They Graze their animals!

Recently, I have been toiling with the struggle that relatively few, (but increasingly more) consumers have with their food choices. Reading The Omnivore's Dilemna, I have found myself less and less able to justify the way Americans grow and eat food. On the other side of things, I am a lover in the first degree of all food, meat included. Upon arriving in New Zealand despite the huge carbon footprint of a trans-global flight, I was relieved to find that nearly every field is seen spotted with cattle and sheep. After my first drive through the more rural areas I got so excited as to try all this good, natural (in the true sense of the word natural) food. I ended up buying tons of food for my time here, bulk rice, pasta, and beans for trips to the mountains, but also lots of fresh vegetables and yes, meat--lamb and apricot burgers and beef, bacon, and tomato sausages. These two packages of meat turned out to be one of the more daunting tasks of late as keeping your food out of the back of a car does not bode well for long-term preservation. So, for the past three of four days I have been on the routine of cooking two borderline gigantic meals, one for breakfast, the other for dinner to simply get through all the meat and vegies. It has recieved some odd glances from the other hostel-go-ers probably thinking, "those fucking americans and their meat" while shaking their heads. Tip for the supermarket next time, although the food is not injected with corn, reducing intake is still an important tenet to having less of an impact.