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I just finished the book Omnivore’s Dilemma and believe me, you’ll be hearing about that over the next couple of months. It’s forever changed the way I eat. And drink.
I started drinking organic milk a couple of years ago when a friend suggested it might help improve my digestion. Going from $3.29 a gallon to $3.29 for a half gallon was a huge financial jump for me, and not one that I was excited to make. However, I was so glad that I made the jump knowing that my dairy cows were happily providing me with the best milk there was to buy.
Or were they?
I have since learned that “organic” has little meaning in the way of buying meat and dairy products. I have always envisioned that cute little farm where my dairy cows were out milling around, munching on grass, enjoying their lives. It turns out that sometimes that isn’t the case. While most organic dairy producers do give their animals access to pasture and a better quality life, the surge in demand for organic dairy products has attracted the eyes of agribusiness – those companies that would love to take a good thing and turn it into a factory. This has resulted in diminished quality and compromised standards in nearly 20% of the organic milk that is currently on supermarket shelves.
Enter Strauss Family Creamery.
If you live in the East Bay area of California, you have access to Strauss Family Creamery milk. Strauss is a small farm and unique in that it allows tours of their facility. Transparency leads to integrity, especially in the commercial food business, so this says a lot about their practices.
Strauss Family Creamery milk is available at Harvest House and select other locations in the East Bay Area. (Harvest House is located across from Costco – you can shop there for spices, rice, oatmeal, flour, sugars, nutritional supplements, and, of course, this milk. If you are a Costco member, show them your card on Thursdays and you get 10% off your entire bill!).
If you subscribe to the Contra Costa Times, on the first Tuesday of the month Harvest House has a coupon for 15% off your entire grocery bill. If you use that, your milk will be $3.40, only 11 cents more than the cost of Trader Joe’s organic milk.
Cheers to happy cows with that are allowed to graze on pasture and other organic goodies.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Kristie // Jan 24, 2010 at 8:07 pm
I have been reading another book by the same guy–called In Defense of Food. It is simultaneously fascinating and frightening! I recommend it if you haven’t already read it.
2 paulawong // Jan 24, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Kristie – yes, I have In Defense of Food. I started it a couple years ago but could not get into it. Now that I know Pollan’s message and subscribe to it, I think In Defense of Food will be another great read. I’ll take a break from food books for a bit but plan to read it before 2010 is over. :)
3 Shirley Madsen // Jan 25, 2010 at 8:51 am
Does Harvest House make home deliveries? I am out of ‘real’ milk and had to use “unhappy” cow’s milk in my cocoa this morning. I may have to defy the elements (rain, rain, and more rain) and pedal to the store for my Strauss.
I second Kristie’s suggestion. In Defense of Food makes you realize how most of us have been mesmerized by scientific findings and focus too much on consuming vitamins and minerals instead of real foods.
4 Beth // Feb 4, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I am reading The Compassionate Carnivore and am really liking it. It is good to hear about the relationship between the farmers and the animals esp when we see nothing of the sort in our culture unless you live in rural areas. Or… if you are Shirely Madsen or Keiko who are amazing and have wonderful chickens!
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