Day 24: In Search of Steak

In Search of Steak

by Rev. MargaretAnne Overstreet

When I first began to change my eating habits, my goal was to make food choices that fostered greater health for my body and the planet, as well as to opt out (as much as possible) of the injustices of the industrial food system.

Some of the choices were easy.

• Organic produce instead of conventionally-grown produce.
• Buying local food in season and freezing or canning extra to use at other times, instead of food that had travelled hundreds or thousands of miles.
• Whole foods not processed foods.
• No products with ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce or couldn’t identify.

Other choices were more difficult. The looming question was: where would I find sustainably and humanely raised local meats in my small rural community?

I was flummoxed. I didn’t even know where to begin to look. So, I just started asking friends and like-minded food folks. What I found surprised me.

I discovered a local freshwater shrimp industry, a Mennonite meat market that provides local grass-fed beef, a local farmers’ market vendor that offers humanely raised pork, and a fisherman who spends half the year fishing for salmon in Alaska and the other half selling his catch at a farmers’ market in a community near where I live.

I found friends who could provide me with fresh eggs from their chickens and who, several times a year, could provide whole chickens, as well.

It’s hard for me to remember the time when I was nervous about giving up purchasing meat at a supermarket, weighing my commitment to compassionate treatment of God’s creatures and greater health for my body against my love of sausage with my pancakes or the occasional urge for a beautifully grilled steak.

I do, however, remember my delight in discovering the wide range of wonderful alternative options that were available to me, once I took the time to look for them.