Hot Dog Vendor Discovers Grass-Fed ≠ Good
We’ve tried to explain this rationally — simply and in a straightforward manner. We’ve explained the reasons why and pointed you to some very good sources for more information. But let’s make it even more basic.
Please look at the formula above.
Simply because a beef is labeled “Grass-Fed” does NOT make it good, or “green” or whatever the fuck you tree-hugging hippies call it. And just because a beef is grain-finished does not make it bad. What you really probably don’t want to eat is beef from feed lots, for a variety of reasons we won’t get into right now.
Now these yahoos at Let’s Be Frank, while well-intentioned, did you all a grave disservice when they stamped their damn hot dog cart with “100 % Grass-Fed.” What they did was reinforce in the tiny little minds of passersby that YES! GRASS=GOOD. ME LIKE HOT DOG. YUM. MMM. Then they get distracted and start to think about bacon.
OK. So we all know now, because the hot dog vendor has done the research, that there is grass-fed cattle that is feeding amid the fucking stumps of fucking rain forests.
And we also know that grain-fed does not necessarily equal bad. Grass-fed beef become synonymous with the fact that it was not raised in feed-lots. The opposite is not true.
As we said, the folks at Let’s Be Frank discovered this when they met the fine people of Five-Dot Ranch, sixth-generation ranchers out of Lassen County, Calif who hold themselves to higher standard than just being able to slap a 100-percent grass-fed label on their beef. Because the cattle are grain-finished, the beef cannot be labeled 100% grass-fed, but because Let’s Be Frank wisely decided that Five-Dot was the most sustainable and environmentally friendly source it could use, it will have to take it’s stupid little sign down.
Comments (4)
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Back in the Zone | For the Birds added these pithy words on Feb 11 11 at 1:54 pmDana added these pithy words on Feb 03 11 at 11:13 pmIf you had any idea of the demographic of people who go after grass-fed beef, you’d have to take back the “fucking tree-hugging hippie” label. Most of them… *aren’t.* That’s changing, but very slowly–it takes a hippie hurting themselves on the vegan diet to suddenly decide they’d rather have a burger.
Nice rant, and it’s important to avoid any food raised in an unsustainable way whenever that is possible. But if you had one ranch raising grass-finished cattle sustainably and another ranch raising grain-finished cattle relatively sustainably, the grass-finished cattle would still have a better nutritional profile.
I say “relatively sustainably” about that hypothetical grain-finishing ranch because in the end it’s still less sustainable to grow grain than it is to just feed animals on existing grass. The existing grass will grow under light tree cover; raising cattle in such an environment is known as silvopasture. Look it up. But you MUST clear trees to grow wheat, soy, or corn. It is unavoidable.
In short, no one needed to cut down rainforest to raise grass-finished cattle anywhere. That rancher you’re talking about, who did do so, was lazy and unethical. Lazy because they probably got tax incentives to cut those trees down, so obviously they were cutting corners on the budget, and they didn’t want to be bothered doing the extra work implied in keeping an eye on cattle who are not grazing out in wide open spaces. Unethical for obvious reasons.
Bill added these pithy words on Feb 05 11 at 9:32 pmWe’re all for hippies hurting themselves though, so that’s really a dilemma for us.
