn the package over and take a closer look.

I make a game out of proving them wrong, and my ability to keep a cancer recurrence at bay, energy levels up and my waistline in trim - all while being an enthusiastic cook and ‘foodie’ -  shows it.

No draconian lettuce and clear soup diets around my house. Just real, whole, wholesome, organic food.

This is an interesting article:

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