NFS 53 1st Edition Lecture 11 Outline of Last Lecture I Grain Flours II Flour gluten or not III Starch and cooking grains IV Gelatinization V What happens VI Cooking factors VII Starch molecules VIII Gel formation IX Starch as crucial to cuisines X Sauces XI Sauces and starches XII Starch thickened sauces XIII White sauces XIV Roux a Light Roux b Dark Roux Outline of Current Lecture I Why do humans eat meat II Meat Pros and cons These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute III Meat Structure IV Industrial Meat Production V State of the meat system Current Lecture I Why do humans eat meat a Humans are omnivores if it moves we have eaten it b It s a more concentrated form of nutrition particularly protein fat and iron c It is more savory sweet and salty than most plant foods by themselves II Meat Pros and cons a Is it too much of a good thing i Provides too much of certain fats and not enough of others and too many calories in general b Moral dilemmas around killing sentient c Meat is a less efficient form of calories than plant based foods i It takes more plant foods to feed an animal we will eat than it would to just eat the plants d The human desire for meat combined with the complexities of sourcing food from animals contributes and reinforces structural inequalities in the world i Outside of the West poor people don t get to eat meat ii Even in the West there are quality differentials involved in meat consumption that are related to political and economic power III Meat Structure a Meat is made up of muscle fibers i Made up of myosin and actin ii These proteins when activated slide past each other to shorten the entire fiber and thus thicken and shorten or contract b Fat i Muscles use fat as an energy store in particular red ii Fat contributes to richness and mouth coating smoothness iii Many flavor compounds are fat soluble iv It also gives the characteristic flavor of many animals depending on the fats those animals produce c Carbohydrates mostly glycogen i Some muscle tissues use glycogen a carbohydrate stored directly in the cells for anaerobic metabolism which produces lactic acid IV Industrial Meat Production State of the meat system Historical meat production and consumption pre 1870ish a Rural areas e g Vermont i Local personal ii Seasonal iii Wide variety of domestic and wild animals b Urban areas i Knowledgeable gatekeepers e g butchers ii Small foodshed iii Seasonal iv Overall v Diversified farms vi Older animals vii Pasture based system Drivers of change in the meat system 1880s onward a Urbanization i post Civil War great migrations to cities ii Increased industrialization of non food industries led to population concentration iii Larger cities could not be fed by local foodsheds b Transportation i Railroads brought animals from increasingly larger distances ii Animals condition deteriorated on these journeys c Technological change i Refrigeration near 0 C allowed for meat to be kept longer ii Refrigeration and railroads allowed for mechanized slaughter from 1885 or so Shifts to the modern sensibility Judging good meat Originally expertise resided in the consumer and the butcher A good butcher knew how to select a good animal based on its life history A good consumer relied on their butcher and learned some of their criteria Dressed meat No way to know its history for the butcher or the consumer Knowledge becomes more difficult It becomes better to not know The meat we eat If meat should come already dressed wild and hunted meat is less desirable Variety of meat animals decreases Meat is disconnected from the whole animal Particular cuts are more used others are less used Further centralization 1920 today Further developments in industrialized agriculture Monoculture productivity increases due to chemical inputs systemic factor Corn soy wheat in the US These plants or parts that humans do not eat can be fed to animals The rise of the Confined Animal Feeding Operation CAFO Animals are raised in pigs chickens or transported steers to a centralized location where they quickly put on weight Combination of feed medication enforced idleness Efficient Economy of scale No need to deal with outputs Modern industrial meat production Large scale 8 billion animals raised and slaughtered yearly In the US about 40 times as much animal as human waste 80 of the antibiotic medication in the US goes to animals in this system Centralized Use of CAFOs and Centralized Slaughter facilities is widespread Animals are raised in very large groups Modeled on values of efficiency and economy Most meat for least money Market based capital instead of subsistence or direct trade Low paid often undocumented workers who are paid for labor not in meat How is the industrial system of meat production made in the image of the sugar plantation systems of the 1600 1800s Growing alternatives since 1990s or so Diversified farms raising very few animals in the 10s to 100s Dependent on alternative networks of distribution Direct marketing Farmers markets CSAs Reduced or eliminated chemical inputs Articulate different relationship to Food system Non food system environment economy etc