Season of Change

The arrival of spring this year is heralding many things - new life, warmer weather, and a new leaf in my book: I have finally convinced my husband that now is the time to turn organic. Of course, he has a few stipulations: I'm not allowed to give him any grief on eating non-organic (even meat) at a restaurant, I must keep the fridge and pantry stocked with available (and tasty!) snacks and fast meals, and I can't spend a fortune. Do accomplish this, we are going to only consume meat once a week, fish once a week and beef once a month. (My husband is VERY depressed about the last one - I think man is usually a synonym for beef lover)

I must admit I'm a bit nervous about my new adventure. I've always been a great cook, and I'm worried about finding yummy and filling recipes that will keep my meat-lover happy and full (and not cheating at McDonald's!) for those five vegetarian days of the week. I'm also apprehensive about finding enough organic options. Of course, I am going to support my local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and community farmers market (because I feel that fresh and local trumps out-of-town organic) so supplementing that shouldn't be too much of a problem, at least during the spring and summer.

So, with this new season and new challenge I have decided to start a blog to chronicle the experience and my recipes. Hopefully, this will help keep me on track, because I'm sure there will be quite a few rough patches along the way!

Reasons for the change:

If you read any book at all about our current food system (Fast Food Nation, The Omnivore's Dilemma, Skinny Bitch, plus more and more) I just don't understand how you could not want to change the way you eat. Reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and watching the subsequent movie Food Inc., well, it changed me forever. I don't want to eat vegetables permeated in chemicals. I don't want to eat food that's genetically modified. I want real food, natural food. I want food that's not going to make me sick, physically or spiritually - I want food that is going to feed my body and my soul.

Now, I like meat and I want to include it in my diet. However, every time I eat non-organic meat from some "factory farm" I just think about the poor pig/chicken/turkey/cow's life. I'm not against eating meat, but I AM against the inhumane treatment of animals. And I am against reconfiguring their bodies so they produce more meat. And I am against pumping them full of antibiotics and growth hormones. I just don't think that ingesting the flesh of something that has been genetically modified, pumped full of chemicals, mistreated and tortured can be good for you in any way - not your body and certainly not your soul.

I guess it's really a personal choice to be healthy. But, more than that, I want to choose for the world - because I really do believe that if enough of us practice local and organic eating and support smaller local and organic farmers, the world will have to change with us. And that is something worth believing in.