Gobble Gobble: Where Does My Thanksgiving Turkey Come From?

In a book that changed my understanding of food, Jonathan Safran Foer (author of Eating Animals), describes Thanksgiving:

Of the thousand-or-so meals we eat every year, Thanksgiving dinner is the one that we try most earnestly to get right. It holds the hope of being a good meal, whose ingredients, efforts, setting, and consuming are expressions of the best in us. More than any other meal, it is about good eating and good thinking.

I couldn’t agree more. Thanksgiving and Christmas are my two favourite celebrations of the year, and the turkey which sits as a prized dish at the centre of the table is a symbol of the annual ritual that brings all our loved ones together. Yet Foer’s depiction of our relationship to turkeys seems to speak otherwise:

And more than any other food, the Thanksgiving turkey embodies the paradoxes of  eating animals: what we do to living turkeys is just about as bad as anything humans have ever done to any animal in the history of the world.

Having researched and visited factory farms where he experienced the deplorable living conditions of these birds, Foer asks the simple question: Should we serve turkey at Thanksgiving?

I asked myself the same question when I first started becoming more conscious of the lives of animals on factory farms. According to the Turkey Farmers of Canada, last year alone Canadians consumed 142 million kg of turkey. Thanksgiving and Christmas apparently account for the two largest purchases of turkey. During last year’s Thanksgiving, 3.1 million whole turkeys were purchased by Canadians, equal to 35% of all whole turkeys that were sold over the year. That is a whole lot of turkey, and one can only imagine how these birds end up on our dinner plates.

In a factory farm, thousands of turkeys are housed together in a large space with barely any room to maneuver. They are debeaked i.e. their upper beaks are snipped off with machinery to prevent them, while being confined with thousands of others, from pecking at each other.  Foer describes a farm that he visited, where there were “tens of thousands of turkey chicks … huddled in groups, asleep beneath the heat lamps installed to replace the warmth their broody mothers would have provided.”

Instead of open pastures where turkeys can forage, the factory farm is characterized by “lights, feeders, fans, and heat lamps evenly spaced in a perfectly calibrated artificial day.” Food writer, Kristin Wartman, describes the living conditions of turkeys on these farms:

Industrially produced turkeys spend their first three weeks of life crammed into a brooder with hundreds of other birds. In the fourth week, turkey chicks are moved from the brooder to a giant window-less room with 10,000 other turkeys where bright lights shine 24 hours a day. With the lights constantly blaring, natural sleeping, eating, and fertility patterns are completely disrupted and the turkeys are, for the most part, kept awake and eating non-stop. Turkeys have an instinct to roost, or to clutch something when they sleep, but on the floor of a crowded room there is no such opportunity. If this is starting to sound like torture to you, you’re on the mark.

Like all animals, turkeys are sentient beings. They experience pain and pleasure. In a factory farm they undergo tremendous stress from having to survive in an overcrowded environment and where they are unable to live a free life.

After reading Eating Animals and watching documentaries like Food Inc. I felt the only recourse was to refrain from eating meat. Period. The only problem with that is (a) I LOVE meat and (b) I love turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Fortunately, there are farmers out there who value the lives of animals, and are committed to raising animals in an ethical manner. I started to seek out these individuals. I went to farmers markets, spoke to people, read blogs. One thing I’ve learned is that farmers sell more than what they bring to the market. Steve can sell vegetables at the market but raise sheep, turkeys and chickens that you can buy straight from his farm. So it’s a good idea to talk to farmers because there’s a lot more that they offer than what you see at their stands at the weekend market.

For the past few years I’ve been buying my turkey from local farmers who raise their turkeys in an open pasture, where they get to eat grubs, worms, grass and clover. These animals taste so much better. In factory farms, in the dark light or constant brightness turkeys are fed feed and because they don’t have much room to move around, or obtain natural light, they don’t grow properly. How can a bird living under these conditions ever taste good? How can it be healthy?

