Do the world a favor, and WATCH THIS

http://www.offalgood.com/site/uncategorized/jamies-olivers-fowl-dinners

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver presents his guests a gourmet chicken dinner, truly from beginning to end.

In an ingenious bit of television, you'll find out that it doesn't so much matter which came first, but more importantly where the egg and the chicken you're eating came from. This is an eye-opener that I believe everyone should see. To be honest, it didn't give me any information that I didn't already have about how my food is manufactured. Rather it forced me to confront that truth.

We've become absolutely complacent with the way the food industry works. When we buy that box of eggs or that boneless chicken breast (or pork chop, or ground beef), we only see that carefully crafted presentation that is a combination of economies of scale and decades of marketing prowess. We've voluntarily blinded ourselves to the fact that there is arguably no humane or environmentally sound way to produce consumable meat on the scale that we do in the industrialized world.

When, anyway, did the definition of a meal come to be implicitly inclusive of meat as an ingredient? In a not-so-distant past, meat of any sort was a luxury to be consumed modestly and on occasion. I'm no vegetarian, and would never presume to be. But maybe we, particularly as Americans, have taken our gluttonous compulsions too far. We're fat, and it ain't beans and rice making us that way. Hell, look at the French -- it ain't even butter and bread making us that way!

We're all on tight budgets these days, and it's just so easy to pick up that cheapest carton of eggs at the mega-mart. Ask yourself, though, is the "good stuff" just a culinary luxury, or is that extra sixty-cents or dollar also going towards something important to our health and environment? Of course, that's not to discount the wonderful jewel of food bliss that is a particularly fresh egg. Between the carbon footprint concerns and the humanity issues, I gotta say I'm becoming convinced to take my purchases more seriously.

I'm going to try something in good faith. I'm going to work on redefining what a meal means to me. I want to change my mindset and my cravings when it comes to food. I'm going to eat more vegetarian and from better sources. (I almost slipped and put an "s" at the end of "vegetarian") I know that parts of my grocery bill will go up, but given the sheer cost of meat, I wouldn't be surprised if expenses stay roughly even while at the same time the overall quality of my meals increases tremendously. Wish me luck!


And eating cheap is not exclusive of eating well...
My favorite sandwich of recent -- over-easy fried egg with mayo:

First, make your own mayo (I use 2 tsp lime juice, FYI).
If you have a stand mixer, double this mayo recipe for an easier go at it. Another tip is to pour the oil from a squeeze bottle.

Melt 1 tbs of REAL unsalted butter over medium heat in a small non-stick skillet.
When the butter is melted, briefly dip one side each of two pieces of good quality sandwich bread into the butter.
Move the bread to the toaster or toaster-oven for a light crisping.
Crack one fresh-as-you-can-get egg into the skillet, sprinkle with a little kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper.
Try to control the spread of the white into roughly bread-shape.
Your bread should be done toasting. Spread your mayo liberally on the buttered sides.
Cook until the egg white is mostly opaque, and then flip (this is best done with the wrist, but a spatula will work as well).
Count slowly to ten, and then slide the egg onto one piece of toast, topping it with the other.
Get a napkin, 'cause it's gonna be messy, and eat it while it's hot!


Love your world. Bon appetit.