My dinner, made in...

Dinner is served: what is the concoction that makes up yours?

Made in Taiwan: my computer. Made in Bangladesh: my oh-so-soft pullover. Made in China: desk table and so on and so forth.  And still, I find myself bewildered by the huge inventory of places my stuff has travelled to and from before arriving into my life.  And though I would claim myself to be a vegetarian (no not a vegan), I have never really questioned the origin of my food. It was never for the ethical treatment of animals - although it is one of the reasons to turn your back on flesh. I just decided against it.  But now - even after reading just 1/3 of Pollan's ''Omnivore's Dilemma'', I'm pretty confident I've made a good decision.  The book sources American research which then reflects the relationship between agribusiness and subsidisation - but it still discusses issues that are parallel to our feeding habits north of the border.

Bon apetit

Corn and its constituent by-products help provide Americans with affordable calorie-rich food (ahem fast food nation anyone?). You'd be amazed at how many things are made with corn. Its like MSG in a ''chinese restaurant'' - its in EVERYTHING. Its even in soda (they use corn syrup - whilst we Canadians still get the 'real' stuff - but these are all manufactured in such a way that their tastes are rather similar = economics of substitution). In America, as in Canada, this corn is grown in huge monoculture farms. They are huge and usually grow only one or two crops (or animals) usually because of one thing = profit (although there are probably farms out there that are not huge monoculture agribusinesses but these I suspect are few and far between). What is then used to help these crops grow are dumped onto them as fertilisers. These plant crops which have had these wonderful chemicals bestowed upon them are then feed to the animals who themselves are hardened with more things to help them grow (up against the horrible living conditions we have provided them mind you) and then all this is cut, sliced, and packaged for our convenient consumption.

If I were eating meat, I'd consider how the animal is slaughtered (sanitary conditions in American slaughterhouses - those especially near the Mexican border - are not really regulated) - imagine discovering that the faeces in the mud that the cattle had trampled on made its dandy way somehow to the butcher table, what they put in the cow (you know cows are ruminants - meaning they eat grass - but now they are fed more than just that), how much energy it takes to process the animal through the food system (water to crops, feed the cow, wash the meat - actually now its looking that vegetarians have the upper hand in this :P), and where does the waste go?  It is a bit disheartening to consider how much of our food is probably not food - but its what we are sold hook, line and sinker.  Although its not going to make me stop eating altogether - Im probably going to be more likely to stop and think about where my food comes from and how much it really costs to put it on my dinner table.