How about a little variety?

I was in New York this past weekend and a few friends were talking about this imported Spanish ham they love from a particular type of Spanish pig (which is apparently found in one region in Spain). Most Americans don't realize that we used to have some variety here at home. There was a time when there were different varieties of pigs, cows, chickens, turkeys, and so forth (just like there were different types of strawberries, and other fruits and vegetables). It's sort of like apples today. Imagine if the powers at be in the food industry realized that one type of apple was superior in how large and quickly it grew, how well it handled chemical fertilizers and pesticides, how much it still survived no matter how crowded the apple trees were, how shiny it looked when they applied the wax before the supermarket, how well it could be transported long distances and still look and smell fresh. In response to all this, BigAgra would promote these seeds, farmers would grow these crops, and in however many years and apple would be an apple would be an apple. If someone asked you "what kind of apple?" you'd look at them like they're crazy.

But that's where we've gone with a number of fruits and vegetables, and much of our meat and poultry. Virtually all meat comes from one type of cow and almost all milk comes from one type of cow and almost all pork comes from one type of pig and so on and so forth. This was of course done to maximize profit. The healthiest cows weren't chosen -- they chose the breed that fattens up fastest on a corn and grain diet. The turkeys that were chosen are the ones that can maximize breast meat (for our society that believes they can eat only the parts of the animal they prefer).

There is still some variety out there. After all, there are pigs in a certain region of Spain that differ from the pigs in your bacon. And is it the end of the world if only one breed of pigs is still around in America? Probably not. But this happened under our noses -- our variety went out the window in a country that loves variety. It's something to be aware of and, if you so choose, to seek out farmers that raise different types of animals -- or those strawberry varieties that are nearly extinct.