Home on the (free) range: Eating ethically in Morristown

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Editor’s note: This commentary reflects the opinions of the author, and not necessarily those of MG.

By Alisha Davlin

“You can judge a society by the way it treats its animals.” – Gandhi

Meat is Murder. I remember the Smiths album.

Morrissey the asexual celibate. I wasn’t about to get life lessons from him. I’m from Southwest Louisiana; I grew up on a diet of jambalaya and boudin (pig intestines stuffed with spicy dirty rice, so spicy your fingers will burn).

I am a filet mignon girl, medium rare with just enough blood to make it sexy. I slug beer when I watch football, have two older brothers who made sure I could catch a baseball and throw what might not be a “suckapunch,” but is somewhere close to it. I am Southern.

Food, Inc. takes a hard look at American methods of food production.
Food, Inc. takes a hard look at American methods of food production.

So let me put all this out there as a disclaimer –I come from a conservative family who disliked unions and liked the free market left to its own devices.  But…I have always loved animals.

Here is how it all began –I picked up the magazine that comes with my gym membership.  I often read it in the tub, as I was that night. I settled back into the warm water to relax, and I happened upon a blurb about how 80 percent of antibiotics used on animals in factory farms are done so because the animals are living in unsanitary conditions.

Unsanitary conditions. Yick!

Rather than clean up the conditions, it’s cheaper to pump them full of antibiotics. Now, I had known about the whole antibiotic thing but assumed it was just some way to help the animals stay healthy, keep them from getting a piggy flu or something.

As I made my way through the article, I recalled a vegan friend mentioning the film, Food, Inc. I am probably the last person to see it, but it took me a while to come around. See when it came to her going on about Frankenfoods and toxins, I rolled my eyes at her radical kookiness.

This is the story of how wrong I was.

Here’s what I found: Images of cows crying as a forklift jabs at them to stand up. They’re so “fatted up” with growth hormones that they can barely walk. Who’s to blame? The migrant workers in the slaughterhouse being paid nothing and forced to make sure that the animal can walk to its own slaughter? The company owner  (of course!) who keeps to his regular practices because there is a demand for cheap meat, or me, the consumer who wants to remain blissfully ignorant?

Every day, animals live in atrocious conditions and then die, so we can grow fatter, and we don’t even take a moment to acknowledge their sacrifice. And I already thought pigs were cute, and then I read that they’re smarter than a three-year-old and make just as good pets as dogs if given a chance. Google “factory farming” and have a look at the conditions in which these animals live.

“I don’t want to see that movie; I like my meat,” people tell me.  Even if they don’t want to hear it, factory farms are hell on earth. Pigs stuffed into gestation crates and standing in their own piles of feces. Piglets –without anesthesia –castrated by workers’ bare hands, and chickens bred to grow “so fast that [they] often get too big for [their] internal organs and legs to keep up.” (Sweet Bay Farm)

Which then got me thinking about my favorite restaurants in Morristown. My husband and I frequent them  and drop well over a hundred dollars on meat pumped full of antibiotics, fed an unnatural diet of corn, then slaughtered in a cruel and horrific way.

Why eat out? I’m not that good of a cook, and it’s nice to get dressed up and go out on a date. It’s really about supply and demand as Food, Inc. states. We, the consumers, have a choice, and if we demand good products, then the market will supply them.

If you’re going to charge high prices, it isn’t just about fancy lighting and food presentation, but about what’s on the plate. I’m sure I’m not radical enough for a lot of people. I like my steak but not at the price of inhumane slaughter. (I know, some will argue that “humane slaughter” is an oxymoron).

Imagine all the fear, all the terror that you are ingesting into your body along with the hormones and the antibiotics. There’s a reason that antibiotics are prescription only, but yet we are ingesting food pumped full of them.

In fact, it has been estimated that at least 18,000 Americans die every year from drug-resistant infections and get this, “the National Academy of Sciences calculates that increased health care costs associated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria exceed $4 billion each year in the United States.” (Sustainable Table)

Approximately two-thirds of all beef cattle in the US are given growth hormones (Food and Water Watch) and approximately 22 percent of dairy cows receive hormones to increase milk production. We ingest hormones that are banned in Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union. (About.com, Animal Rights).

Is Big Brother really looking out for you?

It’s a touchy subject. I get it. Lay off my burger. Who wants to eat tofu? I know we are all hypocrites on some level. I own a leather jacket. I even have a fur coat (inherited from Mama, but mine nonetheless).

But it isn’t all or nothing.

smartworld
SmartWorld Coffee on South Street in Morristown serves free-range, 'ethically slaughtered' animals, according to story author Alisha Davlin. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

I don’t want to pay premium prices for substandard food that wouldn’t even be allowed on a table in Europe. Are you willing to pay a premium to eat ethically slaughtered, free-range meat?

Every restaurant should have it as an option. If enough people ask for it, they will accommodate.  If you raise your voice then you will be able to eat somewhere other than at the tables at Whole Foods. You can help make a difference. One restaurant, one town, one state at a time.

I have just begun looking, but here are some Morristown restaurants I’ve found that offer free-range, no- hormone options: Origins Thai, Roots Steakhouse (if you call ahead, they will get you free-range), and SmartWorld Coffee. I know that there are others; this is in no way conclusive.

If you’d be willing to pay more for non-hormone, free-range meat, please email me at adavin1@yahoo.com. With enough names, perhaps we could have free-range options on many, if not all, Morristown menus.

Originally from Louisiana, Alisha Davlin is a teacher and writer who lives in Morristown with her husband and Wheaten Terrier, Lulu.

 

 

6 COMMENTS

  1. Very awakening article Alisha. As the granddaughter of a cattle farmer I wonder when things went wrong (with the antibiotics, inhumane treatment, etc). My sister would appreciate this. I’ll try to get it to her…Wardlee

  2. THANKS, THE FORK MOVIE IS WONDERFUL…… WE SLOW FOOD PEOPLE HAVE TO TO HANG TOGEATHER…..I TEACH KIDS TO COOK HEALTHY AND GREEN…….MY COMPANY KIDS GREEN KITCHEN…..IF WE CAN GET THEM YOUNG IT IS A LIFE CHANGER… WE DO COOKING BIRTHDAY AND CELEBRATION PARTYS AND EVERYONE COOKS AND THEN THEY EAT…….WHAT FUN………CHEF MELODY / OWNER KIDS GREEN KITCHEN AND THE MAIN EVENT IN MORRISTOWN

  3. Great job! Well written and to the point i wish everyone would read your article. Thank you Alisha!

  4. Nice article Alisha! I also found Forks over Knives to be eye-opening and advocates for diet changes for human health reasons as well. Looking forward to learning more-

  5. Way to go, Alisha!

    I am a Conservative and, unlike how my ilk are portrayed in the media, I am very concerned about the welfare of all the flora and fauna who’s welfare has been put in our hands.

    Most people have become too detached from the origins of the food on their plate and it is harming people and animals alike.

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