There’s always the issue of cost. I saw a Butterball turkey yesterday at the grocery store for $3.30/lb. I buy my turkey for $4.35/lb. The difference in price is not that substantial especially when I consider what I’m getting: a fresh, healthy animal that lived a happy life. Isn’t it worth it?

In a letter to his daughter in 1784 (an excerpt here), Benjamin Franklin questioned whether the bald eagle should serve as the national bird of the United States of America:

I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America…

I wonder what Franklin would think of how we treat the turkey today?

I wish you all a happy thanksgiving this year and for years to come. I also encourage you to think a little more about how valuable Thanksgiving is, and the meaning of appreciation we attach to this important day. Should we not do the same for the animals we eat?

A First Kick at the Can at Tomato Canning

In an effort to avoid buying bland, hot house tomatoes in the middle of winter, I’ve wanted a way to have access to delicious, flavoured tomatoes for stewing and for sauces on those cold days when a hot stew is in perfect order. The idea of canning was way too overwhelming. Thoughts of botulism or the long process of washing, blanching and canning a bushel of tomatoes was enough to deter me. But this year I decided to take the leap and try it out. I wanted to appreciate the value of preserving food to sustain our family through the winter. If I start with something as “simple” as canning tomatoes, the possibilities would be endless.

I started to research how to properly can tomatoes. I needed a guide to really dumb down the entire process for me. A great reference point is the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, 2009 revision which provides a step-by-step approach for canning various foods, including tomatoes, and other interesting things like poultry. I never imagined the possibility of canning a chicken, but I guess anything is possible. I also talked to A LOT of people. I asked questions, got tips and ideas. Do I really need to remove the skin off the tomatoes? An overwhelming YES! No matter how much I wanted to avoid this mind-numbing step, it proved to be very crucial in ensuring a tasty end product.

And so began my canning story.

My first step was to find the perfect tomatoes. I had the unfortunate luck of all my tomato plants becoming infected with blight this summer so the hopes of canning my garden tomatoes were shot. The next best thing was a local farmer who sold organic Roma tomatoes. Last year I bought a large quantity from Waratah Downs Organic Farm at the Ottawa Farmers Market. I froze most of my order and also made tomato sauce which I cooked down for hours and frozen in batches.

Pleased with my tasty tomatoes from Waratah Downs Organic Farm last year, I returned a few Sundays ago. John invited me to the back of his stand to go through his tomatoes and pick out a half bushel of Romas. Not only did I walk away with a good stash, but Kim who also works with Waratah, gave me so many great tips on canning tomatoes and more importantly, some serious encouragement that this was not a difficult endeavour.

I returned home with almost a half bushel of tomatoes, weighing in at just under 25lbs. I then needed equipment to can these bad boys. A trip to Canadian Tire and voila: 12 x 1 litre mason jars, a 20 litre canner for sterilizing the mason jars and processing the tomatoes once canned, a rack for lifting the mason jars out of the boiling water, a funnel, a jar lifter, a lid lifter, a bubble remover, ice cubes, paper towels, and some lemon juice. Actually, I bought the lemon juice from the grocery store. I’m glad I decided on pre-squeezed because, looking back, I think having to squeeze as many lemons to fill all those jars would have really turned me off the idea of canning … forever.

I was ready to start canning. First, I washed my tomatoes thoroughly and lay them on a tea cloth:

I then sterilized the jars which, surprisingly, took more time than I expected. It’s amazing how long it takes to boil over 20 litres of water. I ended up boiling another batch of mason jars in a separate pot, which saved a lot of time. 

I sterilized the lids separately. One lesson I learned with canning, is that while mason jars and screw bands can be reused, the metal snap lids should never be reused.

I brought a medium-sized pot of water to a boil, and began the tedious task of blanching the tomatoes. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as dreary and time consuming as I expected. I placed the tomatoes in boiling water for about 30 to 60 seconds then dipped them in a bowl of cold water (this is where the ice cubes came in handy). The skin easily peeled off. I then removed the cores before placing the tomatoes in the mason jars.

