inclinations.
But in fact, the industrial food machine and its allies in government have for many years been at work shaping people's food desires through the way they create food products, package them, sell them, and market them. Companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, and McDonald's spend billions of dollars a year marketing junk food to children; they cantankerously fight every effort health advocates make to put any limits whatsoever on their right to target children with ads for fast food, sugary cereals, soft drinks, hot dogs, candy, and other nutrient-deficient products.
In 2011, California Assemblyman Bill Monning proposed legislation that would impose a penny-per-fluid-ounce excise tax on beverages with significant amounts of added sweeteners, like soda pop and sports drinks. The bill would raise $1.7 billion annually that could be used to lower the price of fresh vegetables and fruits for low-income children and families. Not surprisingly, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo aggressively fought the bill. Their representatives castigated the effort as just another attempt by “do-gooders” at “social engineering.”
Similar attacks have been leveled against efforts to tax white bread and use the revenue to lower the price of whole-wheat bread, to tax pesticides and use the income to lower the price of organic food, and to tax junk food in order to lower the price of wholesome and nutritious food.
How can we break this cycle? How can we break the cultural trance and overcome the political cowardice that permits industrial fast food and factory farms so much control over both national and state food policies—and ultimately over what most of us eat? How can we obtain foods that are truly nutritious, affordable, and produced in a sustainable way? That, in a nutshell, is the subject of the essays and articles in this book. Each of the pieces in it speaks to steps you can take toward a healthier, more humane, and more Earth-friendly agriculture and cuisine.
No Happy Cows gathers together some of my most widely discussed and circulated blog posts, along with some substantial new writing. These articles cover topics like what's fueling the rise in obesity, whether soy is healthy or harmful, the debate about grass-fed beef, the marketing of junk food to children, why we are seeing a rise in food contamination, the politics and health implications of chocolate and coffee, the perils and broken promises of GMO foods, and hormone disruption in children (and its connection to animal-based foods). There is also a section on the social realities of engaging with people whose food habits are endangering their health.
I hope you enjoy the book, and I hope you find support here for your efforts to live a healthy life. I write from the belief that we can still break through the control that companies like Monsanto have been exerting over our food systems, and bring our agriculture policies back into alignment with the greatest good of our people and the Earth. I write from the conviction that what the Constitution of the United States calls “the general welfare” is more important than the short-term profits of companies whose products are nutritional and environmental disasters.
I write from a faith that it is possible to turn things around. If more Americans stopped overeating, stopped eating unhealthy foods, and instead ate more foods with higher nutrient densities and cancer-protective properties, we could have a more affordable, sustainable, and effective healthcare system. We'd be less dependent on insurance companies and doctors, and more dependent on our own health-giving choices.
We can make healthy choices as individuals, as families, and as a society. We can support farmers’ markets, natural food stores, and organic and locally sourced restaurants. We can put restrictions on the right of junk-food companies to bombard children with ads that make them crave foods that are unhealthy for them to eat.
We can stop factory farms from breeding antibiotic-resistant bacteria by prohibiting the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in livestock. We can require factory farms to clean up their own waste, and require them to treat the animals that provide our meat, milk, and eggs with a modicum of decency and respect. It's true that this would raise the price of meat and cause some Americans to eat less, but that would be a good thing not a bad thing. It would improve the health of consumers, livestock, and the land.
If we are going to subsidize any foods, why not make it healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, and whole grains, rather than high-fructose corn syrup and cattle feeds made from GMO soy and corn? If we are going to subsidize a type of agriculture, why not support family farmers who have a long-term commitment to the land, who are stewards of the Earth, rather than corporate farms that view the land as simply another commodity to be exploited?
Despite the efforts of big agribusinesses, organic produce is already the fastest-growing and most profitable segment of American agriculture, and the number of farmers’ markets in the U.S. has more than doubled in the past eight years. Despite the clout of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, many school districts throughout the country are already banning sodas and junk foods. Despite the belligerence of the livestock industry and farm bureaus, states are increasingly passing referenda on behalf of animal welfare. Despite untold billions being spent promoting fast food and junk food, a large and ever-growing number of people are choosing to eat local, natural, and wholesome foods.
I write to support those of us who are working to build a healthier way of life and a healthier world. I write to support us all in demanding that the companies who produce our food be held accountable for their impact on our Earth, our health, and our future.
You deserve to know the truth about what you eat, where it comes from, and what its impact is on your life and on the world. The more you know, the more power you will have to take effective and meaningful action. The more you know, the better able you will be to bring your food choices into alignment with your purpose and your passion. Your mind will be clearer, your heart will be more at peace, and your body will thank you for the rest of your life.
PART ONE
Caring for All Creatures
1
The Metamorphosisof a Pig Farmer
This story, which I first told in The Food Revolution, has generated such enthusiastic response that I decided to include an updated version of it here.
ONE DAY IN IOWA, I met a particular gentleman—and I use that term, gentleman, frankly, only because I am trying to be polite, for that is certainly not how I saw him at the time. He owned and ran what he called a “pork production facility.” I, on the other hand, would have called it a pig Auschwitz.
The conditions were brutal. The pigs were confined in cages that were barely larger than their own bodies, with the cages stacked on top of each other in tiers, three high. The sides and bottoms of the cages were steel slats, so that excrement from the animals in the upper and middle tiers dropped through the slats onto the animals below.
The aforementioned owner of this nightmare weighed, I am sure, at least 240 pounds, but what was even more impressive about his appearance was that he seemed to be made out of concrete. His movements had all the fluidity and grace of a brick wall.
What made him even less appealing was that his language seemed to consist mainly of grunts, many of which sounded alike to me, and none of which were particularly pleasant to hear. Seeing how rigid he was and sensing the overall quality of his presence, I—rather brilliantly, I thought—concluded that his difficulties had not arisen merely because he hadn't had time, that particular morning, to finish his entire daily yoga routine.
But I wasn't about to divulge my opinions of him or his operation, for I was undercover, visiting slaughterhouses
