Barry Estabrook, Food Detective Extraordinaire at Knowlton Literary Festival, October 20
FSubmitted by Jane Livingston
ood journalist Barry Estabrook has unearthed the mysteries behind much of our food. He chronicles what we need to know about where our food comes from. In Tomatoland: From Harvest of Shame to Harvest of Hope, he unlocks the secrets behind those gloppy, bland tomatoes that grace our grocery shelves through the winter months. In Pig Tales, An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat, Estabrook cautions his readers. To paraphrase: don’t stop eating sinfully delicious bacon, just ensure that it comes from a happy place (flavour will be your first clue). Much of our pork on offer is mass-produced: pig barns are over-crowded and the animals are ”fed a steady diet of low-dose antiobiotics; a practice that leads to the evolution of drug-resistant super-bugs.”
Tomatoland is a witty exposé of the tomato industry. We learn why this juicy, sweet fruit has almost become a thing of the past. Industrialized farming has compromised its flavour. It may look red and luscious, kissed by the warming rays of the sun, but looks can be deceiving: “it’s probably been gassed to make it that colour.” Gassing is but one of the many unnatural procedures used in tomato mega-production. Another insidious aspect of the tomato industry, as detailed by Estabrook, are unfair labour practices. Workers are paid a pittance and many are subjected to “physical force, threats and intimidation.”
There is hope… “psychologists, food scientists, statisticians and molecular biologists are building a better tomato... Tomato breeders took a wrong turn fifty years ago, where they championed appearance, yield and size over taste and excellence.”
Pig Tales An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat chronicles the plight of the pig in today’s mega farms. These intelligent, curious creatures are being subjected to over-crowding and inhumane treatment. There are pre-fab dwellings that house up to 20,000 hogs, all stuffed in cheek-by-jowl. Photo and video evidence reveal “pigs…with oozing lesions, workers kicking, clubbing and jabbing animals…with electrical prods.” A sow is a “piglet-machine” bred at an early and alarming rate. There are, thankfully, farmers who are raising pigs
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