I filled the mason jars with the tomatoes, leaving ½-inch headspace. I also added two tablespoons of lemon juice into each jar. The air bubble remover became handy to remove air bubbles from the jars. I (and by “I”, I mean my loving husband who took four hours of his vacation time to help can) then wiped each jar with a paper towel to clean off any remaining juices. We then screwed the lids on but not too tightly.

We then placed the jars back into the water canners and covered them with at least one inch of water. We processed the jars in boiling water for at least 45 minutes.

We set the jars down to cool for 24 hours and this was our final product:

In short, we canned almost half a bushel of Roma tomatoes (just under 25 lbs) in about four hours, and ended up with 9 x 1 litre jars of tomatoes. Not bad for a first try. More importantly, I conquered a fear of canning, which turned out to be quite a delightful experience (and bonding opportunity). Who would’ve thought!

Tasting Something New at Roots and Shoots

I can be a culinary creature of habit. I’m often too intimidated to try new vegetables. Rainbow beet root was living on the dark side. On the rare occasion that I have bought something ‘daring’, I ended up being too lazy to find a complimentary recipe, and it sat in the fridge to wilt away. I needed to pace myself. Start with something not too threatening. No Jerusalem artichoke or celery root. Instead, at the Roots and Shoots stand one morning at the market, Danny the farmer convinced me to try napa cabbage.

I was slightly familiar with this cabbage. I had seen it in the grocery aisle labelled ‘Chinese cabbage’, and it kinda resembled lettuce. When I was a child, my girlfriend’s mom would stir-fry lettuce for us and I thought it was amazing. Stir-fry, I thought. Not too complicated! I bought a bunch, or two, and two years later all I keep thinking is: how did I survive life without this delicious bundle of absolute goodness?

Two lessons learned: (1) it’s not always a challenge to try something new (Jerusalem artichoke is still on my to-do list) and (2) Roots and Shoots grow some good stuff. I had to take a trip to the farm. A few weeks ago, we drove out to the farm which lies near the Bakker’s General Store at the corner of Mitch Owen’s Drive and Manotick Station Road.

These guys are BUSY. I had emailed Robin to see if we could pop by for a visit, and he graciously agreed but warned that he might not have the time to give us a formal tour. We pulled up to the farm while Dymmie, one of the farmers, was rinsing some carrots that she just harvested:

There is nothing as inviting as the rich, strong smell of root vegetables that have JUST been pulled from the earth. I breathed it all in, and for a split second imagined giving it all up to live on a farm to enjoy this sublime moment every single harvest. Then reality sunk in. These gals and guys are up at the crack of dawn every day, working long hours to supply their CSAs with a generous bounty, and to have surplus to bring to market each week. It is grueling, back breaking labour I’m sure, and it’s given me a strong appreciation for the simple slogan “Farmers Feed Cities”.

I’ve always regretted not signing up to the Roots and Shoots CSA, and I guess there’s always next year. They are well priced, certified organic and have a great range of veges in each share. They are at the Ottawa Farmers’ Market at Byron Park on Saturdays, and Brewer Park on Sundays; the Bakker’s General Store right near their farm in Manotick, and some other markets as listed on their website. Unfortunately, they are no longer at the Kanata Farmers’ Market on Saturdays.

Just recently I bought some cured butternut which I planned on storing in my basement for winter, but made soup instead. It was my first ever entirely local meal where all the ingredients came from within 150km of home (recipe to follow).

I’ve learned to taste new veges for the first time, like napa cabbage, but also really taste familiar veges for the first time, like celery. I had only eaten celery from the grocery store until I bought a bunch from Roots and Shoots one summer. The strong, distinct celery taste was like nothing I had ever eaten before. I truly tasted celery for the first time.

