The question, then, is how readily available humanely raised and environmentally benign meat and eggs are. JSF does a great job of researching these issues, and comes up with an answer that might be surprising to most of us: extremely unavailable, extremely rare, and extremely difficult to identify reliably. Most relevant labels on our food–for example, "cage-free" eggs–are, to use JSF's words, "bullshit." The bottom line is that unless you're eating at Chipotle, the chances are practically zero that your meat or eggs are the output of a morally tolerable process. I recommend reading JSF's book for the abundant evidence which substantiates that conclusion.

I also agree with your thoughts on the judgement that we too often pass on people. Labels of diets and of individuals does nothing but isolate us from the bigger picture (fixing our nations food system). The biggest impact we can make is with our wallets and cheap industrial meat is just one of the issues we face in our daily food shopping. Great blog!

Amen Snookie. Most of the meat that I eat is alive when I kill it.

I of course say that as I have a 5 spice roasted chicken in the oven… (recipe later).

I'll be sure to pick this one up, I'm super excited to see what he has to say!

One thing you will find with Indian and Asian cuisine is that they tend to use up EVERYTHING, as even that tough piece of beef is a welcome addition to a meal that usually consists of nothing but rice and vegetables. I think in most ways their cusine still reminds us today what we need to fix our global problem.

I say if you cook your collards with a ham hock, then good on you. There is a reason tradition called for that – I think it is frugality.

enjoy!