Photo Caption: Dairy Farmers of America Processing Facility, Petaluma, California
America, Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?
I have noticed that the detractors of raw dairy have a dismissive approach to this wholesome food. "Milk is just milk," they say, "there is no difference between processed and unprocessed milk." Oh, really? This begs the question, then why in the world are we bothering to process it? Well, if you have been reading this blog for a while, no doubt you know the answer. It all boils down (pun intended) to animal husbandry and species appropriate diet, living conditions. If we were doing right by our animal friends, there is no need to process milk to make it drinkable. And, if we didn’t need to transport milk to distant processing plants, our local dairies would be revived and would once again dot our rural landscape with beautiful, truly happy cows.
Now, there is an author who thinks locavores have got it wrong–that food miles don’t matter as much as carbon footprint. I wouldn’t have the patience to wade through a tome with such a straw man thesis, but thankfully, Alex Lewin of Feed Me Like You Mean it blog has written a book review of this local food movement critique, Just Food by James E. McWilliams. It just isn’t true that all locavores care about are food miles, as Alex’s excellent review points out.
Here is an excerpt from his review, and a link to his blog if you want to read a cogent analysis of McWilliams suppositions.
Book Review: Just Food by James E. McWilliams
by Alex Lewin
Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong And How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly, by James E. McWilliams, presents some good ideas, but is weakened by arrogance and less-than-thorough analyses. His critique of locavorism is ultimately incomplete and flawed.
If you are interested in what he has to say but don’t want to read the whole book, I recommend that you go to your neighborhood bookstore and read the 9-page Conclusion. It is short enough to read standing up…
Read the rest of the article on Feed Me Like You Mean It blog.