Day 2 Lunch Treat: a 5 minute Chocolate Recipe

Chocolate is my kryptonite. It makes me weak in the knees and melts me to my core. I love chocolate and it was with some disappointment that all the chocolate snacks in the grocery aisle were loaded with preservatives and other unpronounceable ingredients.

For instance, Kraft’s Jell-O chocolate fudge pudding snacks, while low in fat are high in sugar (17g per serving size of 99g) and contain the following ingredients:

WATER, SKIM MILK FROM CONCENTRATE (WATER, CONCENTRATED SKIM MILK) OR RECONSTITUTED SKIM MILK (WATER, SKIM MILK POWDER), SUGAR, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, COCOA, HYDROGENTAED COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OIL, SALT, SODIUM STEAROYL-2-LACTYLATE, MALTODEXTRIN, COLOUR, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOUR.

What are “artificial flavours”? Isn’t this just meant to be chocolate? If so, why is the cocoa one of the last listed ingredients?

I decided to make my own recipe which contained a generous amount of cocoa. It took only three ingredients and just five minutes. The main ingredient is nothing other than avocado. I know right?!? When my girlfriend shared this recipe with me a few months ago I laughed at the idea of pudding made with avocado. But she swears by it. I tried it and even my most discriminating chocolate lover (dear husband) gobbled it down. So why not make this as a treat for school?

This is all I used:

2 ripe avocados
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup Dutch process cocoa powder or cocoa powder (I used Dutch process cocoa powder)
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

I blended all ingredients together and voila:

Lunch for the First Day Back to School

Today marks the first official day of school for many kids, and packing lunch will now be a daily routine for the next nine months. The challenge for me is to find wholesome and delicious foods that will not come home in my child’s school bag. I’ve been fortunate to have a child with a very curious and healthy appetite, but I still feel the need to be creative when coming up with snacks and lunch ideas.

This is what I came up with for the first day of school:

Veges and hummus with tomatoes picked from the garden:

Homemade granola bars:

Smoked sausage from Pork of Yore (nitrate-free) and apple sauce:

Quinoa salad with curry dressing and mint:

Surprisingly, the big hit was the quinoa salad which included mint that she got to pick from the garden. I’m convinced that when kids participate in meal prep they are more likely to enjoy their meals.

I’m on a mission to find healthy and wholesome lunch ideas that my kids will love and that I’ll also love to prepare. Stay tuned!

How to Stretch a Whole Chicken into Several Meals

Tonight I succeeded in making a chicken dish that would last two dinners, two lunches as well as over 20 litres of chicken stock, all from a 5lb chicken that cost me about $22.00.

When I started making chicken stock a few years ago, I had no idea what I had been missing out on. I had relied on chicken bouillon cubes which, when I read the labels, were loaded with sodium (even the “organic” ones). So I switched to the liquids in the tetra packs but they didn’t do much for me. I then decided I would make my own stock, and I haven’t looked back since.

I make a big batch of chicken stock a few times a year which I then freeze. While it can be laborious at first (and especially without proper equipment like a good quality stock pot, ladles, adequately sized sieves), the absolute and divine pleasure of homemade stock is second to none. It adds a rich, creamy taste to all my soups. I often substitute chicken stock when making quinoa for salads or other side dishes. The results are pure genius.

When I cut up a chicken this morning for my dinner meal, I kept the carcass to make stock. I was able to fill six mason jars with 3.5 cups each of stock:

The recipe for my chicken stock is here. I’ve also included my favourite sweet potato soup recipe that I love making in the dead cold months of winter.

When the stock is cooked, cooled and jarred, I reserve some of the remaining chicken pieces and the next day we have chicken soup for lunch, as well as the day after that.

Imagine the possibilities when we think creatively about how we cook food? I used to throw out the carcass since I had no further use for it, until I realized that I could get more bang for my buck if I actually used the WHOLE chicken. A penny saved really is a penny earned!