I have been introduced to this after seeing Food Inc and I am still in the process of learning more about it.

So based from what I understand as of now, I would try to share what I know about this new grass-fed buzzword that is taking the food industry by storm. But let me begin by writing what grass-fed beef is not:

• It is not meat coming from cows who satisfy themselves on a field flourishing with high–potency–designer quality marijuana.  Therefore, It does not come from cows that are tripping all day, bobbing their heads slowly as they hear unusual hidden sounds while fully grasping the meaning of The Beatles’ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. No, these cows are not potheads. They do not laugh for hours long just by looking at their dung, nor sway along to the movements of the cosmic force, but yes, they are happy.

• It is not meat rich in scandalous amounts of fat. Since the standard grading of beef today is based on marbling, which is the amount of fat in its meat, I am pretty sure that grass-fed beef will flunk and probably get an F from the USDA, just like my grades in high school. You see, grass-fed cows move a lot. They do so because they roam around the vast fields of grass picking the best species of grass that they desire. Once the grass in one patch gets consumed, these cows move on to the next appetizing salad bar. Therefore these cows are muscular, lean, and lacking of the fat that is of high value in today’s standards.

• It is not cheap meat. Local grass-fed beef is expensive–about twice the price of conventional corn-fed-feedlot beef. It is expensive not because it is bloated with premium fat, but because the human labor involved in growing the pastures allowing the cow to graze, and keeping everything in nature balance is costly. It is costly because it is clean, safe, and free from E-Coli worries.

Why grass-fed?

Cows evolved to eat grass in as much as modern humans evolved to eat Doritos and I Can’t Believe It’s Butter, which should be renamed as “I Can’t Believe I Am Eating This.”

These cows can transform pure chlorophyll into protein. Likewise, these cows don’t need antibiotics to defend themselves from diseases because they get their natural defenses from the greens they are eating.

Sadly, most of the beef we eat here in the US are not grass-fed but rather corn/grain fed. The beef industry adapted this new feeding system to speed up the growth of the cows to meet the demand of the fast food industry. In addition, to accommodate this new system, the industry introduced the feedlot system, where cows are confined into military barracks-like sheds and get fed there with millions of tons of surplus corn feeds.

Corn-fed cows require hormones and antibiotics to supplement their nutritional deficiencies resulting from eating non-grass feeds. Not to mention that the milk from these nutritionally deficient cows is equally deficient, hence the industry adds the missing vitamins in the milk after the fact. That’s why we have processed milk laden with every imaginable additive to compensate for the missing goodies.

For a more complete understanding of grass-fed beef visit this awesome site.

By the way, my order finally came last night from Udder Milk. I ordered some grass-fed beef for stewing, and some ground beef for making hamburgers. Oh, how I miss having burgers! I haven’t eaten any since last year! It will be my first time making homemade burgers using organic locally available ingredients: local grass-fed beef, local cheese, and locally grown produce and fresh bread.

In my past life, homemade burgers for me meant pre-packaged patties, supermarket ketchup, pre-bottled mustard, grocery mayo, and wonder buns. I know, I should have just walked into a McDonald’s and ordered me a triple angus burger and fries and save me the effort of assembling this pre-made things since the nutritional value of my homemade burgers and the ones in the store are just about the same.

But that was then and I am trying my best to eat well now.

I also ordered grass-fed raw milk and raw cheese.

I haven’t tasted any of the beef products, so I cannot write about it yet. But the raw milk and the cheeses are beyond belief. I can’t even put it into words! For now I’ll just write this to describe it: $%QO&#!!!!

Grass-fed beef is available also at our local Whole Foods Market. I already purchased some locally grown grass-fed beef shanks for soup last month. You have to remember that most grass-fed beef are local–meaning supplied by a farmer near you area. This way, you are also helping the environment by minimizing the use of petroleum to obtain your food.  Imported beef from Argentina? California? No need. It pays to know that you have a local supply of healthy and happy herd of cows grazing over nutritious pastures making high quality meat for you in the future.

Tomorrow, we might check the farmer’s market in Union Square and buy some produce. This food search has been really awesome so far!