Welcome to the Q&A series, a project aimed at examining food politics and the “food debate” through the eyes and minds of people involved in making and thinking about food. My questions are in bold; the interviewee’s responses are in plain text.
Today’s guest is Wanda Patsche. Continue reading
If you’re a first-time visitor (perhaps you’re here because you’ve heard about my new book, a history of meat in America), here’s an explanation of what this site is and does. (Because: annoying to pay a first visit to a website and depart less informed than when you arrived.) Continue reading
“While he doesn’t like to admit it, the Corn Belt beef feeder is feeling the pinch from some new competitors. The big demand for beef during World War II gave his competitors a shove — in the West, the Southwest, and the South. . . . Continue reading
Okay, pals ‘o mine: I’m moving the site again. Which will make the new site (once it’s moved) number seven (I think) since . . . 2005? Or 2006? (*1) (*2) Continue reading
This essay originally appeared at ScientificAmerican.com. Reprinted here by permission.
In 1950, American farmers rejoiced at news from a New York laboratory: A team of scientists had discovered that adding antibiotics to livestock feed accelerated animals’ growth and cost less than conventional feed supplements. The news blew “the lid clear off the realm of animal nutrition,” crowed the editors of one farm magazine. Farmers and scientists alike “gasp[ed] with amazement, almost afraid to believe what they had found.” “Never again,” vowed another writer, would farmers suffer the “severe protein shortages” of the past. Continue reading
“Cincinnati is the greatest place for hogs in the world; and they have the greatest method of raising them here of any other place which we know of. A man will turn out a bevy of young pigs . . . in December say . . . and they will run at large in the streets until the next November — when he goes out to look up his pork. Continue reading
Maureen Ogle 